Wonder Woman: Breakthrough For Women

Hollywood never had a superhero film directed by a female director, until the release of the 2017 American superhero movie Wonder Woman, which is based on DC Comics. Unlike its rival Marvel, DC has had a hard time finding the right mix of darkness and light, seriousness and humor, gravitas and fun. Enter Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins. Before the release of the film, they had gotten a lot of online disdain from DC’s ardent fans who accused Gadot for being “too skinny” for the lead role and for not having large breasts like the one in the original comics. However, things took a turn when the movie was finally released. The movie got mostly positive reviews and the director Patty Jenkins became the only female director to direct a film with a budget of $150 million.

Wonder Woman starts out by narrating the heroin’s origin story. The Amazon girl named Diana is raised by her Queen mother Hippolyta in a remote idyllic resort island hidden from the mythological Ares, God of War. The island is called Themyscira and it is a hidden island inhabited by all-female Amazonian warriors. Little Diana is taught military combat at a very early age by the militant Aunt Antiope. The story begins in present day where we find Diana working in the artefacts department of the Louvre, when an unexpected package arrives. The package is sent to her from Wayne Enterprises. Inside the package, an anonymous note hopes one day Diana will tell the sender the story behind the photo that was attached with the package.

Raised with a belief that Ares, the God of War vanquished by Zeus, may still be alive and return to corrupt and harm mankind, Diana grabs a special sword, shield and lasso and sails off with Steve, who is an American pilot and spy, following him back to London. The two had met when Steve crashed in the water nearby in Themyscira by a German warplane and instinctively, Diana dived off a cliff to rescue him. In London, Steve’s secretary Etta Candy gives Diana a makeover to try to pass the Amazon lady off as a local woman.

British generals are confounded by her command of dozens of languages; and a big crowd of German front line falls victim to her unparalleled strength and agility. Even the hyper competent soldier Steve is introduced as a male damsel in distress, embarrassed about the idea of having been saved by a woman. This male anxiety at feminine strength is threaded throughout the film and interwoven with its complement: the idea of being dominated by a woman.

There is a nice balance of humor and exposition at work, as Diana has to be play the role of the unworldly naïf, highly educated on the one hand, yet heavily reliant on Steve’s guidance on the other. Diana is portrayed as a fierce woman – and that’s before she strides into the trenches on wielding a sword, a shield, two bullet-deflecting arm bracelets and the golden Lasso of Truth.

The Bechdel test is important because it confirms that women are being represented in film and media. The Bechdel test does more than just confirm that women are present in movies, but that they are also represented within a given film in a way that they are shown as important subjects. The idea is to make sure that they are important characters in the movie, instead of just being used as a tool to add to the significance of the male characters. The Bechdel Test has three requirements, 1. have two named women, 2. talking with each other, 3. About things other than men, all of which the film Wonder Woman meets. Even though the Bechdel Test sounds like very simple and reasonable criteria for a movie to meet, a surprising number of movies do not pass the Bechdel Test. Wonder Woman does a great job at representing women and making sure those women in the movie are empowered. Wonder Woman also has an extensive cast of women of many different races and backgrounds.

Jennifer O’Meara’s article, “What the Bechdel Test doesn’t tell us: examining women’s verbal and vocal (dis)empowerment in cinema”, makes an interesting point about the Bechdel test and its lack of intersectionality. The article states that the Bechdel Test “disregards which kinds of women are granted dialogue, thus ignoring the silencing of women of colour, women of certain ages, and those for whom English is not a first language”, so the Bechdel test does not take into consideration whether or not the women being represented have any form of diversity, possibly leaving out minorities and substantial other types of women. The lack of representation for women of minorities leads to marginalization and possibly even discrimination or stereotyping.

The Bechdel Test aims to make sure that the women represented in movies have lives that are sovereign from men. The article “How Movies with a Female Presence Fare with Critics”, By Andrew M. Lindner and Ziggy Schulting argues that “not all roles, lines, or screen time are equally important to a movie”. They state that “Centrality of representation approaches consider whether the character is named or whether the actor receives top billing. Quality of representation measures lead us to consider whether the character is a stereotypical portrayal or one with more complexity”, confirming that it is important for women of diversity be included in films and media.

Wonder Woman cannot be considered a feminist movie just because it meets the criteria of the Bechdel Test or has a strong female lead. For instance, the film has received some criticism because the women in the movie are scantily dressed and wearing armor that hardly covers them at all. This is something a lot of people consider to be objectifying of the female characters and sexist. The main character, Diana, relies on a man as her mentor rather than being sufficient enough herself, or relying on one of the other female warriors. However, despite the objectification of the female characters, Diana is an undeniable role model for women. Diana