The recent film version of Wonder Woman seems like a lost opportunity to change the somewhat rigid character of superhero movies, especially with a woman director. The initial scenes on the Amazon-populated island of Theyscira show some promise but once Diana leaves the island to fight the Germans in WWI the film goes downhill, becoming a typical comic-book film, with plenty of confusing CGI and unexplained super-powers, all in a time before women were allowed to vote.
I wrote on Jan.4, 2015 about Jill Lepore's book about William Moulton Marston, the writer of the Wonder Woman comics from 1941-1948, His complex view of Diana during WWII was a mixture of fear and admiration, with subtle suggestions of the appeal of domination that she represented during the period of Rosie the Riveter. When the war ended some of the men who returned resented the image of strong women (see the film noirs of the post-war period)and Wonder Woman became more tamed and submissive. Perhaps Jenkins's film will restore the female superhero, though I would prefer her to be more human.
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