I don't really like watching superhero movies. The plot is simple and clichéd. I can basically guess the end after reading the beginning. After watching it, I feel amnesia, and I can't remember any details.
In the past ten years, we have had countless male superheroes: Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor... These classic images can be counted forever.
As for the female heroes, even though there are Catwoman, Batwoman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and so on, they are often just a foil in hero movies where men dominate. There is no separate plot line, no vivid characters, their existence is more like a vase. For example, the catwoman performed by Jennifer Garner's Erica and Halle Berry seems to be more eye- catching than what kind of person they are.
Although there have been action movies with female protagonists like "The Hunger Games" that have achieved good box office results, Hollywood has always hesitated to spend a lot of money to make female hero movies.
In "Superman v Batman" released in 2016, Wonder Woman, a 75-year-old comic character, appeared on the big screen for the first time. In the decades before that, Superman had appeared on the big screen 7 times. Three different Superman actors have walked the red carpet; Batman has more than 10 series of movies, which have been performed by 6 different actors.
Wonder Woman, as an absolute first-line superhero, had her own TV series of the same name 40 years ago. It is also one of the most deeply rooted characters among all the heroes of Marvel and DC, but she only appeared after 75 years. Up the big screen.
Today, 76 years later, Wonder Woman finally has her first movie of her own. It's a bit late, but in 2017, the year that started with Women's March, it seems to be particularly meaningful.
//Female hero ≠ female male hero
The male heroes in my mind are all flesh and blood. Captain America and Iron Man are conservative and radical, and can represent two different political factions. The Hulk is a grumpy, somewhat confessed otaku scientist. Thor is arrogant and reckless, Spiderman is narcissistic, and Batman is melancholy. Each hero has enough background and story plot, coupled with human flaws and imperfections, so that we can easily feel their differences.
However, the image of female heroes in memory is so thin that it is difficult to make an impression.
She has beautiful hair, painted dark lipstick and nail polish, and is wearing a black tight leather jacket. In order to facilitate her running and fighting, she has a series of traditional male characteristics, skills and hobbies, like a boy. Just as brave and straightforward, she will continue to use her "male skills" to protect her lover, make her lover a hero, and save the world.
"The Matrix", "Big Hero 6", "Avengers"... Many movies you can think of have such female characters. Strong and powerful, brave and good at fighting, but also has no effect on the development of the main story line. The film never portrays her character too much, but tells the story behind her, only shows her heroic side from the front of war and duel, in order to create a perfect standard hero image.
Under the prevalence of the political correctness of western feminism, the female hero seems to have fallen into another unprepared trap: she must be strong, decisive, and brave, and cannot possess traditional femininity at all. It seems that only by desperately showing the strong, enthusiastic, and brave side of the heroines can the fans' admiration and love be guaranteed.
It is said that when Dan Obannon created "Alien", he created a series of complicated characters and deliberately did not give them gender. However, the protagonist Ripley's wisdom, strength, and determination made people intuitively understand the characteristics of being a male, until the casting director introduced to the crew a female actor who was fully qualified for the role of Ripley. The script only needs to replace all "he" with "she", and other things don't need to be changed, Ripley becomes a woman with wisdom, strength, and determination.
Later, many directors and screenwriters followed this method to create female heroic characters: first create a male character, and then "transform" her into a female . When asked why a female heroic character is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, most people's answers are probably that she is strong, confident, and brave, not at all like the weak women we have seen in the past.
The female heroes created in this way are almost all the same thin and old-fashioned images-which makes me wonder whether the female hero is the hero itself, or is it just a replica of the male hero after changing the gender?
// A different female hero
And this is where Wonder Woman is different.
The background story of Diana is told from the beginning of the movie, which allows us to get closer to this role. Diana is indeed brave and strong, with a desire to fight in her eyes, but at the same time she is also naive, innocent, a little axis, and a bit of a secondary illness. From a protected silly white sweet, through a series of changes, and finally become a hero.
When she found out that everything she did was not true, she also wavered and wanted to abandon human beings. The movie did not give up on the portrayal of these small details, making Diana's image richer and more three-dimensional. She is not only a superhero, first of all, she is a living person, she is brave and fearless, but also has shortcomings like any of us. She didn't fight all the way to show how strong she was, but just because she didn't know there was another way.
The character who is as vivid as Diana is Steve. In most superhero movies, the hero's admiration is usually just a foil, and can't have any major effect on the hero's main line. However, Steve in "Wonder Woman" is portrayed very full and likable. Although the movie takes female heroes as the protagonists, the role and proportion of male characters in it are still very large.
Diana first learned about human warfare because of saving Steve, and Steve took her step by step into the battlefield she had longed for and belonged to. Although Steve himself is not a superhero, he is quite heroic. In order to save the people in nearby villages from the German gas bombs, he himself detonated a fighter plane full of gas bombs and exploded in the air together with the plane and the gas bombs. This role is a well-deserved actor.
Although the proliferation of white male hero images makes us very eager for the appearance of female heroes, it is not just that the theme of female heroes can break through and become a good movie. A strong role is not the same as a good female role, and a female role does not need to be defined as a "female role."
It is difficult for a character to be molded into a stereotype or routine to become a real character.
Wonder Woman's image-building that breaks the stereotype makes me think that heroic movies are not all rigid and boring.
// Female heroes stared at from a male perspective
As soon as the "Wonder Woman" movie came out, Gal Gadot had countless fans. Gadot, who has served in the army, had nine months of intensive physical training before the movie, including kung fu, boxing, swordsmanship, judo, etc., adding 17 pounds of muscle. In the movie, Diana’s arms and long legs are slim. And full of power.
In addition to admiring Gadot's beautiful legs, DC fans also complained that her breasts are too small, which does not fit the image of the original comics. The action scenes in the movie show the blood-spraying long legs to the extreme, and Diana puts on elegant female clothes to show her gentle and moving side, still serving the appreciation of men. To a certain extent, Diana still failed to escape the male gaze, and even among the viewers who adopted the "male perspective", there was no lack of women themselves .
But even so, the role setting of Wonder Woman has revealed some equal rights thoughts .
After trying out typical women's clothing, Diana finally chose a set of neutral clothing that is easy to move and fight, which is handsome and feminine. Diana never showed her chest or cleavage throughout the movie.
In addition to the beautiful body that really pleases the male suspects, Diana is also a hero who fits the image of the female audience: she leads the team alone on the front line of the battle, and the fighting moves are handsome and beautiful, proud, confident, indulgent, and not for the purpose of pornography or seducing men. To show your body .
And Diana rescued the actor Steve who crashed into the sea on the beach, and the scene where Steve was accidentally seen by Diana while taking a bath on Paradise Island, made me suddenly feel the past ten years. Gender swaps between men and women in movies you watch. It turns out that these are not things that only men can do. Diana joked that men play no role in the pleasure of sexual life. They are only used to give birth to children. They are also lines that cannot appear in male hero movies.
The society we live in is still a patriarchal society. Women are neglected, discriminated against, and regarded as male subordinates. Only men are qualified to be heroes and fight. All women have to do is to return to the family, become a good wife and mother, or a fertility tool, and be a supporter behind the scenes.
While most of the traditional film art works are strengthening this impression, "Wonder Woman" breaks this gender stereotype. Women can finally exist independently, and are no longer the one that needs to be saved, and no longer the support behind the scenes that can only be hidden behind men.
However, the social status of women will not be completely changed just because of a movie, equality will not be realized by themselves, and women cannot just wait for men to save themselves. Wonder Woman gave us a good start, and we still have a lot to do.
Just like the words Steve said to Diana: " I'm here to save today, and you want to save the world. "
Text/Ning Zi
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