Wonder Woman Controversial Opinions Part 2

[Koriand'r]

I think Wonder Woman's main Parton goddesses should be Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis.

Aphrodite for love, Athena for wisdom, Artemis for hunting.

Yes that works perfectly for me

[Gaius]

I think Wonder Woman's main Parton goddesses should be Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis.

Aphrodite for love, Athena for wisdom, Artemis for hunting.

I always thought Hestia should have a place given she's usually connected to the Lasso and of all the major Olympians, she seems the least like a dick.

[WonderScott]

I think, if I was writing and drawing for the comic books, one of the creative decisions I'd make would be to show that gods are not super-powered humans. They are something else, something other than human. The anthropomorphizing of deities makes them seem too ordinary and mundane.

I’ve always been interested in this myself - seeing the gods in numerous forms. I can see them variously appearing in their classical anthropomorphic forms, their modern human identities, their animal avatars, and in a new way that captures their ideas and forces they wield in the mortal realm.

For that last bit, I’ve been trying to come up with a representation of them for my Wonder Woman Series Bible Thingee, but so far creative lightning has struck me.

In Perez’s reintroduction of Wonder Woman, I loved that the gods simplified themselves when appearing to Diana or bringing her to Olympus, because mortals lacked the sensory abilities to comprehend them in their realm. That was clever and made them more majestic.

[WonderScott]

I think Wonder Woman's main Parton goddesses should be Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis.

Aphrodite for love, Athena for wisdom, Artemis for hunting.

I really liked the Perez version that included the other Olympian goddesses and Hermes as their matron goddesses.

Hera was one of the best things about the Azz run and I’d like to see more of the Olympians interacting with Diana’s friends and a deeper list of her villains to help complicate her life and enrich her world.

[kjn]

If we go by Marston, he used Aphrodite and Athena first and foremost, but with a focus on Aphrodite. Artemis/Diana is also mentioned.

But I like Pérez's additions too. Demeter and Hestia are hugely important goddesses, much more important than we imagine from the myths told today. One mistake that is easy to do when discussing ancient polytheistic religions is to mistake myths for the cultic practices or their importance to society. A times you can find correlations, but Loke was not an important figure in Nordic life—he was just popular to use in stories.

[SiegePerilous02]

I've warmed up to Perez adding more goddesses to the Amazon patrons, but I dislike how he uses Aphrodite (as in, not much. She basically just stands around and looks pretty wheres she originally did everything). I'm fine with Demeter, Hestia and Artemis being added in, but I'd prefer if Aphrodite and Athena are still the main two overall with the others taking the spotlight in specific stories.

I hope she is a more active participant in Historia than she was in Gods and Mortals, especially as she has the most interesting dynamic with Ares.

[Jim Kelly]

I've warmed up to Perez adding more goddesses to the Amazon patrons, but I dislike how he uses Aphrodite (as in, not much. She basically just stands around and looks pretty wheres she originally did everything). I'm fine with Demeter, Hestia and Artemis being added in, but I'd prefer if Aphrodite and Athena are still the main two overall with the others taking the spotlight in specific stories.

Yes that really bugged me. He makes Aphrodite into a blonde bimbo who has little to contribute. I believe that Perez was depending on feminist archaeology and anthropology for his approach to the mythology. It fits with some of the feminist papers I've read. However, those sources should have made him see that Aphrodite is an important goddess, with origins that predate Mycenaean culture, and are about female empowerment. Yet he demotes her in favour of Hestia and other gods and goddesses. I'd like to ask George what he had against Aphrodite? Did he want to close the door on the Marston mythology? Did he think she was anti-feminist? It made no sense to me.

[SiegePerilous02]

Yes that really bugged me. He makes Aphrodite into a blonde bimbo who has little to contribute. I believe that Perez was depending on feminist archaeology and anthropology for his approach to the mythology. It fits with some of the feminist papers I've read. However, those sources should have made him see that Aphrodite is an important goddess, with origins that predate Mycenaean culture, and are about female empowerment. Yet he demotes her in favour of Hestia and other gods and goddesses. I'd like to ask George what he had against Aphrodite? Did he want to close the door on the Marston mythology? Did he think she was anti-feminist? It made no sense to me.

Yes, a glance at her Wikipedia article indicates she could have been based on the cults of Astarte and Ishtar/Innana and represented female sexuality and prostitution as being sacred. She also has a warrior aspect, so it's not like she's an otherwise useless beauty queen who does nothing but look pretty. These type of things are very relevant to the Wonder Woman character and mythos. Having a goddess of female sexuality being one of the ultimate forces of good, if not the biggest, is a breath of fresh air when female sexuality in general is not treated as equal to men's. Or female benevolence has to be treated in a more "clean", not as layered way. With all her myths and the religious practices surrounding her, she seems to have the most material to draw from in building stories. She's the long time lover and main opposition to one of Diana's chief adversaries and the mother to his twin sons who are also pains in Wonder Woman's side. It's kind of a bummer that all she did in Gods and Mortals is cry out of shame that her sons were causing trouble.

[CRaymond]

You’re absolutely right about Hathor, Astarte and Inanna cults giving rise to the godhead the Greeks named Aphrodite. All of them had furious and bloodthirsty aspects. It would be nice to interpret the Amazon faith’s Aphrodite as the “goddess of passions” or emotions or something. The goddess you pray to in times of fear or joy or fury or sadness. I dunno, for me she’s Netzach and I don’t stress about it.

[DrNewGod]

I have a list of 5 DC favs, and Wonder Woman is on it (don't make me pick a favorite among my precious children). As she is one of my favs, it kind of bugs me that the Controversial Opinions thread seems to be one of the most active on the WW forum. That doesn't seem to be the case for the other character forums I visit.

IMO, that doesn't mean there's something wrong with WW. It means that neither the creators, nor we (the fans) can agree on what WW is supposed to be, and that's holding her back.

That makes me sad.

[Jim Kelly]

While the ancient Greeks made up an etymology for Aphrodite related to their word for sea foam, the name is actually not Greek and came from somewhere else--scholars think it's Semitic. And in Hesiod, Aphrodite is a peer of Zeus--her creation has nothing to do with him. It's Homer that says she was a daughter of Zeus. And stories about Aphrodite are derived from earlier non-Greek sources. It was typical for the Greeks to acquire gods and goddesses from other cultures and then try to fit them into their cosmology. And since the Amazons are supposed to have come from Asia Minor and Aphrodite might have also come from Asia Minor, it makes sense to me that in fiction she would be one of their major divinities.

[CRaymond]

I would LOVE a worldbuild that gives the Amazons a more mix mash of Achaean and Anatolian pantheons.

[Koriand'r]

I have a list of 5 DC favs, and Wonder Woman is on it (don't make me pick a favorite among my precious children). As she is one of my favs, it kind of bugs me that the Controversial Opinions thread seems to be one of the most active on the WW forum. That doesn't seem to be the case for the other character forums I visit.

IMO, that doesn't mean there's something wrong with WW. It means that neither the creators, nor we (the fans) can agree on what WW is supposed to be, and that's holding her back.

That makes me sad.

I wouldn't be sad, it's not Wonder Woman's fault. This thread gets a lot of action because it's often a catch-all for WW related tangents and flights of fancy.

[Gaius]

I would LOVE a worldbuild that gives the Amazons a more mix mash of Achaean and Anatolian pantheons.

Yes, one of things I like about the integration of the Amazon tribes of Themyscira and the Bana-Midghall was making their patrons a mix of Egyptian and Greek goddesses.

[CRaymond]

Bana-Midghall

I've yet to be convinced the addition of the Bana was a good one for the brand, but I *do* think the Amazon nation —being comprised of families, merchants, and refugees from Persia to Crimea to Sudan —should have a pantheon of syncretized gods. "Hera" could be syncretized with Anahita and Isis. The Amazons could interpret their Hera's sons to have animal heads. The Amazons could believe the Titans were turned into islands. Their Hecate could be much more like Ereshkigal, and rule a region of the Underworld. I dunno. I can throw out ideas all night.