Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines

Viewers of this documentary come to understand why Wonder Woman was created and how her image and iconography has changed over time to suit the changing ideas of what womanhood should be. In the spangled, abbreviated costume that somehow offers incredible frontal support, Wonder Woman has become something of a camp icon in pop culture. However, she's anything but to the legions of women and girls who look to Wonder Woman and heroes like her to provide a strong role model that influences lives.

In perhaps the most powerful moments of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, a fourth-grader explains why she idolizes Wonder Woman: "She shows girls can be daring and brave," she says, swishing the cape of her Wonder Woman costume. "Sometimes I get picked on at school but I tell myself, keep going, you're going to be more someday." In another stirring sequence, we see a young working mother get a Wonder Woman tattoo on her shoulder: "I have a daughter. I have two jobs. I study and take care of the house. I have to be a wonder woman to do it," she laughs. Then we see her 4-year-old daughter, already "a little Wonder Woman," who will be "strong" and will "never give up." That, plus the sequence when Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner explains that she gets fan mail from grown-up female viewers who went on to careers in science in math instead of just going to beauty school like their parents wanted, should have sensitive viewers almost in tears/ready to go out and take on the world.