Ooo! WW-DVD!
Ragnell's got Good News!
I'll admit, I've always thought of Wonder Woman having a lower/richer voice than Ms. Russell, but that's more of a personal taste thing and I can't see any reason why she couldn't do a lovely job with the role.
Misspellings aside, I think this could be a lot of fun! At the very least I like that it uses a traditional Wonder Woman "villain" (I normally wouldn't buy the wanting to destroy all life, but he does apparently have a thingy to make zombies and presumably zombies fighting with each other still count). I'm hoping they'll keep Steve Trevor as a love interest too. I never much liked the post Crisis 'boot writing him away like they did.
Mostly though I'm thinking, and this may well be wishful thinking, that if the darn DVD sells well, we might well get our shot for a theatrical live-action release later on. It'd at least prove a pre-existing market!
I'll admit, I've always thought of Wonder Woman having a lower/richer voice than Ms. Russell, but that's more of a personal taste thing and I can't see any reason why she couldn't do a lovely job with the role.
Misspellings aside, I think this could be a lot of fun! At the very least I like that it uses a traditional Wonder Woman "villain" (I normally wouldn't buy the wanting to destroy all life, but he does apparently have a thingy to make zombies and presumably zombies fighting with each other still count). I'm hoping they'll keep Steve Trevor as a love interest too. I never much liked the post Crisis 'boot writing him away like they did.
Mostly though I'm thinking, and this may well be wishful thinking, that if the darn DVD sells well, we might well get our shot for a theatrical live-action release later on. It'd at least prove a pre-existing market!
posted by kalinara @ 2:27 AM
9 Comments:
At January 16, 2008 9:07 AM,
SallyP said…
I blush to admit that I don't even know who Keri Russell IS! On the other hand, I'm delighted that they are at least making a cartoon, because I'll take Diana any way that I can get her.
At January 16, 2008 10:42 AM,
Ragtime said…
I'll admit, I've always thought of Wonder Woman having a lower/richer voice than Ms. Russell, but that's more of a personal taste thing and I can't see any reason why she couldn't do a lovely job with the role.
I call foul!
"Lower/richer voice" isn't just a "personal taste," its also an obviously masculine stereotype. Female action heroes (the few that are out there) like Ripley or Sarah Connor (or, to the extreme, several Kathleen Turner roles) tend to get cast with a stereotyped deep, manly voice. "She may not be a man, but she sure is manly!"
This is not a criticism at all of Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton -- who were both great -- but saying you prefer a "low voice" is implying that "leaving as many of your female secondary sex characteristics as possible at the door" is a preferable way to do female action.
Also, Lynda Carter is the real Wonder Woman did not have much of a deep voice at all :-) (although she did deepen it a little to differentiate Wonder Woman from Diana Prince).
At January 16, 2008 11:58 AM,
kalinara said…
I won't deny there's probably a subconscious element of action hero = deeper voice in my personal preference.
Honestly though, I just tend to prefer the sound of deeper/lower female voices in animation than lighter/higher ones. I tend to think that, when taking into account two voice actresses with the same apparent level of talent, the deeper voice sounds more expressive.
Also, there's the fact that my voice is kind of low/deep naturally, and I like the thought of Wonder Woman speaking like me. :-)
At January 16, 2008 1:53 PM,
Ragtime said…
Certainly, also, if the high voice is usually associated with a frivolous character (as it often is), you may want a lower voice just because it may be an indication that the writers will take the character seriously. If Jeanne Kasem had been cast as the the voice of Natasha Fatale, you'd be getting a clear indication that the Russian Spy was going to be written as a ditzy blonde.
At January 16, 2008 3:50 PM,
Ferrous Buller said…
What did you think of Wonder Woman's voice in the JLU series?
At January 16, 2008 10:11 PM,
Anonymous said…
I think Lucy Lawless doing the voice of Wonder Woman in the 'Justice League: The New Frontier' DVD thats coming out next month pretty much puts the nail in the coffin. Although she speaks with a Kiwi accent (it basically sounds Australian) she uses a lower register when she played Xena, which I think she will be using for Wonder Woman. Brilliant casting. She could of done the live action film 15 years ago as well.
Btw, I don't think female heroes having/preferable deeper voices is somehow sexist. It just has to do with intimidation; and a low voice (but unique to differ from other heroes so its not cliche or stoic) is how it should be, man or woman. So its not a matter of "shes manly" or whatever.
At January 17, 2008 9:35 AM,
SallyP said…
Ragtime, I can honestly say that I've never thought of Kathleen Turner as having a "manly" voice. Frankly, I think she sounds sexy as heck. But that's just my personal taste.
But if Keri Russell sounds like the Chipmunks, I'll call foul!
At January 17, 2008 10:08 AM,
Ragtime said…
Btw, I don't think female heroes having/preferable deeper voices is somehow sexist. It just has to do with intimidation;
And what makes a deep voice intimidating? Or, put another way, what causes a deep voice?
Comparatively higher testosterone levels.
We find deep voices more intimidating because they are associated with men (and women with above average testosterone levels). There is nothing inherent in low sounds that make them scarier.
Imagine a casting director said, "We don't take gender into consideration at all in casting action movies! We just cast the tallest person with the deepest voice -- irrespective of sex! -- because that's what people want to see in an action hero!" You'd still consider it sexist when the entire cast was male.
Ragtime, I can honestly say that I've never thought of Kathleen Turner as having a "manly" voice.
Not manly. And no one is going to debate that Jessica Rabbit's voice wasn't sexy. But sexy because of its masculine elements. And Masculine enough to get to run around the jungle in the Indiana-Jones-Lite Romancing the Stone or play a grizzled cop in V. I. Warshawski.
At June 18, 2008 6:35 PM,
philippos42 said…
Um.
Deep voices can also reflect age & trauma to the glottis. Women who smoke or have smoked in the past have deeper voices. Baritone contraltos usually have an ongoing tobacco habit.
High clear voices are associated with youth. High weak voices, on the other hand, can come with disability & advanced age.
Youth != femininity.
And strong voices with a certain weatheredness are not necessarily male or defeminized.
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