Dr. Marston and the Wonder Women - Observations and Thoughts

This week Amazon debuted Angela Robinson's Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (which I will from herein call Prof Marston), a biopic about Charles Marston, the creator of the Wonder Woman comic character. The film first caught my eye when it appeared in the hall on the heels of last year's successful Wonder Woman run starring Gal Gadot, also by a female director, Patty Jenkins.

Though Robinson's film has had little mention anywhere I have noticed, I found myself while watching struck by its superior ensemble acting, and positive feminist messages. I wondered why, in the era of #MeToo, people weren't discussing in the awards chatter.

Just to be sure I knew my facts, I checked IMBD, and indeed I was incorrect, albeit not completely so. The Image awards, known for highlighting people of color, nominated it in the category of best Independent Film, Angela Robinson being African American. The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association also nominated it under the category of *Unsung Film of the Year. *

This seemed more appropriate considering that the biopic engages the topic of Marston's unconventional polyamorous relationship with his wife and their partner Olive, who began as a research assistant to the couple. The film's engagement of nontraditional families and BDSM proclivities seemed to me like topics that have not been treated as other taboos. Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight, both addressing gay relationships, and The Crying Game and Boys Don't Cry, doing the same with gender identity, are all highly visible films bringing these issues to the forefront.

Secretary, to some degree, but more so Fifty Shades of Gray, did so with BDSM, although they weren't the same types of encounters. Secretary was perhaps the first public hint of the existence of a palatable BDSM dynamic, while Fifty Shades certainly popularized it in culture for a time, but neither dealt with realism. Though Professor Marston is a biopic, and in being one of now some 40-50 year's past, fails to address present day kink and relationships that have BDSM components, it nonetheless strikes a chord of authenticity, even if romanticizing it to some extent.

Prof Marston has a similar tone to Kinsey, also a biopic, which addressed the Albert Kinsey's experience advocating for sexual education and research. Robinson does not attempt to make Prof Marston an exhaustive biopic, but rather touches on the nature of the polyamorous relationship itself, which no other movie of recollection to date has attempted.

This is ambitious. Polyamory, now more in the public vocabulary because of shows such as Polyamory: Married and Dating, Sister Wives and Big Love, is still far removed from the reality of mainstream America. Though ostracization is likely to be less of an issue now than the World War II era, it is still a factor, and, to my knowledge, most polyamorous families are not publicly “poly and proud.”

For this reason, I am surprised not to see Prof Marston treated with the same level of advocacy that has been shown for, say transgender male-to-female's received from Boys Don't Cry or gay men with Brokeback Mountain.

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If I had to speculate, I'd gamble that perhaps people feel strangely about the dominance and submission BDSM dynamics tied to the movie, and that in light of the sexual harassment and assault that has pervaded American culture in the past year or so, having both #MeToo and #PolyandProud take center stage together is too confusing for some people.

Ironically, Prof Marston has very feminist aspects to it: strong, independent women, able to make their own decisions and live with them, fighting societal factors that come against them. Some may say that Prof Marston detracts from feminism because it opens the door for females and males to be submissive. Add the idea that women might like to be tied up or spanked, and a deeper level of nuance is suddenly added.

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Can women both enjoy submission and be feminist? What about enjoy pain? Pain from a man? Punishment from a man, even if it is part of a consensual dynamic or play? The movie doesn't touch consensual nonconsent, but I can sense the nervousness of people who might feel like such play is too confusing to women and might cause too many conflicts.

I don't know that my speculations have any basis. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive for all films I've notice get award nods. It could be that Professor Marston was merely competing against too many quality films and didn't catch the eye of nominators. Still, I am suspicious of this and myself count it in an unjustly unsung film this year.

Regarding the individual elements of the film itself, I found little room for critique. Luke Evans (Professor Marston), Rebecca Hall (Elizabeth Marston) and Bella Heathcoate (Olive Byrne) join together in convincing performances. Hall especially delivers the most nuance to her role, giving us a bird's eye view to her inner conflicts. Evans shines as the an inventive idealogue who wants to change the world, nonplussed that anyone would hesitate to join him on the journey. Heathcoate significanly divides her range from portraying seductively innocent to independent and assertive.

Oliver Platt, playing comic editor Gaines, easily pulls out the character acting he's perfected. If you didn't know him already, you'd just think he's that “one guy.” Connie Britton, inhabiting a more serious character than she did in her Spin City days and darker than Friday Nigh Lights, delivers Josette Frank, the decency police. She has little room in Robinson's script for nuance, but manages to look thoughtful about the inquisition process that strings along the segments of the film, even if she knows where she is going. Her role is a difficult one in which to avoid caricature, and we end up not liking her, but knowing she's a product of her system.

And, the system is what Robinson seems to oppose. Much like Todd Hayne's Far From Heaven, you can feel it in the surrounding world from the point of view of Byrne's fiance Charles Guyette, who shames her and confronts the Marston's behavior, to their neighbors who don't believe their family is safe for their children. But Robinson spends little time lingering in the suffering of these moments, but instead uses them to build a context of what the characters of her story are able to work with in order to build the world they want for themselves.

Where Robinson has now tread, I expect to see more films to follow, exploring different aspects of both BDSM and polyamory. Is there a sitcom in the near future (or now?) that is exploring such issues as Will and Grace did for those that are gay, or the Jeffersons and Good times did for African Americans? Or will we see people attempt to change marriage laws? Just a few years ago the Supreme Court decided for gay folks.

With the Trump administration these issues seemed to have taken a backward step—but it may be that advocates feel more driven to stand up and be advocates in the light of the importance of civil liberties. Whatever the case may be, Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman stands as the first major step in cinema.