Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique explores a wide range of philosophical questions surrounding the most popular female superhero of all time, from her creation as feminist propaganda during World War II up to the first female lead in the blockbuster DC movie-franchise.
- The first book dedicated to the philosophical questions raised by the complex and enduringly iconic super-heroine
- Fighting fascism with feminism since 1941, considers the power of Wonder Woman as an exploration of gender identity and also that of the human condition – what limits us and what we can overcome
- Confronts the ambiguities of Wonder Woman, from her roles as a feminist cause and fully empowered woman, to her objectification as sexual fantasy
- Topics explored include origin stories and identity, propaganda and art, altruism and the ethics of care, Amazonians as transhumanists, eroticism and graphic novels, the crafting of a heroine, domination, relationships, the ethics of killing and torture, and many more.
Table of Contents
Contributors: The Myndi Mayer Foundation (xi) Acknowledgments (xvii) Editor’s Note (xix)
Jacob M. Held: Introduction: In and For a World of Ordinary Mortals (1)
Part I You Are a Wonder Woman (3) 1 J. Lenore Wright: Becoming a (Wonder) Woman: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Ambiguity of Female Identity (5) 2 Sarah K. Donovan: The God of War is Wearing What? Gender in the New 52 (19) 3 Jill Hernandez and Allie Hernandez: Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn: The Paradox of the Moral Hero (31) 4 Trip McCrossin: Great Hera! Considering Wonder Woman’s Super Heroism (44)
Part II Dispatches from Man’s World (55) 5 Andrea Zanin: Wonder Woman: Feminist Faux Pas? (57) 6 Matthew William Brake: Feminist Symbol or Fetish? Žižek, Wonder Woman, and Final Crisis (72) 7 Matthew A. Hoffman and Sara Kolmes: When Clark Met Diana: Friendship and Romance in Comics (81)
Part III When I Deal with Them, I Deal with Them (91) 8 Melanie Johnson-Moxley: Bound to Face the Truth: The Ethics of Using Wonder Woman’s Lasso (93) 9 Mark D. White: “What I Had to Do”: The Ethics of Wonder Woman’s Execution of Maxwell Lord (104) 10 Steve Bein: Can a Warrior Care? Wonder Woman and the Improbable Intersection of Care Ethics and Bushido (115) 11 Adam Barkman and Sabina Tokbergenova: Wonder Woman: Saving Lives through Just Torture? (126) 12 Francis Tobienne Jr.: Wonder Woman Winning with Words: A Paragon of Wisdom, Disarming Threats One at a Time … (133)
Part IV God(s), Country, Sorority (141) 13 Jacob M. Held: Wonder Woman, Worship, and Gods Almighty: Purpose in Submission to Loving Authority (143) 14 Dennis Knepp: Merciful Minerva in a Modern Metropolis (151) 15 Mónica Cano Abadía: Wonder Woman and Patriarchy: From Themyscira’s Amazons to Wittig’s Guérrillères (162)
Part V Tying Up Loose Ends (171) 16 James Edwin Mahon: The Lasso of Truth? (173) 17 Maria Chavez, Chris Gavaler, and Nathaniel Goldberg: Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, Kink, and Care (188) 18 Roy T. Cook and Nathan Kellen: Golden Lassos and Logical Paradoxes (198)
Index (209)
Added by: joachim
|