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

[Mr. Mastermind]

The fact that Finch had to apologize for this comment is really sad. What's wrong with wanting to portray Wonder Woman as a real, fallible character? Does she HAVE to be a feminist? Why is that label even necessary? Maybe I'm missing something.

Feminists are not only real, but are also totally fallible, like everyone else. You can have a fallible, real character also be completely feminist, it's really not that hard.

And Wonder Woman has to be feminist because that's her thing. It's what she was created to be and is also what she's supposed to be a symbol of. It's like asking why Superman has to be so damn hopeful all the time.

[Step]

The fact that Finch had to apologize for this comment is really sad. What's wrong with wanting to portray Wonder Woman as a real, fallible character? Does she HAVE to be a feminist? Why is that label even necessary? Maybe I'm missing something.

She can be a real, fallible character and still be feminist, those things aren't mutually exclusive, I don't understand how people think they are.

And yes she does, she is the biggest feminist icon in comics and probably one of the biggest ever, making her not a feminist is like making Superman hate America and hope, it's very much a part of her character.

[Kid A]

Yeah I think he just meant he doesn't want her to be this saint who stands on a pillar and preaches about feminism. Obviously that's not what a feminist actually means, but at least I'm sure Finch meant well.

Far from my actual concerns with this creative team.

[Kuwagaton]

Of course, David is not writing the character so this doesn't mean as much, but it's totally the kind of conflict you would expect to hear about from putting him on the character in general. Hope they survive the experience.

[Aaron Kashtan]

The fact that Finch had to apologize for this comment is really sad. What's wrong with wanting to portray Wonder Woman as a real, fallible character? Does she HAVE to be a feminist? Why is that label even necessary? Maybe I'm missing something.

Yes, she has to be a feminist.

[DarkBeast]

So in the process of acknowledging that the character is associated with feminism, he just made an offhand comment about not wanting to go out of his way to highlight and foreground the term, and then within hours Mother Jones is taking him to task.

Wow does this culture suck.

People care this much about how the ARTIST would parse the term feminism or how much he would want it to be foregrounded? Why on earth would anyone care, unless they were more into identity politics than the actual stories?

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are associated with capitalism. No one expects the creative teams on their titles to sign written statements swearing that they believe in the free market, have never and will never entertain communist ideals.

And that's not to say that in a few short sentences Finch didn't make some kind of weird associations. Those criticizing him on those points are RIGHT, I would say.

The most worrying of his associations is this idea that feminism is about equality. It isn't. It's about arguing for women no matter what. Feminists themselves might argue otherwise, but it actually never plays out that way. More than 50% of college students and college graduates are women . . . and yet feminists still push for more scholarships for women.

Oh, before you get the wrong idea, I don't really have a problem with any of that. But I just think that this "feminists are for equality" thing is a big misnomer. It's for supporting women and women's points of views, no matter what.

For what it's worth, I think Wonder Woman works best as a female supremacist, at least for her own Amazonian way of life. I actually do like that idea and am dead serious about this. If David Finch doesn't feel like having WW associated with the term "feminist", that's fine with me too. But I think she should embody a type of female superiority.

PS. Wonder Woman herself would probably be too busy being awesome to care about whether or not a comic book artist would care to associate her with some sort of human-all-too-human political movement. She would not be begging the government for free condoms.

[coveredinbees]

Everyone should be a feminist. Wtf, Finch? Is he afraid of the word?

[coveredinbees]

So in the process of acknowledging that the character is associated with feminism, he just made an offhand comment about not wanting to go out of his way to highlight and foreground the term, and then within hours Mother Jones is taking him to task.

Wow does this culture suck.

People care this much about how the ARTIST would parse the term feminism or how much he would want it to be foregrounded? Why on earth would anyone care, unless they were more into identity politics than the actual stories?

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are associated with capitalism. No one expects the creative teams on their titles to sign written statements swearing that they believe in the free market, have never and will never entertain communist ideals.

And that's not to say that in a few short sentences Finch didn't make some kind of weird associations. Those criticizing him on those points are RIGHT, I would say.

The most worrying of his associations is this idea that feminism is about equality. It isn't. It's about arguing for women no matter what. Feminists themselves might argue otherwise, but it actually never plays out that way. More than 50% of college students and college graduates are women . . . and yet feminists still push for more scholarships for women.

Oh, before you get the wrong idea, I don't really have a problem with any of that. But I just think that this "feminists are for equality" thing is a big misnomer. It's for supporting women and women's points of views, no matter what.

For what it's worth, I think Wonder Woman works best as a female supremacist, at least for her own Amazonian way of life. I actually do like that idea and am dead serious about this. If David Finch doesn't feel like having WW associated with the term "feminist", that's fine with me too. But I think she should embody a type of female superiority.

Wonder Woman herself would probably be too busy being awesome to care about whether or not a comic book artist would care to associate her with some sort of human-all-too-human political movement.

No. You have no idea what feminism is. You're looking at it as a man seeing an attack on men.

[neonrideraryeh]

I understand what he meant. It's just a lot of people want to twist his words and turn it into something they can complain about. Sometimes I think it's better if they just didn't have interviews because somebody is bound to turn it into an argument. Can't people just enjoy the comics rather than make attacks on the writers/artists. I just want us to post happy things instead of fuel the arguments and rage. Misunderstanding what somebody said in an interview won't do anything to the quality of the book. I'm looking forward to the book and hopefully it will show Diana as the icon of equality that she is. I'm sure they'll do their best to show that. Besides, he's the artist, not the script writer. He'll contribute to the story sure, but the words coming out of Diana's mouth will be the writer's words. Let's just get what they meant and move on.

But yeah, it seems the word "feminist" has become a point of discussion on its own. That's a discussion much bigger than what somebody thought an artist meant in a sentence.

[Mahes]

Everyone should be a feminist. Wtf, Finch? Is he afraid of the word?

That's my thinking. Like it or not, the word is a hot topic and is very misunderstood and sometimes is used a way to be "trendy", "cool", and "hip". I think Finch was trying to avoid controversy but instead invited it tenfold.

[Sacred Knight]

Just no words for the fact he actually had to apologize for this, and that it actually created "controversy".

[Teek]

Wait....Am I supposed to take from this that being a feminist is somehow incompatible with being a faillible human being?

You're going to take whatever offends you the most. That's what you're looking for, right?

Yeah I think he just meant he doesn't want her to be this saint who stands on a pillar and preaches about feminism. Obviously that's not what a feminist actually means, but at least I'm sure Finch meant well.

It is obvious, but how are the outrage junkies going to get their fix if they don't jump to an absurd conclusion?


Dude clearly just wants to draw stories about a badass warrior woman without making any big political statements one way or the other. Unfortunately, when it comes to feminism, there's a very strong "you're with us or you're against us" mentality that demonizes anybody that doesn't tow-the-line 24/7.

[Auguste Dupin]

So in the process of acknowledging that the character is associated with feminism, he just made an offhand comment about not wanting to go out of his way to highlight and foreground the term, and then within hours Mother Jones is taking him to task.

Wow does this culture suck.

People care this much about how the ARTIST would parse the term feminism or how much he would want it to be foregrounded? Why on earth would anyone care, unless they were more into identity politics than the actual stories?

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are associated with capitalism. No one expects the creative teams on their titles to sign written statements swearing that they believe in the free market, have never and will never entertain communist ideals.

And that's not to say that in a few short sentences Finch didn't make some kind of weird associations. Those criticizing him on those points are RIGHT, I would say.

The most worrying of his associations is this idea that feminism is about equality. It isn't. It's about arguing for women no matter what. Feminists themselves might argue otherwise, but it actually never plays out that way. More than 50% of college students and college graduates are women . . . and yet feminists still push for more scholarships for women.

Oh, before you get the wrong idea, I don't really have a problem with any of that. But I just think that this "feminists are for equality" thing is a big misnomer. It's for supporting women and women's points of views, no matter what.

For what it's worth, I think Wonder Woman works best as a female supremacist, at least for her own Amazonian way of life. I actually do like that idea and am dead serious about this. If David Finch doesn't feel like having WW associated with the term "feminist", that's fine with me too. But I think she should embody a type of female superiority.

Wonder Woman herself would probably be too busy being awesome to care about whether or not a comic book artist would care to associate her with some sort of human-all-too-human political movement.

"fem·i·nism [fem-uh-niz-uhm]
noun
the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.
2.
( sometimes initial capital letter ) an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.
3.
feminine character."

From the dictionary.
Try again?
I mean, seriously, what kind of feminists did you guys met? The ones I met were nice and polite, but felt that it would be kinda cool if a woman doing the same job as a man could earn as much money. I never met any arguing than women are supposed to have more right than men. Yeah, sure there's some extremists here and there, and sometimes they can make a lot of noise, but guess what? That's true for most beliefs and schools of thought.

[confusiongrows]

I have a feeling I know what he meant, but he said it so badly he's just put his foot further into his mouth. He's not good with words, I can't believe they ever let him write a Batman book.

No optimism for this run at this point, in all honesty.

[coveredinbees]

Just no words for the fact he actually had to apologize for this.

He should have to apologize. Being afraid of feminism should be one of the most embarrassing things. On purpose or not, he's encouraging people to misunderstand the movement. It's so common and it's so ignorant.