Don't worry, this isn't about the TV show. This is about me trying to sort out discrepancies with the facts we've been given or have been implied about Amazons and their subsequent portrayal. It's not a writer bashing fest either (though it may devolve into that). This is about the technological and societal evolution of the Amazons (trying to sound smart here). Okay, here we go;
Diana's first appearance, Johns' JL #3... the soldiers say she's arguing with the TV as if the channels could hear her. She doesn't know what ice cream is either
In the WW solo series, Azzarello has the Amazons go out "every generation" i.e. 20-30 years to... get sailors (let's ignore the more controversial aspects of this); sailors who'd be carrying relevant technology of the time. Venditti's Demon Knights show Amazons salvaging books, raw materials and technology from said sailors circa 1000 or so. We can assume that they do this every time they go on raids, right?
Now let's calculate something. Diana is at the moment, 23 years old. This means she was born in the late 80s or early 90s. That's a safe enough period for us to use. The timing of the Amazons raids imply that when they have kids, they all do it at the same time, so Diana's got age mates on the island. (Realise that because of the nature of Hippolyta's affair with Zeus and the lack of detail given, we can't be completely sure that Diana was conceived at the same time the Amazons go on their perennial rampage)
Sailors of the last half century (mostly fishing trawlers and explorers since we're talking the Aegean sea. Maybe the occasional Navy) didn't have nukes and particle accelerators lying around their boats. However, we can safely assume that the average boat had radar, sonar, telephones, radios, a gun or two and TV (my entire analysis rests on that so correct me if I'm wrong). That's excluding the most turbulent time in the history of the world; WW2 where ships did have torpedoes and sub-machine guns in excessive amounts.
Here's my gripe.... Didn't the Amazons go pillaging in the 40s? And when they did in the 80s or 90s as we can safely assume, didn't they encounter TVs, firearms and the like?
If we follow this line of reasoning then Diana and the other Amazons really should know not to argue with TVs unless one is practicing rhetoric (and I have a feeling fishermen carry ice cream too)
Why doesn't Diana know what a TV is? Why don't the Amazons have guns even if they don't use them? Are there phones on Themyscira? Is it just a case of bad writing? If not, is there a good reason that they didn't go in the last 30 years or that they refused to advance with the rest of the world technology-wise?
What do you guys think?
(Also, anyone else think that Robert Venditti would make a great Wonder Woman writer considering how well he wrote Exoristos and the Amazons in Demon Knights? I loved that. The banter between Vandal Savage and Hippolyta was great too)
EDIT: I forgot to add how we know that Amazons don't use guns. In an issue of the WW series, Diana was suiting up to go beat up her uncle Hades for reasons not relevant to this thread. She was picking out weapons from Hephaestus's inventory when he remarks that he finds her choices are "outdated". She replies "That's the way I was trained" in reference to her swords and daggers. Just thought I should put it out there to bolster my ramblings
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