InkSlinger said:
She doesn't need the gimmick of an invisible jet.
He wants help?
Read "Kingdom Come". Keep reading it until he gets it.
She's the mythological feminine version of Superman.
She's an immortal demi-goddess created by her 'mother' to be the emissary of the Amazons to the world of men. Her sense of right and wrong is hard-wired into her. Of course she helps the weak and fights evildoers and I'm sure she hasn't anything nice to say to politicians either.
She can fly (can't all mythologic creations do that?) and trying to hide a damned invisible jet is stupid. Psst, it's not really there, and if she's in it she shouldn't be seen either.
If it's set in the modern era, there should be references to her fighting against the evil of the Nazi's, after which she went home to live until she felt the need to come back and straighten out the world again. (Thanks Rumsfeld) and she could then decide if she wants to be more human, etc.
How hard can this be?
Whedon is trying too hard.
If he has a good story, it should write itself, as he says.
Well, he never said 'good' he said "feel 100% right." He also indicated that he's already read Kingdom Come. Everyone knows the basics of Wonder Woman, including Whedon. The issue is making a movie that covers the basics, conflicts with nothing and is comeplling to everyone, not just 'good' but 'compelling' aka "100% right." That kind of thing doesn't write itself. Every good story needs a good internal conflict, and that's a hard thing to find in Wonder Woman, and hard thing to make feel "100% right" instead of tacked on to make the character 'more interesting.'
Whedon could come out with an okay movie that fans would love tommorrow, but that's obviously not what he's trying to do, and he's made that pretty clear every time he's spoken about it. Whedon understands the basics of Wonder Woman, but I wonder if everyone here understands the basics of making movies...
(WARNING: LONG ANALYSIS OF WONDER WOMAN AS IT RELATES TO MODERN FILMMAKING)
Regardless, Wonder Woman's rogue's gallery presents yet another compelling problem in that not only are none of them even remotely iconic, but none of them are tied to her directly... in this case, most painfully, none of them are tied to her origin. All of her villains are created in completely seperate events with which she has little or nothing to do.
Dr. Psycho is a threat to Wonder Woman, yes, we get it, but who cares? Who is this guy and what does he have to do with her mission to man's world... he's not inextricably tied to the story and we have little reason to care about him, and thus, little reason to care about how long it takes for Wondy to actually get to him and KO him in one punch.
Cheetah, at a stretch, is also a threat, but what does she have to do with anything? Outside of the development of a Barbara Minerva subplot which AGAIN has nothing to do with Wonder Woman's mission or reason for leaving the island, why should we care about her fights? Her rage? And what does that have to do with why Diana leaves Themiscira?
And then, of course, Ares. Let's forgo the hypocricy and futility of *fighting* the God of War... let's just skip to the fact that making a statement against war at this point in history overshadows anything you would be trying to say or tell about Wondy, you're stuck with a political story which is NOT what Wonder Woman should be.
There may be another worthwhile Wondy villain I've missed... but I can't think of them. The classic themes of Wondy have all been covered here: Forced to fight friends, battling against being subjected by men and of course, fighting for world peace. Each typical played out plot point a lesson in redundant cliche, and if use any one of these as the benchmark to the world of what Wonder Woman is (say, in a big summer movie) we reduce Wonder Woman to an unempathizable spokeswoman in the style of Aeon Flux, Elektra, Ultraviolet and Patience "CINO" Pierce. We effectively de-power Wonder Woman's franchise by sticking with story points that have already been told better and do not represent ALL that Wonder Woman is and is supposed to be. That's why the current storyline in Wondy's relaunch is "Who IS Wonder Woman???" It's also why you're not buying her book now. Are you? I thought so.
So what are our options? Well, the first thing is we have to realize that taking what is percieved to be a 70s pop icon and turning her into a modern marvel requires precision, it has to be "100% right." That means, that you need a story that establishes who Diana fundamentally is, not just as details off a bio, but as a direct results of her experiences. Think of all the things you know about Wondy. Now make them into a series of personal experiences. Not easy, eh?
The movie needs to show those 'whys' so clearly that the audience says "Wow, if I was in that position I would have done the same thing." The audience will root for the hero(ine) from an emotional connection, not from a desire to see the smartest, most beautiful, most powerful or most shoved-down-their-throat character come out on top. The twist is that the time where everyone wants perfect Mary-Sue heroes is gone... it was called the silver age... People are generally looking for someone they can look up to that still has faults as they do. No faults --> No emptahy ---> might as well be a cardboard cut out or a robot doing it... there's no audience conenction.
And that leads us to Whedon, who I think we all get it: he writes some kickbutt female characters, agonizing over the perfect Wonder Woman script... cuz it's gotta be "100% right." For the fans. For the suits... for the gals who don't know anything more than the 70s theme song... it's got to be perfect.
That means we need a new story that encompassess all the crucial aspects of Diana's origin. We need a new villain that does everything, emotional and story-wise that Dr. Psycho, Cheetah AND Ares can do, and we need a Diana that's as down to Earth as your next door neighbor, while still being a credible demi-god. That's a hard script to write, but Whedon keeps saying he's getting there... I think I'll wait it out and see what happens.
