News Reporter: Act Four: Can 'Wonder Woman' bring its feminism into the 21st century?

Friday, 9 June 2017

Act Four: Can 'Wonder Woman' bring its feminism into the 21st century?

Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics

Chris Pine, left, and Gal Gadot in a scene from “Wonder Woman.” (Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures via Associated Press)

Every week, I answer a question from the Act Four Live chat in an edition of this newsletter. You can read the transcript of the June 5 chat here and submit questions for the June 12 chat here. This week, a reader raises a concern about how DC will develop Wonder Woman as a character after her triumphant debut:

While the origin for Wonder Woman was great and found a good way to integrate the character’s status as a feminist icon, I find myself nervous as they bring her to modern day and integrate her into the rest of the DC universe. The feminist notes from the movie are fairly non-controversial these days and were portrayed as relics of the time period. It’s easy to make laugh lines about women’s suffrage or obtuse men who only believe women can hold secretarial roles. Addressing feminism in a modern setting is more complex and potentially controversial, both of which are generally big problems for studios. Any thoughts on where they take her from here?

Let me give you a couple of answers to that question. First, it’s true that contemporary men generally accept that women can be more than secretaries (though perhaps you’d be surprised by some of the ideas that are lurking around the corners of the Internet), but Hollywood itself suggests that we haven’t made as much progress as we might like to imagine. It’s nice that women have risen through corporate ladders, but we’re still locked out of the top echelons of politics. Discrimination based on appearance remains a real phenomenon, if not one many government entities have moved to address. There are still plenty of debates about women’s physical abilities, and when a woman like Serena Williams demonstrates just how strong she can be, she gets torn down for other reasons. And this isn’t even to mention the particular obstacles women of color face as race and gender compound each other. So I think Wonder Woman is going to have plenty of obstacles to grapple with and that she’ll be able to do so in some cases simply by being her fabulous self.

I’d also suggest that DC might do better with Wonder Woman by leaning into the issues, rather than leaning out as she approaches a contemporary timeline. Part of the reason the 2016 “Ghostbusters” movie fell so flat is that it wasn’t entirely willing to make misogyny the villain and to embrace a gleeful feminist response. It was sold as a feminist triumph and mostly felt like a “Ghostbusters” movie that had women. The mismatch between expectations and what the movie delivered doomed it. Wonder Woman should keep delivering that sense of wonder and keep treating misogyny in all its forms as if it’s ridiculous rather than lapsing into outrage. That’s the formula that worked in a World War I setting, and I think that sense of disbelief and unflappability can carry the movie into a new era.