On Thursday, we reported on James Cameron’s interesting statements regarding the Wonder Woman film. As we know, the film exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist, not just because it was a strong film, but because it was the first female superhero in today’s modern era — and arguably the first good one EVER to hit theaters. This was proof to many in the business that female superhero movies could be successful, and Wonder Woman herself proved to be a great inspiration to women and girls worldwide.

But Cameron was not impressed, stating:

“All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards. Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon. She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, [the benefit of characters like Sarah] is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!”

While I can see where he’s coming from here, I do think his statements are a bit misguided, and while I tried to get my point across in the piece I wrote on Thursday evening, it didn’t take long for Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins to swoop in on Twitter and make a statement of her own. Her latest comments say exactly what I was thinking — only much better than I managed to.

Check out Jenkins’ jab back at Cameron:

“James Cameron’s inability to understand what Wonder Woman is, or stands for, to women all over the world is unsurprising as, though he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman. Strong women are great. his praise of my film Monster, and our portrayal of a strong yet damaged woman was so appreciated. But if women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong, and we aren’t free to be multidimensional or celebrate an icon of women everywhere because she is attractive and loving, then we haven’t come very far have we. [sic] I believe women can and should be EVERYTHING just like male lead characters should be. 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.”

Again, Cameron’s point is taken. He believes that in having a beautiful icon like Wonder Woman could potentially undercut the more flawed normal women that exist in reality, but in doing so, he is limiting the true inspirations to those types of women. At the end of the day, isn’t the hope that girls could have MANY different types women to look up to, so they can pick and choose what works for them? Having any one type of woman seems to be missing the point altogether.

What do you think here? Do you agree with Cameron or Jenkins? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Patty Jenkins