On The Reel: The Inspirations Behind ‘Wonder Woman’

The creations that helped the Amazonian princess come to life on the silver screen.

The era of “peak TV” also means an abundance of entertainment, and some of it right at our fingertips. You don’t have time to go through it all with your job, kids, video games, and maybe even your gambling addiction. If only there was some cocky little sh*t willing to comb through it all…well you’re in luck because here I am. Every week, On The Reel will give you something to watch in theaters, a couple shows or movies to stream, and maybe even a hidden gem or two.

I get it. You just saw Wonder Woman and if you liked it as much as I did, you want more. You’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more things similar to Wonder Woman. Lucky for you, there are plenty of streaming options this week if you’re looking for something to scratch that itch. Also, if you have an actual itch, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a cream for that. Netflix and chill isn’t the answer to every problem.

Animated Wonder Woman

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited serve as counterarguments for anyone who believes comic books are “just for kids.” From 2001–2006, producer/creator Bruce Timm’s animated series explored family conflict, death, the meaning of life, teamwork, humanity, morality, heroism, relationships, and even became an allegory for our post 9/11 world. Starting with a core lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and the Martian Manhunter, Unlimited saw the team triple or quadruple its ranks. Seriously, by the time the show transitioned to JLU, the animators could barely fit every character on screen.

It’s also one of the best modern adaptations of the Amazonian Princess and until the 2017 flick, was the best. Over the course of five years, Diana Prince shows every facet of her personality. She’s ruthless at times with villains, compassionate with friends and civilians, helpful, loving, incredibly powerful, and has no problem showing how she feels about something or someone even if there’s a chance of disappointment in the end. She has the strongest sense of justice — pun — of anyone on the team along with the worst temper. To paraphrase one of the great comic book writers of all time, Superman is who you call if you want to stop an asteroid, Batman is who you call if you want to solve a mystery, but if you want to stop a war, you call Wonder Woman.

There’s really no need to single out any specific episode if you want a Wonder Woman showcase since she features prominently in damn-near every episode, but it would also be a disservice to the series as a whole. Bruce Timm and his crew created something so layered and rich while never losing sight of its characters and their relationships. Yeah it’s fun for the kiddies to watch but there are themes and ideas adults will have a greater appreciation for, along with some sexual innuendos because hey, we’re all filthy animals.

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited may not be “slept-on” in the most basic sense of the phrase, but for those of you still getting your Rip Van Winkle on, these masterpieces deserve your attention.

What If Peter Pan Grew Up?

Hook may not be the first thing to pop in someone’s head when they’re thinking of Wonder Woman, but both flicks have a similar feel with fish-out-of-water narratives, along with a have a London setting, and deal with the nature of relationships and how they afffect us.

It’s also just a good time to talk about Hook, a surprisingly polarizing movie. Apparently, if you’re over a certain age the movie is a slight dumpster fire but for those of us who were kids in ’91, it’s catnip. Steven Spielberg’s flick imagines a Peter Pan who left Neverland, grew into an adult, got married, had his own kids, and forgot everything about his life as “the boy who never grew up.” Robin Williams is Pan, Dustin Hoffman is the best Captain Hook ever, the late Bob Hoskins is Mr. Smee, and Julia Roberts plays Tinkerbell in this movie about pirates, lost boys, parenthood, and the benefits of childlike wonder and imagination.

What gives the flick its heart though is the ways in which both Peter and Hook become father figures. Peter has to become a better father to his son, Jack, so it helps to have a few lost boys around who need the guidance and leadership they’ve been missing since he left them the first time. Hook, sensing an opening, decides the best way to beat his archenemy is to become the father Jack always wanted. Yes, it doesn’t seem like typical Peter Pan stuff if your only history with the character is from Disney movies, but it’s perfectly aligned with J.M. Barrie’s books and characters he created.

You also get scenes like this

No one in the history of film can make an emotionally satisfying scene the way Spielberg and composer John Williams can.

If you’re one of the people who poo poo’d Hook in ’91 or any year thereafter, give it another shot. It holds up really well for something almost 30 years old — yikes, I’m getting old — and it has the same sense of adventure and fun Wonder Woman has and doesn’t forget its emotional core.

Apocalypse Now, Mind Over Matter Next Batter Be Tical…

Wonder Woman is also a war movie. More speficially, it’s an anti-war movie and just like every anti-war movie made after 1979, it owes a debt of gratitude to Apocalypse Now. Francis Ford Coppola’s mind fuck of a flick is all about the ills of Vietnam and just how anyone called to pull a trigger and wear fatigues can be driven insane by war.

It’s the type of flick that pulls no punches. Blood, guts, carnage, torn limbs and anything else you can think of is on display. Coppola, much like Wes Craven and every other filmmaker of their generation, was deeply affected by Vietnam. And like Craven did seven years earlier with The Last House on the Left, he knew the best way to make an anti-violence and anti-war flick was to truly show audiences the horror.

Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, and Dennis Hopper are just a few of the big names in this sprawling epic that damn-near drove the entire cast and crew insane. So much ink — both actual and digital — has been spilled about this movie over 40 years so far be it from me to offer a dissertation, but as one of those “American classics,” Apocalypse Now is worth your time if just to see if it lives up to the hype. It’s a complicated flick with a lot on its mind and never once holds the hand of the audience.

The Doctor Who Needs No Introduction

Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don’t need to say anything more. It’s Indiana Jones in one of the greatest movies ever made. Watch it.

I dare you to listen to the theme and not get chills up your spine.

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited can be found on Netflix, Hook is waiting for you on Amazon, while both Apocalypse Now and Raiders of the Lost Ark can both be dug up on Hulu.

Marcus Benjamin is a danger to the public, an alum of American University, St. John’s University, a screenwriter, and has an intense relationship with words. Witness his tomfoolery on Twitter, @AbstractPo3tic.

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