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laststandx3 · 4 years

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My two cents on frozen 2:

Anyone who has seen my blog knows I am an Hans stan (and also a former Helsa shipper) and yes I was kinda disappointed when there was absolutely no Hans in the new movie. But above all the discussions I'd like to tell all those who are much more disappointed than me (and posted complaints and eventually started arguments about it) what happened and why it's important.

So what happened exactly in Frozen 2:

most of the female characters wore trousers. This sounds like nothing I know, but the only others disney female characters who had this privilege were Jasmine in aladdin (1996) and Mulan (1998). So yes it took 23 years for a Disney princess to wear pants again.

ok lets forget about the trousers, what I'm trying to say is that we live in a ridiculously awful time (ridiculous because one would think that in the 21st century people understood the basic human needs):

-right wings are being more popular than the last 30 years with them there's growing racism, xenophobia, all minorities (lgbt+, ethnic minorities, religious ones.. ) they are living one of the worse possible scenarios.

-Also the rising of the feminist movement create a public backlash of those who consider women nothing more than housewives.

-Climate change exists and is our fault.

Frozen 2 touched these 3 major arguments in a fairytale way and it was the best thing they could ever do.

-They explicitly address the fact that the supposedly good side (Arrendellians) have committed slaughter towards a peaceful native tribe. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year, where the usa couldn't hide behind the turkey.

The grandfather It is not even the main villain, the villain in the story are the consequences of hatred and lies, how it destroyed the forest, caged those who were not able to make peace and ultimately how it hid the truth about Elsa's magic origins.

- both Elsa and Anna are incredibly 3 dimensional character, they have passions, interests, ambitions, things they hate, things they love. They are NOT there to be pretty and poised. They have their own will in the second movie much more than the first.

Please dont forget the scene where the little girl asks Elsa for a scientific instrument instead of a toy, it was subtle, but how many women can't get close to sciences and math because they believe that is something for boys: Too many.

In Frozen 2 Anna faces the death of whats left her family and still has the strength to destroy the dam flint had problems with water too i guess which was the symbol of the oppression of the nourthuldras. She doesn't free Arrendellians, they might loose their houses, but they are already free. They can leave if they want, they can rebuild, they have possibilities. The Northuldra don't and she chooses to give away even her own house to fix 30+ years of unfair inprisonment in a magical forest without being able to see the sky

Elsa instead goes on a journey to find her true self, which is different than not believing yourself as a danger to others (see plot of frozen1). She finds she had much more power than she thought, show yourself is canonicaly an empowerment song. After that she finds her own freedom too. The freedom to choose where she wants to live, how and in which terms. Although she might even be siuted for being queen, she choses to live a different life than the one paved for her by her parents. And she does it without closing doors.

- how they addressed climate change, it was subtle yes, but it was there. The elements of nature dont answer anymore to the humans will. Well in truth they never did. But they didn't even rebel too much either.

In frozen 2 nature rebels willingly towards the people (Arrendellians, Northulrda, all of them). The spirits are clear: you either make peace with each other and fix the damage you caused to the forest, or f* you, we can't live without humans, humans without us, let's find out.

Elsa sacrifices herl life to find the truth on how to fix their relationship with the Northulrda.

I'd like to point out that granpa was all about killing the Northulrda, and not about killing the forest, but he ended up damaging nature in his way of genocide, because guess what, that's exactly what happens when you try to damage a population of any kind, you start by damaging their land.

Eventually being able to make peace with other humans was also the key to make peace with nature, as if not trying to destroy each other could bring benefits.

-and least but not last, the question far too many people ask about: Elsa sexuality. THE MOVIE DOESN'T EXPLICITLY ADDRESS IT. But the writers and Idina Menzel and probably the whole cast were totally cool with the giveElsaaGirlfrien hastag.

If they ever going to address it directly I don't know, but I glad that disny stopped teaching girls that their final goal is to find the love of their life.

Marrige is not your first purpose.

You can do anything in the world before choosing to be with someone. Im not saying do things alone, but do it knowing that you don't have to have a love interest to be happy. Find what you love to do for yourself, your passions your interests, everything that brings you joy, dont just end up with someone because movies shoved romance in your brain since you were 3. Have fun with your life. For yourself.

After this long rant, back to the starting point, having Hans in the movie would have made me a much happier human, but that's just not what the world needed. Writers knew hundreds of thousands would go watch the movie, and they will re-watch it again and again; it was their chance to make an impact on the audience, and those little boys who will grow up having Kristoff singing he missed his love maybe will be more open, maybe they won't have so much toxic masculinity in them because movies are changing the way they portrait even strong men. And maybe girls will identify with a powerful goddess who has a gentle heart of maybe they will find more inspiration in a very brave and loving new queen, who could chose to do the right thing despite losing all she had.

Hans would have taken away too much of the message they are trying to make.

Maybe there will be a Frozen 3 one day, who knows. But if I had to pick between a favorite character and a movie with a real impact on youth that is about changing the way we see ourselves as a society and how we can cooperate to make a better world. I'd pick the latter.

Hans is a rounded character, has personality and everything, but he's just not worth the world

So please stop bagging about hans not being in frozen 2 and stop insulting the authors.

Im referring to those in the hans fandom who are rude and act like spoiled brat. The others know they didn't do nothing wrong.

#Hans #frozen 2 #A frozen review #Elsa #Anna #Kristoff #Prince hans #Frozen #My two cents #Message me if you have questions #Frozen 2 spoiler

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backtoreal · 4 years

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MY FAVORITE DRAMAS OF 2019 !

Hello everybody, I’m back for this annual drama pick !

Unlike last year, this year was good, not exquisite, but good. But, I’m still going to give you the best of the best, la crème de la crème ! Once again, this is only my humble opinion, and I might add, I can’t watch every kdrama of the year, so I guess this is quite a small list.

PS : I still can’t choose an order, so please, make your own ranking out of my choice ;)

The 2018 version of it !

Hotel del Luna (호텔 델루나)

Jang Man-Wol is the CEO of Hotel del Luna. She made a big error many years ago and, because of this, she has been stuck at Hotel del Luna. Jang Man-Wol is fickle, suspicious and greedy. Koo Chan-Sung, a sincere perfectionist but actually has a soft disposition, begins to work as a manager at Hotel del Luna, due to an unexpected case. The hotel's clientele consists of ghosts.

> Where to begin... I guess IU got me again this year (My Mister in 2018), but in a totally different role and kind of acting. I was not disappointed. This drama has a really good storyline, using modern days and history, and reality and myths and legends. This kind of mix works really well for me. All the cast was perfect and the two leading actors had a great chemistry, and it made me love Yeo Jin-Goo a little more. Plus, the scenery and special effects were really great ! AND let’s not forget the looks of Man-Wol, and the charisma of IU > PERFECT ! I guess this drama is in my top 3 !

Kingdom (킹덤)

10 days have passed since the King collapsed from an illness. Queen Jo and her father Chief State Councilor Jo Hak-Joo have forbidden anyone else to see the King. Even his own son Crown Prince Lee Chang is forbidden to see his father. But rumors spread that the King is dead. Crown Prince Lee Chang senses something sinister and sneaks into the King's palace. He sees a shadowy monster through a door and smells its foul stench, but he is discovered and escorted out of the palace. To find out what happened to the King, Crown Prince Lee Chang and Moo-Young travel to the Jiyulheon clinic in faraway Dongnae to see a physician. When they arrive, they discover that the clinic is in ruins and dead bodies are found under a building. A medical staff member Seo-Bi tells them that the dead they saw at the clinic are not dead and they will rise up soon to kill.

> If anyone asks, zombies are my thing, it’s been years, I literally dream of a zombie apocalypse (no, not really). As I’m not over Train to Busan, I was very excited to see zombies in a kdrama. And I’m not gonna lie, it was damn good ! And I was not very glad at first that the storyline happened in old time, because like I already said, I don’t really like historical drama. But this one made it to the list. Great zombies, great actors , great all ... I guess it’s Netflix ! (Mr.Sunshine from 2018)

My Strange Hero (복수가 돌아왔다)

When Kang Bok-Su was a high school student, he was falsely accused of committing violence and kicked out of school. This was caused by his first love Son Soo-Jeong and a male student Oh Se-Ho. Kang Bok-Su is a now an adult, but his life has not gone smoothly. To get revenge on Son Soo-Jeong and Oh Se-Ho, he returns to the same high school as a student. The environment at the school has changed and Kang Bok-Su gets involved in unexpected cases.

> In a lighter tone, my strange hero is a great drama with a great story and great acting from Yoo Seung-Ho, it kind of made me want to follow his project in the future. The story is a classic revenge one, but it really made me want to have justice for Bok-su, it made me attach to this character. Great drama to relax and enjoy the love story.

Touch your heart (진심이 닿다)

Oh Yoon-Seo is a popular actress. She is famous for her beautiful appearance, but her acting is bad. She gets involved in a scandal with the son from a chaebol family. Her acting career declines precipitously. Oh Yoon-Seo hears that a famous screenwriter wants her to play the lead female role for a drama series. The character works as a secretary for a lawyer. To gain experience for the role, Oh Yoon-Seo is required to work as a lawyer's secretary for a few months. Meanwhile, Kwon Jung-Rok is an attorney for a law firm. He is arrogant and cold-hearted. One day, his boss asks Kwon Jung-Rok to let actress Oh Yoon-Seo work as his secretary for 3 months. He is not happy about the situation, but he has to accept.

> Basic Kdrama trope, but this one worked on me. We can say that Goblin greatly influenced my choice, the chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na is beyond everything. But my heart goes all the way for Lee Dong Wook ! Anyway this drama really shows some deep characters and I loved it ! Bonus : it’s funny as heck !

Leverage (Korea) (레버리지:사기조작단)

Lee Tae-Joon is an excellent insurance fraud investigator. An unexpected case changes his life. He quits his job and recruits talented criminals, that he once caught, to form an elite fraud team. The team includes Hwang Soo-Kyung , Ko Na-Beyol , Roy Ryu and Jung Ui-Sung . They scam wealthy criminals and return the money that they stole to the victims.

> As a huge fan of the original US version, I was forced to watch this one, and let me say that, for once, the Korean version did not disappoint ! It takes the best of the original series and adapt it to Korean standards, and it works very well ! We can feel a great union between the actors who plays the team !

He is Psychometric (사이코메트리 그녀석)

Lee An has a special psychometry ability. Whenever he touches someone, he can read that person's memory. Using his psychometry ability, Lee An wants to take out evil people in the world. Yoon Jae-In is a girl with a scar in her mind. She tries to hide that. Lee An and Yoon Jae-In happen to meet and they struggle to solve cases.

> I was never a fan of Park Jin Young, but damn this boy got me ! He really has a great future in acting in front of him ! But all the cast were amazing. The story for once was really outside the box, I think that’s why I liked it so much ! Kudos to Da-Som whom I hope to see in more dramas !

The Light in Your Eyes (눈이 부시게)

Kim Hye-Ja hopes to become an announcer. She is honest and has a positive personality, but she suddenly becomes a 70-year-old woman. 70-year-old Kim Hye-Ja gains the special ability to manipulate time. Lee Joon-Ha wants to become a reporter. He has worked hard to achieve his dream, but he now lives his life hopelessly. He gets involved with Kim Hye-Ja.

> You can never guess how much I cried at the end of this drama ! You should really watch this drama, for the great acting, but also the story, a brilliant and well made one, I think you never really expected the ending, it tells how much the directing of this drama was good. This drama is definitely a revelation for me !

Extraordinary You (어쩌다 발견한 하루)

Eun Dan-O is a student at a prestigious high school. Her family is wealthy, but Eun Dan-O has a heart disease. Her fiance Baek Kyung attends the same prestigious high school. She likes him a lot, but he does not like her at all. Suddenly, Eun Dan-O has short-term memory loss and she can see what will happen in the near future. She gets confused by her symptoms. Then, Jinmiche, from the school cafeteria, tells Eun Dan-O that she is a character in the comic "Secret" like everybody else there. Eun Dan-O learns that her character is not even a main character, but rather an extra and she doesn't have much time to live. Eun Dan-O is stunned, but she decides she wants to find her own true first love and not someone written by the comic writer. One day, she falls down the school stairs. She feels her back touch the back of another student, among a group of male students. Her heart suddenly starts to flutter. Eun Dan-O wants to find the male student who made her heart flutter. She eventually finds the student and he is her classmate. He is a character that doesn't have a name. They get close and Eun Dan-O names him "Ha-Roo."

> I really did not expect to like this, why ? Because the basic story of this drama has been already this a thousand times : high school crush, bullying, ... But the fact that it happens in a comic really changed it all, plus, the scenography is really pretty, and the acting is on point when you watch them shift of characters ! You should really watch this !

Search : WWW (검색어를 입력하세요: WWW)

The story of three women in their late thirties — Bae Ta-mi, Cha Hyeon and Song Ga-Gyeong — who work in the top two competitive web portal companies: Unicon and Barro. This drama is about the conflicts, the wins, and losses one experiences when working. It will follow the story of 21st century women, who chose to not be a wife or a mother and successfully work without discrimination or impediments.

Bae Ta-Mi works as a director for a big web portal company. She is in her late 30's and is quite competitive. With her competitiveness, Bae Ta-Mi enjoys success. The methods she uses to win has her wondering if she is doing the right thing with her life.

Cha Hyeon also works as a director for a big web portal company, but as the direct competitor of Ta-mi, she’s also quite competitive, fierce, but also has a soft side, a side that she only shows to Ga-Gyeong her superior and friend.

Song Ga-Gyeong, is a rigid director of Ta-Mi in Unicon and the daughter in law of the CEO of KU Group, a big society who wants to influence the politics via Unicon. She is used by her mother in law but quickly became a fierce woman who stands for herself.

> First ... THREE STRONG WOMEN AS LEADS ! What can go wrong ? What can do better than this ! I don’t know my dear friends, I don’t know... If you ask, yes there is a love story (it won’t be a kdrama otherwise duh !), but the main couple isn’t really that great, and I really didn’t care about that. I loved the show for the power that these three women shows, and how it’s natural for women to rule the world ! (Yes I said it !) Bonus : openly showing that some characters could be bi (Cha Hyeon), and it show a very natural side of people that often people (especially in Korea) think it’s deviant (not shy about expressing their feelings, implying sex scene, etc ...). Great great drama !

Honourable mention (but did not make it to the list) : Romance is a Bonus book (My love for Lee Jong-Suk did not help unfortunately ! The female lead was hard to like), Her private life (great drama, great actors but the fangirl story is a little cringey), Melting me softly (Nice but weirdly made love story...)

That’s it for this year !

Please feel free to recommend me some 2019 kdrama ! ☺️

2018 ; 2019

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padawan-historian · 5 years

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The Female Game: An Analysis of the Stormborn Dragon

SPOILER warning for Season 8, Episode 1-3 and more of a SPOILER WATCH for Season 8, Episode 4 (no plot related details, but . . . a teaspoon of character and tone vibes from the episode).

Now I know we are still wrapping our heads around what we witnessed last night on Game of Thrones. But there was one discussion that caught my attention – Daenerys character development (or lack thereof) and how women are represented on the show:

i hate that ambition in women is always used as a bad trait.

All her hard work and talk of breaking the wheel for nothing. All this talk of her being different and just and “see you for who you are” for absolutely nothing.

They should rename season 8 to “the tale of how we trashed a character’s development, made her an army of haters, just so we could make Jon Snow a hero: A study on Daenerys Targaryen.”

they really are setting up “Mad Queen” Dany and I’ll be honest, I don’t blame her at this point.

If a man acted that way it would be perfectly fine.

every single woman on game of thrones deserves better.

Ever since Game of Thrones graced the stage seven years ago, a number of fans, critics and activists have voiced concerns about the way the show portrays violence (especially sexual violence) towards female characters. However, those concerns have slowly evolved into larger conversations about the way these heroines are portrayed in comparison to power. Westeros – and most of the known world in the show – are under a patriarchal system. Men have inheritance rights, new wives join their husbands’ families and male children are given precedent over their older sisters and female relations in the line of succession (they call this primogeniture). Attempts at female rule are rare and even more rarely achieved without a healthy dose of fire and blood (search The Princess and the Queen on YouTube for more context and a juicy history lesson!).

Suspicion and hesitancy towards female rule is common in our real world (i.e. 2016 election) and is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon. Prominent theologian, wrote in his 1558 piece, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women, that, “To promote a woman to beare rule, superioritie, dominion or empire aboue any realme, nation, or citie, is repugnant to nature, contumelie to God, a thing most contrarious to his reueled will and approued ordinance, and finallie it is the subuersion of good order, of all equitie and iustice”(Knox). Across Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism there exist exclusionary mindsets in regards to women in power dating back to antiquity. However, there are also examples of women overcoming the restrictions and barriers of their societies, such as the prominence and elevation of women within certain patriarchal systems (including Egypt, the Tang Dynasty of China, the Mongolian Empire and beyond) . Even today, within many Native American and West African communities, femaleness is connected to spiritualism – unseen forces are often defined as female, such as goddesses and masked spirits, and are often interpreted by priestesses, prophetesses, healers, fortune tellers, and female shamans. However, the dominant culture that defines our 21st century world is, largely, patriarchal and continues to prosper through the oppression of women – and, to an extent, men.

Power is power – and there is power in subjugation.

(Sidney Note: The glass ceiling metaphor should be viewed with some context – as should my statement above ^^ While times have changed and we now have female executives, college presidents, directors, governors, ambassadors and presidential candidates there are still inequities that exist. The metaphor implies that women and men have equal access to entry- and mid-level positions (Eagly and Carli). They do not. Rather than a ceiling to break through, women often have to struggle through a labyrinth, a maze filled with dead ends, false leads and towering walls. The labyrinth is even more suffocating for minority and marginalized women.

But back to the Game of Thrones universe . . . While most of the main characters have divided the fan base at some point in time (remember how we used to hate Cersei and then we felt bad and now . . . we kind of hate her again?) the discourse around Daenerys has been relatively consistent. While some see the Dragon Queen as an entitled, power-hungry tyrant slowly turning into the Mad Queen, others view her in a more sympathetic light. Daenerys – like many women – exist within a labyrinth. At the end is the Iron Throne. But the roads, for much of her life, were determined for her. Her (thankfully) deceased brother Viserys sold her in exchange for military support. Even after his golden death, Dany was still trapped in the maze, struggling to navigate the seemingly endless corridors. She has been raped, abandoned, deceived and . . . perhaps, most damning of all, she has been wrong.

Dany has made some questionable choices throughout her reign and while this is nothing new when it comes to GOT characters, what is new is that she is in a position of considerable power. Besides Cersei and, at one time, Grandma Olenna, Daenerys is one of the most powerful women in the series. Her dragons carry the weight of nuclear weapons and, after taking several fiery walks, hatching (or incubating) three ancient creatures an liberating a city from the chains of slavery . . . well, you can see why she thinks her destiny is to sit upon the Iron Throne.

Recently, the discourse about the portrayal of women in cinema has lit a fuse within the feminist movement. While I will say that some people tend to over analyze the actions of every character - relating them back to contemporary issues, it’s no state secret that female characters are often held to a very unhealthy set of standards:

Be strong, but not emasculating.

Be desirable, but not whorish.

Be charming, but not condescending.

Be ambitious, but not too ambitious.

The criticism about her representation in the show I think comes from a place of genuine concern. These fans want her to succeed because, seven hells, this woman has been through A LOT. And while there is a dose of sexism in the discourse, I do think that some of the backlash towards the show and creative team is unwarranted.

Daenerys Stormborn is NOT the protagonist in the traditional sense. She is a principle character who is heavily featured in both the books and Martin’s 5 novels. If you look at the charts below, people (who are more tech savvy than me) created comparison charts to help determine principle characters:

You may not like that Jon is painted as the hero or that Tyrion is featured prominently, but EVERY character has faced failures and loss in this series.

The freedom to lead is not freedom from failure.

No character is entirely good or entirely bad – Dany included. From white savior to female icon, Daenerys has been a polarizing character since season 1. She has made choices that, even when justifiable, were not . . . the most diplomatic solutions. She has a temper. She can be impulsive. But she is also affectionate with her friends. She is nurturing towards her dragons (in the books, her ancestors used whips to direct their dragons). She is also a queen . . . living in a patriarchal system that Aegon Targaryen established almost 300 years prior. She is single handedly trying to undo 300 years of patriarchal feudalism. That’s a pretty ambitious goal!

While Westerosi politics are similar to our own, they do not have cemented democratic institutions. The Night’s Watch is probably the closest example we have of a meritocracy (rule by merit or ability). The majority of the kingdom falls under the rule of one monarch who distributes semiautonomous authority through bonds of vassalage.

Change requires sacrifice . . . and compromise.

When was the last time you saw a high fantasy where, at one point, there were 5 women in positions of power? The closest moment in European history where that was a thing was when Catherine the Great of Russia, Madame de Pompadour, the Mistress of the King of France, and Empress Maria Theresa of the Holy Roman Empire combined their forces to fight against Fredrick II of Prussia during the 7 Years War (Fred was kinda a misogynist and coined the phrase The League of the Three Petticoats to describe the three women). Even in early English history, women who fought for power, like Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou, were dubbed as she-wolves or reckless, power-hungry queens. Hmmm . . . sound familiar?

Now Dany does have a temper. But so did Robert Baratheon. She can be impulsive. She has a sense of entitlement, as do most monarchs and presidents. She is compassionate, loyal to her friends and nurturing towards her dragons (in the books, her ancestors used whips to direct their dragons). She likes to be in control, but she is also willing to listen to others. But she does get angry and she does have insecurities. She is also a human and – like most humans – she is a bundle of idiosyncrasies, conflicting ideas, blinding anxieties and soaring dreams.

Are there problems with the series? Yes.

Have female (and male) characters been portrayed in ways that are questionable? Yeah.

Would a more socially conscious director craft a different narrative or create a more dynamic story? Maybe.

Are you still gonna watch the next episode this Sunday? Most likely.

If you look for flaws, you will find flaws – because, this story was not created by you. So write your own story, whip up a fanfic or make a headcannon!

And besides, there are plenty of real world issues surrounding women that you can (and should) put your energy towards.

#wow + beyond #wow analysis #game of thrones #got analysis #daenerys targaryen #feminism #women of wonder and beyond #writing #character development #fantasy writing

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chrismaverickdotcom · 7 years

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Leaping Over the Low Bar (with inches to spare): a Wonder Woman Review (no spoilers)

I’ve had a strange relationship with the build up for Wonder Woman. I remember when they announced it was on the docket for the DCEU several years ago. There seemed to be no real plan other than “get a female super hero movie out before Marvel does” and that’s never a great way to start. This was during a time when Marvel Studios execs were saying “we know you want a Black Widow movie, but that’s complicated…” and fans were responding with “fuck you, it’s not complicated. You have the character, and you have ScarJo, put her in a fucking movie.” Then DC announced “yeah, well we have the character and we have Gal Gadot, we’re making a fucking Wonder Woman movie. And we’ll even get a woman to direct it. Hey, Patty Jenkins! You’re a woman, right? Great! We’re going to revolutionize the genre, fuck Marvel!”

I was actually slightly on the complicated side. Not because I didn’t want a Wonder Woman movie. I did. And not because it’s hard to just put someone in a fucking movie. But because I was afraid that they would just… put someone in a fucking movie and call it done. And then it would be a disaster. I like Wonder Woman. I wanted a Wonder Woman movie, a lot! But I was willing to live in a world with no Wonder Woman movie rather than having a bad one… or even a mediocre one. Because mediocre wouldn’t be good enough. And when that movie utterly critically failed the lesson would be “Ugh, superhero movies with girls in them don’t work! No chick movies like this ever again!” and it would kill the franchise for at least 15 years. See Ghostbusters(2016). Even though people are acting like this sis the first movie starring a superheroine, it’s not. There’s been Supergirl, Catwoman, Barb Wire and Elektra. This movie was unequivocally better than any of these (including Ghostbusters). That’s not really hard. All of them were horrible. Ok, maybe Barb Wire didn’t suck. Actually. Barb Wire is way better than most people give it credit for. But this is still probably better than that.

Yes, we now officially no longer live in a world where there has never been a Wonder Woman movie!!!

Actually, we technically lived in that world before. There was a Wonder Woman movie back in 1974, only it was made for TV and I’m the only person on the planet who actually remembers it, except for maybe Cathy Lee Crosby who starred in it. Honestly, at this point I’m not convinced that Cathy Lee Crosby remembers that she was the original Wonder Woman. In fact, I just looked at her website… and she doesn’t. It’s not listed on her filmography page. She literally seems to think it’s more important that she list separate entries for the TV show That’s Incredible! and the That’s Incredible! reunion specials than it is to acknowledge that she was the first feature length Wonder Woman. It wasn’t good. The new movie was definitely better than that.

And Cathy Lee wasn’t even the first on-screen Wonder Woman. There’s also a five-minute pilot for a Wonder Woman tv series from 1967 by the producers of the original Batman tv series. It’s called Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince? and it stars Ellie Wood Walker as Diana Prince, a 27-million-year old single girl living with her mother in the big city. Her mother constantly harps on her about her inability to find a man. This takes up a good three minutes of the plot until a sudden emergency means that Diana has to change into her alter-ego Wonder Woman, narcissistic superheroine addicted to her own reflection which she delusionally sees as more attractive than she really is. The reflection is played by Linda Harrison, a different actress… And there’s a good solid minute of Walker making “OMG, I’m so hot” fish lips into the mirror as Harrison mimics her. Though honestly, they’re both about equally attractive and not even obviously different people so the joke is kinda lost. Why is it only five minutes? Because four minutes in, the producers realized “what the fuck are we doing?” and pulled the plug on this trainwreck. Anyway, the new movie is sure-as-shit better than that! (but you know, if you’ve never seen, definitely go watch it on the Youtubes.)

And of course there’s the old Lynda Carter series from the 1970s. Arguably, this film was better than that. I think this is actually probably better than that in a technical sense as well. In many ways, that show feels very much “of it’s era,” but it holds up surprisingly well. It “looks” dated and clearly suffers from budget and technology issues, but the storylines of it are kind of engaging and fun, and you can sort of feel it’s cultural relevance as an artifact of mid-century feminist approaches to television. It feels innovative. It feels important. And it was. The 1975 Wonder Woman series (along with contemporary shows action heroine shows like Bionic Woman, Police Woman and Charlie’s Angels) fundamentally changed the ways that women could be portrayed in genre media. No the shows weren’t perfect. Yes, there’s a fair amount of camp to them when viewed through the eyes of a 21st century fan. Yes, they all heavily lean on the male gaze and rely on the fact that it’s just as important that the heroine wear a skimpy outfit and look good flipping her hair in slow motion as it is that she be a competent crime fighter (if not more so). BUT, they did allow her to be a *COMPETENT* crime fighter. This is very much highlighted by comparing it to the Walker pilot from only a few years earlier. Even with the joke and the camp and the sex appeal, they were able to present an image that the female lead could be a heroine in her own right that didn’t necessarily need saving. She could drive the plot, without the assistance of a male protector, something that couldn’t be said about even progressive similar shows with female heroes of the sixties like The Avengers and The Mod Squad. The Lynda Carter series made Wonder Woman (and by extension, female leads) viable as a lead protagonist in an action role.

That was what this film was shooting to accomplish. It wanted to be that stake in the sand that could forever change how we look at women on screen. It really wanted that, but it didn’t quite get there. Yes, as I said, it was probably technically better than the Carter series (though less fun). It also manages to be important because of what it stands for. But it wasn’t quite as remarkable as it wanted to be.

But it didn’t need to be.

When I was doing the Wonder Woman roundtable at PCA/ACA a few weeks ago, someone in the audience asked us if we were looking forward to the new movie. I said I was cautiously optimistic. I wanted to like it. I wanted to like it a lot, and the buzz around the picture had been pretty good. But I was trying to not get to excited because the buzz was also pretty strong around Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad and those turned out to be… is it fair to say “disappointing?” Can I say that without too much fanboy nerdrage? I actually even liked Suicide Squad… I think it’s fun. Fuck it! BvS is a total abomination. Sure it made money, but it was craptastic and fanboys be damned, it’s just a shitty movie. But the singular best part of the movie is the ten to fifteen minutes that Gal Gadot has on screen as Wonder Woman. In order to be a success this movie didn’t need to be Citizen Kane. It didn’t even need to be the 1975 Wonder Woman. It just needed to extend Gadot’s fifteen minutes into a feature and somehow not manage to utterly suck. And it undoubtedly did better than that.

It is certainly, without a doubt, the best film in the DCEU franchise so far. Of course, that’s not actually all that high praise, because it’s only film number three.* But it’s solid, and I can’t actually say that about the last two. Suicide Squad may be more fun… but this is a better movie. BvS will probably end up making more money. This is a better movie. There’s a lot of good going on here. Gadot continues to make the character engaging. The bulk of this film takes place during WWI rather than modern day as her previous outing, and she did an amazing job of making the character seem younger and more naive. In BvS, Gadot played Diana as a grizzled veteran who sick of the darkness of the world. This Wonder Woman is more innocent and excited and full of… wonder. Even though we don’t see the intervening times between the end of WWI and her appearance in 2016, you feel as though there has been time for her develop and change over the course of the 20th century. Robin Wright also does a great job in a supporting role as Diana’s aunt Antiope. In fact, as far as Strong Female Characters™go, I was heavily invested in Antiope’s arc and watching her develop more than anyone else including Diana. Everyone else is… fine. The rest of the cast isn’t amazing; they don’t stand out. But none of them really stink or drag the film down either.

It’s not perfect film. I’m usually not really one to critique the special effects of a film one way or the other. As long as they get the job done and I don’t notice them, I’m happy. In this case however, a lot of the CGI (especially but not limited to the magic lasso) was actively bad. I was constantly aware that certain things were fake and that took me out of the movie. This was upsetting because I know they have the technology to do better. In fact, this was one of the few areas where I felt BvS outshines Wonder Woman. In fact, some shots were below the standards I expect out of their far cheaper CW Arrowverse. In 2017, I’m just aware that they can do better and I couldn’t not notice. As a side note, it’s not really part of THIS film, but there was a trailer for the Justice League movie at the beginning (before the film started instead of embedded in the middle like BvS did… ugh). Cyborg looks AWFUL. Like really really really bad. Again, it’s 2017. Say what you will about the Transformers movies, but at least they’ve proven that it’s possible to CGI a robot into a scene and make it look like it’s really there. Instead it looks like something every so slightly more advanced than Jason and the Argonauts, and while there was nothing quite that bad in this film, some effects looked like maybe they were pretty artificial (I’m not naming them because of spoilers).

There were also some writing choices that I questioned. While I liked the naiveté that Gadot gives Diana, it was at times a little too much. Particularly towards the end of the film, I felt like it takes her too long to catch on to the twist. There is a difference between naive and stupid… and it gets to a point where once the audience has picked up on the cues and she hasn’t it kind of makes her seem like a bit of a dumbass. This probably could have been fixed with tighter editing. Which is also a problem. At two hours and twenty-one minutes, the film is maybe 20-30 minutes too long. It feels like it drags in places. I especially wonder if children will sit through it. There was a lot of story packed into it, and not all of it is equally engaging. Like many modern summer blockbusters, this film was clearly being rewritten by committee as the shooting and reshooting was going on. At times it feels like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. A nice thing about the superhero genre is that it lends it self very well to genre hybridization. But here, things got somewhat disjoint and schizophrenic. The film begins as a superhero origin in the first act, before kind of organically turning to a war picture for much of the second. The war film is more engaging than the origin story (other than, as previously mentioned Wright’s Antiope), but then it sort of inexplicably picks up a lot of tropes of a swords and sandals flick for the final act. This comes out of nowhere. It feels like it was supposed to be a through line from the first act, but it really just… isn’t. Several characters sort of enter and leave the narrative with no real point or explanation. It’s clear that there’s probably a lot on the cutting room floor that could turn this into a three and a half hour directors cut. But unlike BvS, it doesn’t NEED to be. Even though there are clear issues with editing and disappearing storylines, the story feels complete. There’s a beginning, middle and and an end, and even with the holes, you can see how the characters got from point A to point C.

At the same time, the film seems to realize the importance of what it is trying to do and so it has a bit of an aspect of trying to be all things to all people. It wants to be a strong feminist message while still being mainstream marketable. It wants to present a strong and meaty role for Gadot while still being an exciting action fest. It wants to respond to the criticism of the other DCEU films being too dark and grim and still be serious. It wants to make sure there’s action set pieces to entertain the fans but still have a storyline. It wants to have enough easter eggs in it for the geeks while still being a standalone movie. It wants to be accessible for kids and yet intelligent for adults. And it’s still for the ladies, so it needs a love story… except we want to be progressive so lets toss in some allusions to the fact that all Amazons are lesbians… but not too much because we don’t want to scare off the squares! It tried to do a lot and it all feels kind of schizophrenic.

None of these problems are egregious enough to make the film unenjoyable. It’s quite fun. But as I was watching it, I kept thinking to myself “how the hell do I rate or review this?” I very much want to judge it on it’s own merit… as though I am unaware of the past iterations of the character or the cultural moment that it exists in. But that doesn’t seem fair in this case. Because as a movie, it’s ok. A solid 3 out of 5 stars. BUT, it’s impossible to divorce this film in that way. Because a big part of the story of Wonder Woman, both for this film and as a character overall, is her status as a feminist icon in the cultural moments in which she exists. That has always been her purpose and that is her purpose here. So when I take that into account, it makes me view the movie with different eyes. But it also makes me more aware of other films in this cultural moment that are attempting to do the same thing. Most notably, the last two Star Wars movies. I gave Force Awakens a 3 and Rogue One a 3.5. And while I think I actually enjoyed Force Awakens more than I enjoyed this, I recognize that objectively, as films that are trying to do what these films are trying to do, this stands right in between them.

Will it be the film that everyone looks back on in 20 years and says “this changed everything?” No… it’s just not going to be. There are too many others, many of which will feature women and chances are one has to be better than this… especially with less pressure on it. But it doesn’t suck. And given what it has had to compete with… that’s a high accomplishment.

★★★¼☆ (3.25 out of 5 stars)

*Author’s Note: As Mark Seely reminded me in the comments, this is actually film number FOUR in the the DCEU franchise. Not three. I had forgotten Man of Steel. This does not change the substance of my review at all though, and if nothing else pretty much gives you my opinion on Man of Steel.

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Leaping Over the Low Bar (with inches to spare): a Wonder Woman Review (no spoilers) was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom

#Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice #cathy lee crosby #Chris Pine #DC Comics #DC Extended Universe #DCEU #Ellie Wood Walker #feminism #film #Gal Gadot #Linda Harrison #lynda carter #movies #Patty Jenkins #reviews #Robin Wright #Warner Bros.#wonder woman #Wonder Woman (2017 film)

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