Get me off this crazy train…
Yahoo: A child’s school has banned her lunchbox, because it features the comic book character Wonder Woman.
The school sent the unnamed girl home with a letter for her parents, explaining why they deem it inappropriate – which a family friend and Reddit user has posted online for the world to weigh in on.
Reddit user twines18 posted a photo of the letter sent, along with a couple of snaps of the child’s lunchbox, explaining that the school finds Wonder Woman to be a figure that represents violence.
But it’s not just this particular superhero that the school has it in for – they don’t allow any superheroes to be worn on clothing, backpacks or lunchboxes of the children.
“We noticed that Laura has a Wonder Woman lunchbox that features a super hero image,” reads the letter. “In keeping with the dress code of the school, we must ask she not bring this to school. The dress code we have established requests that the children not bring violent images into the building in any fashion – on their clothing (including shoes and socks), backpacks and lunchboxes.
“We have defined ‘violent characters’ as those who solve problems using violence. Super heroes certainly fall into that category.”
Seems fair enough, superheroes do tend to throw a few punches. But anyone who’s ever picked up a Marvel or DC Comics book, or watched one of their films, will know that superheroes only turn to violence as a last resort and it’s always in a quest to save and protect others.
So surely aspiring to the likes of Wonder Woman (one of the only female superheroes, let’s not forget) is a positive thing?
Reddit users commented on the irony that the picture on the lunchbox isn’t even violent – it’s not like it’s an image of Superman punching something or someone or Iron Man shooting someone with his repulsor blasts. She’s simply holding her Lasso of Truth – which is never used as a weapon.
“I really thought that the lunch box would have a picture of Wonder Woman kicking or punching someone,” commented one person. “Nope, just Wonder Woman is enough to indicate violence.”
And another Redditor, who clearly knows a lot about Wonder Woman, delved into her character traits. “One of the things I find most ironic here is that Wonder Woman specifically was designed to be different from other superheroes from her inception.
“Her creator saw how other superheroes utilised violence to solve problems so often, and he felt there was a different way, he felt that was a very ‘masculine’ approach, and that a feminine superhero didn’t have to just be a copy of a male superhero, solving problems in the same ways, and acting and thinking the same way, but could be uniquely a woman on top of being a hero.”
The same Reddit user also explained a little about Wonder Woman’s lasso. “That’s a magic lasso, she can get people to confront the truth of what they’ve done, and tell the truth to her especially,” he wrote. “The Lasso is basically a magical psychiatric session, it doesn’t maim, it doesn’t mutilate, it contains, and makes whoever contained in it have to be honest for maybe the first time in their lives.”
We appreciate the school’s consistency, one rule for all and all that, but banning ALL superhero images seems a little extreme. After all, who didn’t have a Batman pencil case or a Catwoman lunchbox as a child?
And we have to wonder – does the school’s ban stretch to Disney memorabilia? After all, there’s violence in almost every single Disney film. Elsa hurt a number of people with her icy blasting powers and let’s not forget Scar virtually pushing Mufasa off a cliff…
DCG
