Barbara Loden was born in Marion North Carolina on July 8, 1932. She was a pronounced film director and actress. In 1971 Barbara Loden wrote, directed, and starred in a film called Wanda. She also won the Critics prize in 1970 which "made her feel as though she was already a notable director and she did not have to use her sexuality anymore to influence critics of her work, " which was according to her late husband Elia Kazan. The couple had two children together. After some years, Barbara Loden had acquired cancer and died September 5, 1980. Loden was 48 when she died. Loden's films were some of the best due to the innovative technicalities and their interesting story lines.

Loden got the idea to write and direct Wanda from a newspaper article that she read one day. (Apparently a lot of writers and directors get their ideas from articles such as these. ) But the article explained a story of a woman who had been an accomplice to a bank robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. When the judge had sentenced her, she thanked him. This is what gave Loden the idea to write and direct a similar story. Most people have compared it to Aurthur Penns' Bonnie and Clyde, which Loden gets furious about. She has said that Wanda is the anti- Bonnie even though she still acts as an accomplice to Mr. Dennis. She wrote, about Bonnie and Clyde, "I didn't care for it because it was unrealistic and it glamorized the characters. People like that would never get into those situations or lead that kind of life- they were to beautiful." This is apparent in Wanda because in the beginning she showed Wanda asleep in her sisters' couch and her husband glares at Wanda asleep and gives her a dirty look. this implies that Wanda is basically homeless and worth nothing. All she has is the clothes on her back. then a little bit into the movie you see Wanda as almost a prostitute by asking any man she sees for a ride, a beer, or money. These actions reveal to the audience that she is not very glamorized and doesn't really have any respect for herself or anyone else for that matter.

But in the end of Wanda she finally did not allow anyone to take advantage of her. There was one guy that she meets and he takes her for a ride and tries to put the moves on her but she vehemently pushes him away and she runs into the woods. This is a big changing point for Wanda because she is not allowing herself to be taken advantage of anymore. I think the reason why was because she felt as though she blamed herself for Mr. Dennis being killed. her sole purpose had been lost. I thought that Wanda was a great film, no matter how strange it was. I felt as if there was no real climax but there is almost an ever progressing, slow climax the whole movie. I was always wondering what was going to happen next even though everything was very solemn and recurring.