{"id":74,"date":"2011-11-06T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-06T04:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/?p=74"},"modified":"2012-03-31T22:05:36","modified_gmt":"2012-04-01T02:05:36","slug":"comic-archetypes-the-golden-age-hypnotic-heroine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/74\/comic-archetypes-the-golden-age-hypnotic-heroine\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic Archetypes: The Golden Age Hypnotic Heroine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nHis\u00adto\u00adry:<\/em> Look\u00ading over the diverse cast of hyp\u00adnot\u00adic char\u00adac\u00adters in the Gold\u00aden Age of Comics (which is the peri\u00adod from the start of comics pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion through the end of WW II) one is even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly struck by the ram\u00adpant sex\u00adism and male dom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion involved. There were a num\u00adber of vil\u00adlains whose pri\u00adma\u00adry motif was some form of hyp\u00adno\u00adsis in the Gold\u00aden Age, but almost every one was male, from the shady sideshow hyp\u00adno\u00adtists and crafty con artists to the mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous mys\u00adtics and malev\u00ado\u00adlent magi\u00adcians to the sin\u00adis\u00adter sci\u00aden\u00adtists and dement\u00aded doc\u00adtors. Which should be no sur\u00adprise, as there were very few female vil\u00adlains at all dur\u00ading that time. Also, the great major\u00adi\u00adty of these char\u00adac\u00adters were \u201cone-shot\u201d char\u00adac\u00adters who only appeared in a sin\u00adgle issue: for re-occur\u00adring char\u00adac\u00adters like Lex Luthor, hyp\u00adnot\u00adic con\u00adtrol of the hero was a ploy they might use on rare occa\u00adsions but nev\u00ader spe\u00adcial\u00adized in. Strange\u00adly enough, or, rather, more like\u00adly anoth\u00ader sign of the times, is that such hyp\u00adnot\u00adic con\u00adtrol was rarely used against or by women. <\/p>\n

\nThere were a few excep\u00adtions, of course, such as the reoc\u00adcur\u00adring Jus\u00adtice Soci\u00adety vil\u00adlain\u00adess Har\u00adle\u00adquin, who used a pair of hyp\u00adnot\u00adic glass\u00ades as part of her cir\u00adcus clown motif, but she was a much more sym\u00adpa\u00adthet\u00adic char\u00adac\u00adter and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly reformed, and the one-shot vil\u00adlain\u00adess Lady Ser\u00adpent, who used her hyp\u00adnot\u00adic gaze to mes\u00admer\u00adize a female jail guard into let\u00adting her escape, yet her foe, the Black Ter\u00adror, fore\u00adwarned about her pow\u00aders, was able to resist her. (Curi\u00adous\u00adly, Cat\u00adwoman would use use the same trick to escape prison in a much lat\u00ader com\u00adic, hyp\u00adno\u00adtiz\u00ading a female guard with a cat\u2019s\u2011eye-jeweled lock\u00adet.) It almost seems as though the comics writ\u00aders just did\u00adn\u2019t want to or weren\u2019t allowed to have a female char\u00adac\u00adter, hero or vil\u00adlain, who could con\u00adtrol the male char\u00adac\u00adters: it was accept\u00adable for Luthor to put Super\u00adman under his hyp\u00adnot\u00adic con\u00adtrol, but no woman could. Giv\u00aden the sex\u00adism of the cul\u00adture at the time, that seems a like\u00adly explanation. <\/p>\n

\nBut there was one excep\u00adtion to all of this sex\u00adism, the most famous hero\u00adine of this era and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly any era. And that was Won\u00adder Woman. <\/p>\n

\n\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nDescrip\u00adtion:<\/em> A true ground-break\u00ader, Won\u00adder Woman<\/a> was one of the great Patri\u00adot\u00adic Super\u00adheroes of the Sec\u00adond World War. She was the cre\u00adation of Dr. William Moul\u00adton Marston<\/a>, who was quite the excep\u00adtion him\u00adself. Marston was a firm believ\u00ader and prac\u00adti\u00adtion\u00ader of bondage and sub\u00admis\u00adsion, polyamory and female supe\u00adri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adty, all of which reflect\u00aded in his writ\u00ading of the Won\u00adder Woman com\u00adic. His inten\u00adtion was to cre\u00adate a char\u00adac\u00adter who defeat\u00aded their ene\u00admies though love, and it was his wife Eliz\u00ada\u00adbeth who sug\u00adgest\u00aded that the char\u00adac\u00adter be a woman. The name \u201cWon\u00adder Woman\u201d was giv\u00aden by the comic\u2019s edi\u00adtor, Shel\u00addon May\u00ader: Marston want\u00aded to name her \u201cSupre\u00adma\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\nMarston equipped Won\u00adder Woman with super-human abil\u00adi\u00adties includ\u00ading divine strength, beau\u00adty and grace, and a mag\u00adic las\u00adso which would com\u00adpel any\u00adone caught in its coil to hyp\u00adnot\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly obey her. This las\u00adso was not orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly part of Won\u00adder Woman\u2019s equip\u00adment: in the orig\u00adi\u00adnal series of sto\u00adries it was a lat\u00ader gift from her moth\u00ader, Queen Hip\u00adpoly\u00adta, but when her ori\u00adgin sto\u00adry was re-told in her own title six months lat\u00ader, it was giv\u00aden to her at the start. But her excep\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adism was still bound by the times; Won\u00adder Woman rarely used her mag\u00adic las\u00adso against men to its fullest extent, that was usu\u00adal\u00adly reserved for women. In fact, there were sev\u00ader\u00adal instances where that pow\u00ader was used against her, by both men and women, but as she was the hero\u00adine, that nev\u00ader last\u00aded. And the bondage ele\u00adment went even fur\u00adther: if Won\u00adder Woman\u2019s hands were bound by any man, she would lose her Ama\u00adzon abil\u00adi\u00adties for how\u00adev\u00ader long she remained bound. <\/p>\n

\nWon\u00adder Woman had sev\u00ader\u00adal female oppo\u00adnents, but even so, her two pri\u00adma\u00adry hyp\u00adnot\u00adic oppo\u00adnents, one woman, Hyp\u00adno\u00adta, and one man, Dr Psy\u00adcho, both dis\u00adguised them\u00adselves in male forms. Hyp\u00adno\u00adta, the self-described \u201cMagi\u00adcian of the Blue Ray\u201d and mem\u00adber of \u201cVil\u00adlainy, Incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00aded\u201d, dis\u00adguised her\u00adself as a man using a fake mus\u00adtache and goa\u00adtee. Dr Psy\u00adcho, the req\u00adui\u00adsite male hyp\u00adnot\u00adic vil\u00adlain, was a misog\u00ady\u00adnist who hyp\u00adno\u00adtized a sub\u00adservient female spir\u00adit medi\u00adum to evoke and manip\u00adu\u00adlate ecto\u00adplasm at his com\u00admand, includ\u00ading dis\u00adguis\u00ading his dwarfish body with a hand\u00adsome ecto\u00adplas\u00admic shell. And, on at least one occa\u00adsion, her most fre\u00adquent oppo\u00adnent, Nazi spy Baroness von Gun\u00adther, tried using hyp\u00adno\u00adsis to enslave her per\u00adson\u00adal ser\u00advants, and used the same tech\u00adnique on Won\u00adder Woman herself. <\/p>\n

\nWon\u00adder Woman bat\u00adtled many forces, nat\u00adur\u00adal and super\u00adnat\u00adur\u00adal, includ\u00ading emis\u00adsaries of the God of War, Ares, Nazi spies and sabo\u00adteurs, war prof\u00adi\u00adteers, alien invaders and many oth\u00ader men\u00adaces. She was one of the few super\u00adheroes who sur\u00advived the end of the war and the only one in con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion to the present day, demon\u00adstrat\u00ading her pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty. In short, Won\u00adder Woman was a true Gold\u00aden Age hero\u00adine. But even so, her ideals of female supe\u00adri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adty were lim\u00adit\u00aded by the cul\u00adture and era she in which she was cre\u00adat\u00aded. As the only female mem\u00adber of the Jus\u00adtice Soci\u00adety, for exam\u00adple, she was nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly the secretary. <\/p>\n

\nIt would take anoth\u00ader era and anoth\u00ader char\u00adac\u00adter to tran\u00adscend those limitations. <\/p>\n

\nRef\u00ader\u00adences:<\/em>\n<\/p>\n