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“Wonder Woman” and Female Unruliness

June 16, 2021

The debut of the movie “Wonder Woman” in 2017 created a much-needed moment of solidarity and optimism for women around the globe.

Professor Kathleen Rowe Karlyn explored the intense and often ambivalent responses to women who seek power, using examples from on screen and off.

In praising “Wonder Woman,” New York Times critic A.O. Scott noted that “Unlike most of her male counterparts, its heroine is not trying to exorcise inner demons or work out messiah issues. She wants to function freely in the world, to help out when needed and to be respected for her abilities. No wonder she encounters so much resistance.”

Kathleen Rowe Karlyn is Professor of English and Director of Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon. Karlyn has written two books, a number of articles and is in the early stages of a third book, co-edited with Sarah Kozloff, on female directors.

She is an internationally renowned feminist media scholar and her research and publications have had a significant impact on the fields of film and television studies, gender studies, and cultural studies.

Her book, "The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter” won the Emily Toth Award for Popular Culture from the American Culture Association’s Women’s Caucus in 1995.