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How 'Wonder Woman' Gave Me Hope for Women In Film

One Step Forward for All Women In Film

By Christina BPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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Wonder Woman

Walking into the theater, preparing myself to see the film that women have found so powerful, I had some pretty high expectations. I also had heard that many women had gotten pretty emotional while watching this film so I was anticipating feeling some sort of emotional wave that would pass through me as I first watched the film. Not only did I cry multiple times throughout the film, I discovered a new type of feeling of empowerment, a feeling that I have never felt before while watching a film in theaters.

Wonder Woman has officially been named the highest grossing film made by a female director, which is definitely a big win for females everywhere, especially those hoping to break into the film-making industry as it is still a very male dominated profession (most like every other profession out there). It also strayed from the classic egotistic dominant male figure we have seen in the past dozens of male dominated superhero films in the past decade, as we finally see a strong woman fighting for what she truly believes in and not for some drawn out revenge while the female love interest stands on the sidelines hoping the hero doesn't get hurt.

It was interesting to talk to some men who have recently seen the film and to get their opinion on it as many still had a warped view on the film and missed a lot of the important points the film made. For one I got the comment of how it was a bad film because it was basically Captain America but with a woman. I honestly couldn't take any of his comments seriously after that as he clearly only saw the film as copying what a man has done before. Ugh. Not only is Wonder Woman leagues above Captain America as *spoiler alert* she is a god, she also has a different outlook on life and war.

WWI crew [Credit: Warner Bros]

So as the movie kicks off we see an island filled with women in battle gear, training to stay fit for any threat that could come and harm their island. These are the Amazonian women and these scenes are probably my favorite scenes of the whole film. Their fighting sequences were so well executed and just watching strong women show off their skills was very exciting to watch. I also had found out that most of the women that were cast as the Amazons were actual Olympians, pro fighters, or even fitness trainers. That was such a cool fact to learn that the director actually used strong woman to play these roles to embody the warriors of the Amazons.

Amazonians

Another fun fact about the Amazons is that the general, Antiope, was cast by none other than Robin Wright who most recognize her from her famous role as Princess Buttercup in Princess Bride. Knowing that showed that even someone who was cast as the helpless princess needing saving, can also be cast as a strong and talented general of the Amazons.

Antiope [Credit: Warner Bros]

Anyways, the film shows us where Diana (Wonder Woman) grows up and how she struggles with her mother to learn how to fight, as her mother doesn't want to put Diana at risk of being found by Ares, the God of War. Eventually her mother gives in and allows her to start training until one day during training she hurts Antiope, on accident as Dianna doesn't realize the extent to her power.

This is where we then get to see the introduction of men into this film, which I have to say I wish that the Amazon scenes had lasted a bit longer before men were introduced into the film as I thoroughly enjoyed watching everything the Amazons did. Chris Pine's character, Steve, crashes his plane and starts to drown until Diana saves him. His appearance confuses Diana and WWI is brought to the Amazons, killing off Antiope, as they don't have the weapons to combat against guns, even though they are more highly skilled fighters than any of the men on screen at that moment.

After finding out about the war that is going on and all the people that are dying, Diana can't just sit there and not do anything. She then convinces Steve to bring her with him to help fight this war, as she believes Ares is the one behind starting all this madness.

This is where Diana's journey starts, where she finds out who she actually is and how corrupt mankind is on their own, without any influence of Ares. It's also where she realizes how love is more powerful than hate and that mankind is not all that bad.

One of the scenes that left an amazing impact on a lot of people, a lot of women mostly, is the scene where Diana crosses No Man's Land. For one the director set it up perfectly with the dialogue as Steve tells her she can't cross it as "no man has ever made it across" and "this is not what we came here to do" to which she replies, "no, but this is what I came here to do." This scene was incredible. She gets up out of the trenches and starts making it across No Man's Land as a strong powerful woman, determined to save as many lives as possible in this war. This is the scene that started making me cry. It was a mix of finally seeing a woman do something that no man could do, her face as she struggled to make it across to save all those lives and finally seeing a depiction of a strong, powerful woman do what she believes is right and not letting any many tell her otherwise.

No Man's Land [Credit: Warner Bros]

There were a lot of other interesting aspects of this film that I believe the director took to make this film just as great as it is. The romance between Diana and Steve wasn't so openly portrayed in the film and left a lot for the viewer to come up with as we never really see what happens behind the closed door or them openly make out on screen. It's also seen as Diana discovering the male gender since she was surrounded by women most of her life, rather than her really pursuing any romance.

A lot of the dialogue points out how women are very much not equal to men in society when Diana arrives to London and plays off of that to contrast Diana as a strong female. Gal Gadot's facial expressions as Diana were also something I noticed while watching as I really began feeling what her character was feeling on screen. All her confusion to why women couldn't do certain things, and why all this killing is occurring really translated off screen.

Final Scene [Credit: Warner Bros]

I honestly could talk about this film for hours on end but I would very much recommend that you see this film in theaters as it was so great to watch. It finally gives children a female hero to look up to with all these male dominated superhero films that are coming out and finally depicts a strong female character that women can stand behind. I was also glad to finally see a DC film that I really enjoyed as the last couple films (Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad) didn't really do that well in my opinion.

Can't wait to see more from Wonder Woman and hopefully we get to see more films like this one where women are no longer seen as side characters and are right alongside their male counterparts.

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About the Creator

Christina B

Cinephile. Also obsessed with anything anime or television related.

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