Wonder Woman a Solid Hit
Gal Gadot Stuns in the Title
Role
Mark
Charalambous, June 2017
Yes, it’s true. Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman. I know it’s already a cliché, but this cliché has seldom
been worn so appropriately. I cannot imagine another actress as Wonder Woman.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is indelible. She is simply riveting on the screen. That
much was evident from her first appearance in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice—owing mainly to her physical
appearance. The directors chose a woman more reflective of the mythic origins;
not casting a Nordic beauty like Lynda Carter, but a middle-eastern beauty. Gal
Gadot is Israeli. The look is different from previous incarnations from both
television and the comic books, and it works to perfection.
But the really
good news from Wonder Woman is that
Gal Gadot is not only perfectly matched visually to the role, her character is
also beautifully written!
This Wonder Woman is no smart-aleck, kick-ass
gender-feminist seizing any opportunity to pummel men and ridicule our
inadequacies while educating the audience on the evils of patriarchal
oppression. Rather, she is what would be
expected of a woman raised in a world without men, of a warrior caste, and raised to fear and distrust the “other”:
men. She is an innocent. And that is how she acts and responds to the Europe of WW1—as well as to her love
interest, British military spy Steve Trevor, adequately played by Chris Pine.
Diana (she is not called “Wonder Woman” in the movie;
presumably this will happen in the upcoming Justice League movie, the next in
line from the DC franchise) was raised to believe that Zeus created the Amazons
to protect mankind. A great conflict between the Gods resulted in the evil
antagonist Ares, God of War, sowing evil, hatred and war among mankind. When she
decides to accompany Trevor back to the “world of men,” it is with the explicit
aim of killing Ares. She assumes that this will immediately put an end to all
of mankind’s strife, including the “war to end all wars.”
Later, this belief is severely tested and leads to Diana’s epiphany
that enables her to reach her next level as a warrior, when she will eventually
team up with Batman and the other members of the Justice League.
Upon arrival in
London, her innocence serves as a device for social commentary when she is
exposed to the “modern” world. When Trevor’s secretary explains her job to
Diana, she responds “Where I come from, that’s called slavery.” Earlier, in Themyscira, the hidden Amazon
island into which chance draws Trevor and the War, he shows her his watch and
explains it's function. Diana responds by asking him why he needs a device to
tell him what to do?
Under less skillful direction, these bits could’ve come
across as hackneyed or contrived. But to writer Allan Heinberg and Gadot’s
credit, they provide endearing moments of comic relief.
(A word about Chris
Pine. He made his bones playing Captain Kirk in the reconstituted Star Trek
franchise. Clearly, he did his homework well.
Perhaps too well. If I closed my eyes I could believe Bill Shatner himself
was speaking some of his lines. Pine has, perhaps inadvertently, adopted many
of Shatner’s speech patterns, and even his facial mannerisms.)
Sure, Wonder Woman
is replete with social justice messaging (besides Trevor her entourage includes
a middle-eastern POC and a Native American), but Gal Gadot is so sincere,
believable—and winning—in the role, that I don’t feel like I’m being hit over
the head with it.
Naturally, Diana has plenty of opportunities to display her
martial superiority to mere barroom thugs and heavily-armed German soldiers
alike with only a sword, shield and her lasso. She is an Amazon fighting in the
Great War. But that is to be expected. This is who the character is. What we
don’t get is the typical absurdities we’ve come to expect from the genre, such
as beautiful women in high heels and lingerie handily dispatching gangs of
thugs. Cue Atomic Blonde trailer.
Yes, Wonder Woman
fails the Taylor Test[1],
how could it not? We are, after all, talking about an Amazon—the cultural archetype of a “strong woman.” They and she, a 1940s comic book character inspired
by the ancient Greek legend, are not products of present-day feminism.
(Parenthetically, it is worth noting that recent discoveries
in cultural anthropology have unearthed evidence that the legends may have a
historical basis. Evidence of a female-dominated culture of horse-riding
archers has been found in Mongolia, where the descendants of the Sauromations
of the Russian Steppes eventually migrated.)
You may have noticed the buzz of negative criticism for the
movie from feminist quarters. A lot was riding on this movie. The standard
screed regarding female superheroes (we can’t refer to them as “superheroines”
anymore) in film is that ... for some unknown reason... they fall short at the
box office. There is a great resistance
to acknowledging that—surprise!—superhero
comics are primarily read by boys. Boys’ interest in superheroes is a part of
growing up, anticipating their own entry into manhood; a way to vicariously
imagine themselves as ideals of manly heroism.
For readers largely unfamiliar with the evolution of comic
books over the past several decades, female superheroes in comic books often
ventured into what, in a simpler age, would be called soft-core porn. With the
advent of the internet adolescent boys now have images of the real thing to
satisfy their hormonal urges, but it is quite clear from images of female
characters such as Power Girl and Harley-Quinn that female superhero comics
served that purpose.
So, feminists eagerly anticipated this movie. After all,
Wonder Woman is the mother of all female superheroes. They were hoping for a
glass-ceiling event. A movie to level the playing field and show once and for
all that men bear no inherent athletic superiority to women and boys should hold
no monopoly on comic book superhero movies. And when it was announced that a
woman would direct it (Patty Jenkins) ... well!
But spearheading an attack across No Man’s Land in the
Belgian Front, handily trouncing armed German soldiers as well as thugs in
London, and chafing against the oppression of women in “modern” society is
insufficient. She isn’t a sexually aggressive, preferably lesbian, full-time advertisement
for feminist righteous indignation at everything male. Additionally, she is
designed to satisfy male concepts of female beauty.
Here’s what Slate writer
Christina Cauterucci wrote in her review:
“To me, whatever chance Wonder Woman had of being
some kind of feminist antidote to the overabundance of superhero movies made by
and for bros was blown by its prevailing occupation with the titular heroine’s
sex appeal.
... By the time the action got too fast-paced and loud for
any more characters to marvel at Diana’s fine bod and bone structure, I was
about an hour past being sick of the ‘sexy lady is also hyper competent’ joke.”[1]
Excuse me, Ms. Cauterucci, but I think your penis envy is showing.
Furthermore, she’s white—and horror-of-horrors!—falls in love with a man.
Furthermore, she’s white—and horror-of-horrors!—falls in love with a man.
What we got instead was a love story. A story with the message that love redeems mankind. The story of a man’s love for a demi-goddess, and a goddesses’ love for mankind—and the most bitter pill of all—a woman’s love for a man.
On top of feminist antipathy, opposition is coming from the
Islamic quarter. Gal Gadot served in the Israeli Defense Forces, which is
required of all Israeli citizens. She also publicly condemned Hamas in a
Facebook post during military actions in Gaza in 2014. Hence, the movie has
been banned in Lebanon and Tunisia, and was pulled from a film festival in
Algeria.
Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows—with feminism and Islam being perhaps the strangest of all.
The ultimate message is one of love. That may sound trite
these days—especially considering the turn taken by the DC movie franchises
lately—but it is proving welcome to movie-goers and critics alike. Feminists will
have to be content with the first successful female superhero movie, directed
by a woman no less, that redeems a franchise. Sorry if it’s not enough. I loved
it.
Wonder Woman is not a perfect film. There’s plenty to
criticize. But any flaws are more than
made up for by a new screen star that commands your complete attention every
moment she is on-screen. I look forward to more Gal Gadot Wonder Woman.
# # #
[1]
B. Taylor. “An action/comic book movie is approved if it doesn't have a token
scene where the lead female—unarmed and single-handedly—beats up a team of
armed men, demonstrating superior martial prowess to the male main
character/hero.” Notes From the 3rd Rail: Civilization in the Crosshairs,
Marcus Clintonius Americus
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