Episode 15: Wonder Woman & Barbarella

Comic book action heroines. Sarah Watt, Max Tarrant, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the films Wonder Woman (2017) and Barbarella (1968). The discussion touches on the fun to be had in both films, as well as its exploration of female empowerment, sexual politics and the qualities of both title characters. Sex plays a prominent role in the cult classic sexploitation Barbarella, while careful discussion of sex is explored in the mainstream Wonder Woman. The production design in Barbarella is impressive, which develops into a discussion around the strengths and weaknesses of visual and special effects. We compare the strength of the music in Barbarella to the forgettable music in Wonder Woman. We discuss the female gaze and male gaze in the compared films, and how much the traditional male gaze influences the choices made in the female directed Wonder Woman. Sarah wraps up the discussion with her own personal visceral reaction to seeing a strong female hero on the screen and realising how much a character of this type is needed. Our final words are around the strength of Jane Fonda’s performance in Barbarella, despite being in an overly camp film, and the iconic status of Wonder Woman, and her role in providing young girls a hero to look up to.