According to James Cameron, Wonder Woman was unfeminist. His thoughts perfectly exemplify the fixation many have with putting the movie down.
Cameron has elaborated on his comments about Wonder Woman, which prompted a response from director Patty Jenkins herself, and he stands by what he said last time. To him, Wonder Woman was a step backwards for women.
But while many are focusing on how right or wrong he was, or what kind of a person this makes him, that’s not what we should focus on at all. Cameron’s opinion of Wonder Woman has nothing to do with feminism or with the film itself. It’s about much more than that.
It’s about ‘knowing what’s best’ for women
Cameron’s comments may have been shocking, but he isn’t the only person saying them. He just happens to be famous while saying them.
From the moment Wonder Woman premiered, there were men who mocked the reception the movie received. They scoffed at female audiences’ assertions that it was the best main female character ever portrayed in action/fantasy. They pointed at Diana’s outfit, calling it sexualizing. They called the plot simplistic and the dialogue unnatural and the special effects cheap. They were unable to understand why the movie had women in tears. They refused to admit that the movie could be empowering.
No, Wonder Woman is not a perfect movie, but it is revolutionary — a fact validated by countless testimonies by women themselves. So why is it so difficult to accept that women might be more privy to what empowers women than a man would be? Why is it necessary to put down something that filled a void women have always felt in superhero movies?
Cameron’s comment reflects those made by many, and a self-righteous assurance of policing what women can and cannot be empowered by. Of (yet again) putting down entertainment created by women and consumed by women, and refusing to acknowledge it as equal.
It’s about sexualizing female characters and the actors who play them
In his follow-up statements about why he believes Wonder Woman isn’t feminist, Cameron pointed out the way Gal Gadot was dressed.
“I mean, she was Miss Israel, and she was wearing a kind of bustier costume that was very form-fitting. She’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. To me, that’s not breaking ground.”
The line between objectification and empowerment is really defined by the way the movie is filmed. And the gaze that follows Diana throughout Wonder Woman is most certainly not a sexual one. Its shots more resemble the way Man of Steel portrays Superman than the way Iron Man 2 portrayed Black Widow. Beyond that, the costumes in Wonder Woman are revolutionary in their own way.
But this is not what Cameron saw in the movie. Instead, his comments reveal a line of thought that is as confusing as it is alarming:
“I just think Hollywood doesn’t get it about women in commercial franchises. Drama, they’ve got that cracked, but the second they start to make a big commercial action film, they think they have to appeal to 18-year-old males or 14-year-old males, whatever it is. Look, it was probably a little bit of a simplistic remark on my part, and I’m not walking it back, but I will add a little detail to it, which is: I like the fact that, sexually, she had the upper hand with the male character, which I thought was fun.”
This was his defense of his previous statement, and its ending is so crass that it’s shocking that he didn’t see how problematic it was. But neither have many other men who, in pursuit of “uplifting women,” have ended up objectifying them.
Cameron’s comment perfectly demonstrates the thought process behind it all — from ‘empowering’ lesbian scenes that are more fetishizing than anything, to Strong Female Characters who exist exclusively for the enjoyment of the leading male. In the end, it has nothing to do with a character’s strength or agency or integrity: it all comes down to sex, and how men can derive pleasure from it.
And what about Gal Gadot, who is easily one of the most famous actors in film this year, who singlehandedly saved Batman v Superman and brought Diana Prince to life? In Cameron’s remarks, she is reduced to nothing more than “drop-dead gorgeous” and “Miss Israel,” with nothing said about her craft or her personality.
It’s about women in Hollywood and the men in power
It’s not that Cameron is evil for what he said. It’s not that his remarks were the most shocking thing that has ever been heard. But they matter, because they show just how casually he can say these things–how casually people in the high ranks of Hollywood are willing to dismiss female directors, female actors and female audiences, all in the name of a twisted version of feminism.
Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s, was quick to make her posture clear on Facebook:
“To James Cameron -STOP dissing WW: You poor soul. Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do. Like all women–we are more than the sum of our parts. Your thuggish jabs at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins, are ill advised. This movie was spot on. Gal Gadot was great. I know, Mr. Cameron–because I have embodied this character for more than 40 years. So–STOP IT.”
Her statement mirrors that of Patty Jenkins’ from last month: “There is no right and wrong kind of powerful woman. And the massive female audience who made the film a hit it is, can surely choose and judge their own icons of progress.”
What Cameron said points out the unhealthy obsession many men — in Hollywood and everywhere else — seem to have with putting Wonder Woman down. And they go to show that there’s still a lot of work to be done for movies made by women and made for women to be respected.
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