Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

I have often reflected on why I've had such a life long obsession with Wonder Woman and there are many reasons. So much of it has to do with the values and ideas imbued into the character by her creators over the decades, especially the original creators, William Moulton Marston and his partners Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne. Therefore to see their story play out and the desire to express those values is a treat. Writer/director Angela Robinson explores those ideas more than the people behind them in this soft focus biopic which makes a compelling case for the ideals of Marston.

Robinson's take is fairly glowing. She effectively sets up her heroes as persecuted martyrs whose legacy is a triumph over conservatism. The film starts with Marston taking on the forces of censorship (book burning is always a great symbol of oppression) and uses this as a framing device for her story. It might be all too rosy and a bit fantastic, like Marston's creation. She doesn't get overly critical of some of the less well thought through of Marton's ideas, such as DISC theory and his less than successful lie detector. She could have focused on the very real triumph of Wonder Woman but she is overly forgiving of much to make her point, that this family was a real family with the same entitlement to respect than any other, if not more for its spirit of equality and empowerment.

Robinson uses typical romance tropes to tell this polyamous love story focusing on that angle even with the somewhat cliched moment at the end where the paramour (in this case paramours) have to chase down their partner to confess their love and win her back. It has the same power as it does in the usual two person scene we are used to. She effectively humanizes those our culture still sees as "perverts" despite how far we've come, and in that the film is successful.

The story is a bit uneven and there are all sorts of other paths the story could have taken. But what Robinson takes on she does very well. I couldn't help feel somethings were missing while still enjoying what was there.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
Starring: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, Connie Britton
Writer/Director: Angela Robinson