FRILOT: Wonder Woman: girl power with a side of sexualization

Although I admit I’m a little late to the “Wonder Woman” craze, when I went to go see it, the movie theater was still packed — and when the credits rolled, the girl power chants that spread throughout the audience were nothing short of goosebump-provoking. Amidst those cheers, it was clear to me that the fourth wave of feminism is still strong on its spiral across the world.

So let’s talk about the film that screams “pussy power” from the moment young Wonder Woman, Diana, embarks on her training to become a total badass all the way until our beloved Chris Pine dies because our goddess was too busy saving the world.

The movie was great, no doubt, and maybe the greatest thing about it was that so many people thought it was great too. According to Forbes, the film is setting out to be the second highest grossing movie this year, raking in over $800 million worldwide.

Without a male character taking the wheel, many critics were concerned that “Wonder Woman” wouldn’t be able to attract the audience it deserved, but “Wonder Woman” proved them wrong in more ways than one.

However, despite the fact that she more than holds her own against the evil, power-hungry male characters of the movie, the producers still had to throw a few bones for male audience members — and that is why I have a few bones to pick myself.

First off, I commend the casting directors for choosing Gal Gadot for the lead, an Israeli actress and model with a background in martial arts and military training. It’s always nice to see racial and ethnic diversity in the all too often whitewashed Hollywood. Furthermore, her body type doesn’t align with the typical, unrealistic beauty standards we are so sick of seeing on the big screen. However, female sexualization is still shockingly prevalent in this movie.

Gadot’s power stances feature strength, muscle, pure brute and charisma. However in many scenes, her confidence was tainted by an exposed lower butt cheek here, a bare stomach there and legs for days. Not to say I think she should have been dressed overly conservatively as she fought, but her tiny strapless dress seemed a bit too skimpy for fighting villains. Regardless of the authenticity of her classic Wonder Woman costume, her getup was undeniably distracting from her power as a straight-up superhero. Would a male superhero go into battle wearing an outfit like that, with fringe barely covering his buttocks as it flaps in the wind? Never.

And why were there so many scenes featuring her long hair perfectly framing her metal covered breasts, none of which seemed efficient to have highlighted in those moments? Because Hollywood wasn’t quite ready to completely omit the sexualization of women. Not to mention the erroneous comments made by male characters, from being both frightened and aroused by her presence and ability to kick ass, to the blatant man-splaining of sex. After the movie was over, I found myself craving some sort of win that was achieved by an innately female characteristic, not just the supernatural powers instilled in her.

That being said, I am thankful for what wasn’t there too. Not once did the goddess exploit her own sexuality to manipulate easily distracted men. Not once did she give in to any order of any man, nor did she even acknowledge the existence of misogyny or the false superiority of men. Wonder Woman simply dedicated herself to a selfless goal, one she successfully conquered even without her male counterparts.

And now, after the movie has been received and assessed, Gadot is receiving flack for not being humble enough, stating that her army training prior to filming wasn’t difficult for her in an interview she had with Fashion Magazine in 2015. Would there be such controversy if Chris Pine proudly made this statement? Probably not.

So Hollywood is not all the way there, but this movie was definitely a step in the right direction.

#grlpwr

CORRECTION: A previous version of this column identified Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor in “Wonder Woman” when the role was actually played by Chris Pine. The current version reflects this change.