Wonder Woman was a very powerful movie. I tried for a bit to sort out why I felt that way. It has been a rough few weeks. I went in hopeful after reading some good reviews, and left it feeling great. It felt like WW was the first shot at building a superhero movie around love. I am not Mr. Sappy pants and I love me the clever humour in the Marvel Universe as much as the darker, more serious tones in the DC Universe. Wonder Woman cut out the jokes, and the darkness, and brought an awesome movie around doing what is right, love and nurturing.
In someways an innocent girl growing into womanhood seemed a bit cliche as she discovered the world as it is for the first time, but I felt the writing and directing did it enough justice by keeping her learning of the world and society intelligent and based on discovery and wonder instead of immature silliness or stupidity. It felt like they did her justice. They didn’t even use the words Wonder Woman in the entire movie which as a modern day macho man feels like a condescending term created in the 40’s due to lack of creativity (it was, right?)
Of course, coming from a man, I honestly have no clue if women feel the same way on feminist themes and discussion around the film. I read the UN took away Wonder Woman’s Ambassador status because of her sexualized nature and unattainable body image.
Outside of all the good there was one scene that I did not agree with and I am putting a picture up AS A SPOILER ALERT (stop reading here if you haven’t seen the movie)
Ok. Here it goes.
The scene where it is implied that she had sex with Mr. Trevor. I mean, she just went full on goddess-beast mode and took down the top of a church with her shield charge. He was not worthy. He knew it. the audience knew it. She had to have known it. I suspect they did it to further explain her connection with humans and why love was enough value to save mankind, and perhaps a woman may have viewed her losing her virginity (to the first man she met?!) as some sort of rite of passage or necessity to be more human – I just felt like it took away from the story instead of adding to it. But what do I know. Either way, it was a minor thing, and the only small gripe I had with it.
The irony here is that the movie actually had a real world effect on me. I struggle foundationally with the world and how humans are basically slaves to their jobs for the majority of their lives – many of which are just to survive. Ironically, I am a capitalist and make great money (and also pay well with many benefits for my teams) but consumerism as a purpose to live doesn’t jive with me. It’s okay for things to change, but I am a romantic at heart in one regard – there has to be more to life than work.  It doesn’t always feel that way and the structures and systems that keep the common person down are bigger and stronger than ever. At times, I wonder if it is even worth it – the insignificance of human life as part of the 7+ billion person ecosystem. I know people say the human connections make it worthwhile – and I see that in my son – as I have already sold myself on the idea that my new adventure is ensuring he gets to have better ones than I did, or ever will – but at the end of the day most of us will never be remembered and will not do anything of grand significance outside of the family we may have. And with society seemingly getting worse and more impersonal (and violent, and uncaring) it just feels like a shitty world to be a part of. This has been my struggle, and that of a general introvert made/makes it feel even more lonely sometimes. Sorry for the dose of sunshine here, just typing my thoughts as they come.
(Edit: Â After re-reading that paragraph it was pretty ‘sad’, but not a cry for help. Just an emotional tangent.)
Wonder Woman, by the end of the movie, had given me a different perspective that maybe the small things are enough – and they really have to be –  but I didn’t really feel that way prior to the movie. When the three friends, out of bullets, and ready to die huddled around each other and hugged there was a certain beauty in it. One that made me think I could better translate that into my real life. It’s so strange to me that this movie actually had a noticeable positive impact  on my view of the world and my small part in it.
A superhero movie. Who would have thought it.
Not I.
That’s a really nice take-away.
Actually, you’ve opened my eyes here. I somehow missed the scene where the sex was implied.
I came away from the movie believing they had not had sex and I was actually quite happy that they hadn’t. That seems too easy.
I’ve checked with the two guys with whom I saw the movie and they both confirm that I just somehow overlooked that scene. Isn’t that weird? I didn’t have a pee break or anything!
I wonder if it is a gender perception. Where guys see a scene and think “here comes the sex” and women see a scene and think “here come the romantic cuddles!”. Wouldn’t be entirely surprising, would it? This also made me think about my own biases – for example, Superman has sex with Lois Lane and she is just a human, and I didn’t for a second think she didn’t deserve it, and that he was above her – where in WW’s case I clearly thought that way – that she was way too good to give herself to that man. That could have been by the more established relationship of Superman and Lois.. Of course, by the end of the movie I realized how great Mr. Trevor was but at that early part in the movie I felt it moved a bit too fast.
Is that fair? I mean, empowering women to explore their own sexuality shouldn’t be remotely in question in this day and age. She was curious and it was the first man she had ever seen (and seen naked), as well as the sweet moments they had shared to that point. If she wanted to “get some”, why not?
I’m just trying to explore the perspectives here and try to understand why I felt like I did, and trying to better understand the dynamic =)
Ah man you made me tear up at the end of your review! lol Good review.
I get what you mean about the implied scene, but it seems to be a common thing most movies do whenever the opposite sex have to do anything major together. It would have been nice to see something different but I also hadn’t really thought about it pertaining to this movie which might have been because it’s so common.
I personally enjoyed the positive themes and I’m glad to see you did too. Take care!