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From Classics to Wonder Women!  A former student recounts the inspiration provided by two faculty members

Submitted by Alain M Gowing on May 31, 2012 - 5:01pm

Jennifer K. Stuller (BA, Comparative History of Ideas 2005), now a prominent expert in female super and action heroes, plays a central role in a new documentary that was a smash hit at the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival.

Jen writes, "I became involved with Wonder Women! The Untold History of American Superheroines when director, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, approached me after a presentation I'd given at the Comic Arts Conference at WonderCon on feminism in Lois Lane and Wonder Woman comic books of the 1970s. She was interested in how my work investigated ways in which feminism and popular culture influenced and reflected social and political values about gender. And in fact, my history of this interplay, Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology was about to be published - so we had a lot to talk about."

 "When Kristy needed an expert on Amazons for her film, I knew exactly who to recommend - Dr. Ruby Blondell. Ruby and I had bonded over our mutual affection for Xena, the Warrior Princess - and for strong females in general. In fact, I'd found two in the Classics department at the University of  Washington. Though I was not a Classics major, both Ruby and Dr. Catherine Connors recognized, shared, and supported my interest in the complicated narratives of heroines and villainesses. To this day, long after graduation, Ruby remains my Amazon sister. "

Click here for more on Wonder Women!

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