In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, Julia Roberts plays a liberal teacher who makes her way to 1950’s Wellesley College to fill a vacancy in the Art Department, teaching her students not only about art, but life outside their perfect college bubble. Amongst other things, she has this board in her office full of images of art, artists and writers she admires, and some she doesn’t.
Now, this blog is a collection of things I love and admire for the most part. This post, however, is for a piece of writing I can’t get behind. The writer goes after the Wonder Woman movie, the presence of women in Hollywood, and when you get down to it, what makes a quality role model. If you want to read the editorial in its entirety, you can click here, but selections will follow here.
“It is summer, and Hollywood, no question, is particularly in thrall to comic-book adaptations, sequels, movies based on toys and games and franchise pictures, but we have a problem here that is year-round: the movie industry has practically forgotten, or willfully ignored, great female characters (and directors) who can provide realistic role models for young women.”
Yes, there aren’t enough great female led movies out there, but just because it’s a genre movie doesn’t mean there can’t be great female role models. Most of my role models in my first twenty or so years of growing up were rooted in science fiction. (That, and Lorelai Gilmore of Gilmore Girls, and the ladies of The West Wing.)
“And with young people flocking to the multiplexes, it’s beyond tragic that the worst kind of female objectification is being uploaded into the minds of another generation — boys AND girls — with few alternative film characterizations to act as an antidote.”
What’s great is that in Wonder Woman, the camera doesn’t objectify Gadot. When there’s a close up, it’s not on her curves like the resident female in any of the Transformer movies. When there’s a close up in Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins chooses to focus on her face, taking us on Diana’s journey right along with her. And it works so damn well because Gadot is so damn expressive.
“Why settle for that when you can go straight to the female hotties who can karate chop with the best of them — projects that can be endlessly recharged, for easy familiarity with non-discriminating audiences (can you say Lara Croft? “Resident Evil”?)?”
Boy, this dude is going to just love the next Tomb Raider movie.
“The fact that they are just fantasies, that potential films about people like Krone and Ride are about real women who have achieved things that other women can aspire to, is something Hollywood has shown deep reluctance to promote.”
THIS gets me most of all. I find something just incredibly condescending about this whole paragraph. Don’t tell me the limits of what I can aspire to. That’s not your job.
“It’s called parental responsibility. When you go with your kids, or send them off with their friends, to see movies like this — and I know not much can stop you from doing so — you need to explain to them what these films are really about.”
Um, a young woman leaving her home and everything and everyone she knows, risking everything to fulfill what she was born to do? A coming of age story with a superhero spin? WHAT A HORRIBLE, AWFUL THING.
(Also, almost daily I see parents buying Grand Theft Auto V for kids under the age of eleven, even with warnings about the graphic sexual content, nudity, and violence. What parental responsibility?)
“The boys need to understand that these busty super-babes are not in any way what a real woman is (or wants to be) like, that they shouldn’t use them to measure other women and girls, and that the cartoonish portrayal on screen exists to send their young libidos into overdrive.”
I’ll agree to that, just not in this context. That’s why I can’t support games like GTA, or watch movies like The Hangover, because that’s all the marketing entails for those types of things. Women exist in that media for men, but Diana Prince does not.
Also, Gadot’s Wonder Woman? There’s a lot more to her outfit than what Lynda Carter was wearing. (Still love her though!) And hey, LOOK AT HER BICEP IN THE THUMBNAIL. #Goals
“And your daughters need to understand that these are not the role models they should be paying attention to, that physical strength is fine, but some arbitrary standard for conventional beauty is about the least of what matters in this world — and that Hollywood only rarely cares to tell the stories of the brainiacs, the brave girls, the nerds, the achievers…”
The thing I loved the most about this Diana Prince was that she was in touch with and wasn’t afraid of her emotions. So often these days, women are told they can’t act or feel a certain way; that’s it’s a sign of weakness. Lord knows I’ve fallen victim to the same kind of thinking. Gadot was AMAZING in this regard, and I won’t say anything else here because it’s only been out for two days thus far.
And I don’t have a daughter, yet, but I do have a niece, Stella. She’s too young to see this movie right now, but one day, I can’t wait to sit with her and watch this movie. If she, or a future daughter of mine, want to count Gal Gadot or her Diana as a role model, I won’t steer her away.
This Wonder Woman is incredibly strong and may be immortal, but she’s very, very human at her core. And that’s the lesson to take from this movie. And maybe this world would be a better place if we could all be a little like her.