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Wonder Woman Wednesday: Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue!

Don’t give me reasons, give me alibis . . .

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Amazons! Thank you for taking time away from your squabbling relatives and turkey comas to join us for another exciting installment of Wonder Woman Wednesday.

An interesting thing happened in one of my Wonder Woman Fan Groups on Facebook after Gal Gadot tweeted the first picture of herself from the set of the Wonder Woman film that recently began filming.

I’m not referring to comments about how the cloak made her look like Natalie Portman in Star Wars or that she should be in The Lord of The Rings. Oh sure, there was that. I, for one, was not excited to see WW dressed like a Gregorian Monk, but hey, I’m still reserving judgment until the film arrives. Maybe she was cold or modeling the latest Amazonian Hoodie available at Target?

Then, someone made the off-color remark that her eyes should be blue. I’m sure this isn’t the first time the subject has come up, but it’s the first time I, myself, got so close to it. I figured it had to come up at some point. After all, the character in the comics has blue eyes, and Lynda Carter had blue eyes in the television series.

I mean, it’s almost as important to the character as her lasso or star-spangled panties. Surely, the powers that be must have at least considered that major detail.

I hesitate to weigh in on the subject, as blue eyes happens to be one of my most stunning features.  I wouldn’t want to come across as biased or like some blue-eyed, Aryan glory hound. Hera forbid!

It was mentioned that Brandon Routh’s eyes were digitized to be blue for Superman Returns, and the process is a long and expensive one. (What a big, freaking waste of time and money that was!) Also suggested was the use of colored contact lenses.  What a no-brainer that seems to be.

But really, how important is it?  We know fans are notorious sticklers for details. On the other hand, comics adaptions are notorious for switching up even larger details. Now, it seems commonplace, if not expected, to mix things up, like say the race swaps of characters like Iris West and Jimmy Olsen, er “James Olsen” (My bad!) on Flash and Supergirl, respectively.

I was quick to stand up and scream, “What difference does it make? A good character played by a good actor negates all that!” Although, I have to admit, I kind of agree that Wondy should have blue peepers. Although, in all hypocrisy, it did annoy me when Madonna wore brown contacts to play Evita.

So, why be a stickler for such a seemingly trite detail? Could it be my blue-eyed ego? Could it be my super Type-A personality demanding things be the way they are “supposed to be?” I also had thought that Halle Berry should have worn blue contacts in X-Men. (Does anyone deny Beyoncé rocked that look in her Storm Cosplay?)

Why are blue eyes so coveted anyway? They’re a mutation. Some 10,000 years ago, everyone had brown eyes. A mutation not as cool as a healing factor or optic blasts, but a mutation nonetheless.

A few years back, when Alex Ross was doing his amazing treasury-sized series featuring DC’s iconic characters, he talked about giving Batman brown eyes. He had to get special permission to do so for a reason that escapes me. Perhaps licensing or something?

He said it was unrealistic that everyone would have blue eyes. And, I suppose statistically he is correct as only 1 in 6 people in the US has blue eyes.

For some reason, it seems more important for Superman and Wonder Woman. For Superman, it just wouldn’t look right. And, for Wonder Woman, well, it just doesn’t look right.

But, why is that? If she’s Greek, she’d most likely have brown eyes. I think it’s because Lynda Carter essentially ruined Wonder Woman for all other actresses. But, it’s not her fault. She only played Wonder Woman for three seasons. But, she was perfect. Perhaps too perfect. She was our first and only WW in the flesh for a mighty long time. So, we have nothing else to compare her to.

If Hollywood had gotten off its collective ass and kept comicdom’s #1 superheroine relevant on celluloid over the years, we may not be so single-minded in our opinion of what Diana should look like on the silver screen.

Many actors have portrayed Batman over the years with varying eye color. Adam West had brown eyes. Michael Keaton has blue eyes. George Clooney – brown. No one complained. (Well, not about the eye color anyway.)

I’m not sure what color George Reeves’ eyes were. Christopher Reeve’s, of course, were blue as can be and certainly added to the authenticity of the look of Superman. Henry Cavil’s baby blues are as beautiful as every other part of his Kryptonian physique. And, let’s face it, it would have been a little distracting if Brandon Routh’s eyes were left undigitized in Superman Returns. Luckily, we were only distracted by a hugely disappointing film.

So, at the end of the day, why does it matter if Wonder Woman has blue eyes in the movie? Because, guess what? It doesn’t. She’s a good character. If she is well acted with a good script, eye color will have much ado about nothing concerning the price of tea in China.

That said, don’t it make my blue eyes brown. Be back next week for more Wonder Woman Wednesday and be sure to head over to the “I Am Wonder Fan” Facebook page and “Like” and “share.”

Michael Fitzgerald Troy, Fanbase Press Contributor

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