Wonder Woman was one of those once in a lifetime movies, so much so that the Academy Awards highlighted the impact it has had on popular culture, unfortunately though, it did not receive a single nomination. This fact was not lost on the film’s many fans and supporters, including the first woman to don Wonder Woman’s iconic costume, Lynda Carter. She recently spoke of her love of the movie and her displeasure with lack of recognition the movie so richly deserves. Below are some highlights:
On her love of the film:
“I’m very close to Patty, and I think Gal Gadot did a wonderful job,” said Carter. “I was really happy to see they showed a clip of the film during the Oscars, even though they didn’t nominate it for anything. Anything. It should have been nominated. They were left out of special effects, writing, everything. Patty did an amazing job. The essence of the character is not an easy one to find the right balance of. Patty got it.”
On seeing Gadot, playing Wonder Woman:
“Yeah, a little bit. But I didn’t watch any of the trailers. I just went to premiere, saw the whole thing, and stood up and cheered.”
On whether she found her costume objectifying:
“Oh, so objectifying, like Superman with a sock in his pocket. They don’t worry about objectifying men. Because she looks like a woman, is that objectifying? Oh my God, ‘She looks like a woman,’ holy cat. It’s the ’70s and she’s wearing more than the bikini-clad girls at the time. I would not say it was objectifying. I did not play her as sexy. It was never a come-hither look. Gal Gadot never played come hither. I never played predatory. She is what she is. Ask any woman: When you are 22, and you look like you look then, well, that’s how you look. And then you’re 32 and then you’re 42 and then you’re 52 and that’s how you look. And when you’re 62, 72, 82, that’s how you look. It’s the same thing with men. I don’t think it’s any more objectifying than anything else. You want to virginize Wonder Woman? It’s ridiculous.”
On being recognized as Wonder Woman:
“I did not envision to be a lifelong thing,”…“You go about and live your life, and feel very fortunate to have had an opportunity to play a great character. She has endured and endured and endured.”… “Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett, Laverne and Shirley—but nobody like Wonder Woman.”
On the preparation of the character before she appeared onscreen:
“It was all thought out. One of the first things a producer told me is that ‘Women are going to hate you.’ That was the antithesis of how I saw the character, and so I made sure they wouldn’t. There was not a mean bone in her body, no animus. She would get angry, but she would be against bullying. She would have the lasso of truth: It is her inner light, her sense of right and wrong. She was kind, loving, fierce, honest, and able to look someone in the eye. She would be a friend and protector.”
Carter stays active in the spotlight as she is about to host a three-part series about powerful women through the centuries on the Smithsonian Channel, a quality she has embodied on the screen and continues to do so off the screen as well through her philanthropy and activism.
