David Finch Clarifies His "Wonder Woman" "Feminist" Stance

[t hedge coke]

I still think Finch & Finch are going to do just fine on the title, and I'm glad they've both been so forthcoming and willing to engage fans (Wonder Woman fans and general comics fans) so far.

Feminism is hope

But a person on a website this one time said that someone can't belong to the club because reasons.

[Carabas]

Instead, it reeks of a comic book creator trying his hardest not to invite controversy by shying away from a word that is (unfortunately) somewhat controversial.

Reading back the original interview, it looks like an artist doing his best to invite controversy because nobody asked him about feminism. He brought it up himself. He went out and took a stand: his Wonder Woman won't be feminist.

Maybe the reason he doesn't want to use the word feminist is that you can't get 10 people to agree one exactly what it means?never if they are all women.

Except of course that he seemed very eager to use the word since nobody prompted him to use it.

[Sacred Knight]

So choosing to use the term without being prompted to use it is inviting controversy? Why? We're not talking about a slur, we're talking about an ideology. Who decided that one had to be prompted in order to use such a word? No one's denying he's the one who brought it up. My question is why was it so wrong for him to do so? And the answer I keep coming back to is because people are just mad he basically said he didn't want to explore it with Wonder Woman. And hey I get that. But its one thing to express a disagreement on the grounds that one feels WW should portray feminist themes, and its completely another to try and demonize the guy and try and twist his comments into something sinister and insulting. Nothing he said invited this scorn. If he invited anything by introducing the topic, at best it would be perhaps discussion, mature debate. Nothing more. Certainly not the typical internet rage that followed.

Further, and if this is not the place for this I will take it elsewhere, but I am not big on the whole tumblr thing. Never have been there and needless to say now never want to. But what it is it about this particular site that had it evolve into such a radical place?

[Pyrebomb]

Reading back the original interview, it looks like an artist doing his best to invite controversy because nobody asked him about feminism. He brought it up himself. He went out and took a stand: his Wonder Woman won't be feminist.

You do understand how interviews work, yes? How they're typically conducted verbally, if not face-to-face, in real-time? Or are you just so wonderfully blessed that you've never fumbled for a word?

He obviously didn't want to say "feminist" because of how polarizing a word it is and how batshit cray some people get over it. But since he said that wasn't the word he wanted to use in the midst of looking for the right one, he got a shitstorm, anyways.

[Carabas]

You do understand how interviews work, yes? How they're typically conducted verbally, if not face-to-face, in real-time? Or are you just so wonderfully blessed that you've never fumbled for a word?

He obviously didn't want to say "feminist" because of how polarizing a word it is and how batshit cray some people get over it. But since he said that wasn't the word he wanted to use in the midst of looking for the right one, he got a shitstorm, anyways.

If he didn't want to use the word, why did he feel the need to use it anyway for no reason?

Also, these interviews are not always carried out in real time. Often you just get emailed a list of questions.

[sonofspam1972]

For the record he never said WW wont be feminist.

[Striderblack01]

Reading back the original interview, it looks like an artist doing his best to invite controversy because nobody asked him about feminism. He brought it up himself. He went out and took a stand: his Wonder Woman won't be feminist.

Heroes have a way of embodying ideals.

Sometimes, creative teams focus too much on personifying those ideals and lose sight of what makes the character human, which can lead to a very dull book.
I think the idea that Finch was trying to communicate was that he wants Wonder Woman to be a human first and an ideal second.
Feminism being one of the ideals linked to WW.
That he thought the word most likely shows that he was thinking about the character.
That he shied away from it most likely means that he was trying to avoid any controversy stemming from the term.

That's how I interpreted his original and follow up comments.
I saw nothing that would indicate a lack of understanding of what feminism is, or that his WW wouldn't be one.
I'm not in the business of telling people what to be or not be offended by, but this story seems like it was just click-bait.

[Pyrebomb]

Heroes have a way of embodying ideals.

Sometimes, creative teams focus too much on personifying those ideals and lose sight of what makes the character human, which can lead to a very dull book.
I think the idea that Finch was trying to communicate was that he wants Wonder Woman to be a human first and an ideal second.
Feminism being one of the ideals linked to WW.
That he thought the word most likely shows that he was thinking about the character.
That he shied away from it most likely means that he was trying to avoid any controversy stemming from the term.

That's how I interpreted his original and follow up comments.
I saw nothing that would indicate a lack of understanding of what feminism is, or that his WW wouldn't be one.
I'm not in the business of telling people what to be or not be offended by, but this story seems like it was just click-bait.

Or, you know. "Everything is offensive" tumblr reactions are bleeding into other media.

(Seriously. I only heard about this through the feminist!rage going around that site. And I just read through five pages of the initial CBR thread without anybody mentioning his comment on feminism once. But quite a few people were excited that WW now had a female writer because she might bring in a more feminist slant. Oh, irony.)

[just another user]

Everyone should be a feminist.

It's sad to see people repurposing the term as an insult.

[Andrew Eldritch]

Oh my goodness, everyone needs to chill the heck out. I've seen people react negatively about this creative team I'd have never expected it from. It's all being blown out of proportion.

Well, Mr. Finch's not exactly an unanimity between comic book fans. So, i think some people will use any excuses to bash his work on the book even before it started.

[Carabas]

...I'm not in the business of telling people what to be or not be offended by, but this story seems like it was just click-bait.

And what I'm saying is that Finch intentioanlly created this controversy by going out of his way to say his Wonder Woman might not be feminist while the interviewer wasn't even asking about that.

[JanArrah]

After 3 years of Wonder Woman being written draped in misogyny people get upset because the artist says he doesn't want her to be a feminist. *blinks* I'm baffled. For 3 years, we've had murdering rapist Amazons and now the creation of the new Manazons who are now going to take over the female lead island. For 3 years, we've had Wonder Woman as a Demi-God, daughter of Zeus and trained by Ares/Mars/dumbly named War. We've had Wonder Woman running around with phallic symbols, stabbing and murdering people. We've had Wonder Woman as the God of War (not Goddess, but God). We've had Wonder Woman take a backseat to the story and she's severely underdeveloped. She's regularly not appeared in even HALF her own comic. Her male supporting characters often over shadow her and save the day without her even realizing what's going on because she's busy fighting the Monster of the Day. She's been regulated to Superman's girlfriend in her second title and more of a guest-star than a headliner. And the crap hits the fan when the ARTIST says he's not focusing on her as a feminist? Really? Where was all the outrage when DC mined and destroyed Wonder Woman and her legacy for 3 YEARS!
Seems to me the outrage is completely and utterly aimed at the wrong way. Yes Wonder Woman should be a feminist and was created by a feminist, but.. Seriously? Why weren't you upset when Azzarello destroyed that? Instead you happily read along and told those of us that pointed it out to sit down and shut up. Well.. get pissed that Diana isn't a feminist, but not that her and her title is rampant with misogyny. That's brilliant.

[Conch22]

I take his comments as wanting to portray her as a character first and a didactic label second.
Maybe lets see how that works in practice before burning him in effigy.

[Vanguard-01]

Maybe the reason he doesn't want to use the word feminist is that you can't get 10 people to agree one exactly what it means?never if they are all women.

Is decrying the objectification of women while going to male strip clubs? That seems contradictory.

I've seen articles by women that say feminism if as much about freeing men as women, and other articles by women that say this is rubbish because men don't need to be freed since they already have too much power, and the very idea of painting men as victims is insulting to women.

Finch's only misstep here is saying "not feminist." In using the negative, he gave an impression to some people that feminism is itself a negative. A wiser course for him would have been to focus his statements on the positive. A strong character who focuses on equality for all people. I expect that's ten minutes he'd like to have back, but I don't think the people who want to burn him in effigy have enough evidence here to back up their claims.

Wow.

Two posts from you with which I totally agree in two days. The times? They are a-changin'!

I really have nothing else to add to this. Brett pretty much said it all.

[Gaelforce]

Just a general warning.

Some of the posts are walking a fine line, so please take care with your posts. Be civil, discuss the topic/not the posters, don't be insulting towards anyone, either as an individual or as a group.

Thanks