Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman movie is a massive hit for Warner Bros. and an historical achievement for female filmmakers, on that we can all surely agree. Conversely, we can argue whether or not this movie single-handedly resurrected the DCEU, or whether it’s even fair to hang this responsibility on the film. But there’s one more thing Patty Jenkins’ film accomplished that bodes well for the future of DC‘s superheroes: it connected with women and young girls in a big way.
As you know, the protagonists in modern superhero films are predominately male, wherein female roles are often relegated to sidekicks, love interests, or window dressing. Correspondingly, superhero films are hugely popular with the 18-24-year-old male demographic. Wonder Woman shifted these narratives, and hopefully future superhero films will take note of this under-served but newly engaged audience. I know, I know, there are already lots of female fans out there, but I think it’s fair to say mainstream female audiences lacked a definitive role-model, until now.
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Over the weekend Patty Jenkins took to Twitter and posted a series of comments and observations, collected by her producer, which described a variety of exuberant reactions from young girls, who clearly identified with Wonder Woman, and also felt a sense of empowerment from the film:
My producer just sent me this… ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! This makes every hard day worth it. Thank you to whomever wrote it!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/3DzIaMueIh
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) June 11, 2017
I heard similar remarks upon leaving my local theater this weekend. My wife — who is not a comic book fan — recently told me that she was tired of all the “dude” movies, but her first words after seeing Wonder Woman were, “I kind of want to see what she does in Justice League.” That kind of response is lightning in a bottle for Warner and DC, and tracks with a lot of what I’m reading online.
Did Warner and DC see this coming? The film’s final trailer (see above) emphasizes Gadot’s character in terms of daughter, feminist, comrade, leader, and warrior — a clear focus on character over spectacle. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot made a fantastic movie, it was fun and earnest and a love letter to the genre — but more important, they lit a fire under their female audience, who obviously identifies with the character.
What reactions have you heard from female family and friends who’ve seen Wonder Woman? Let us know in the comments down below!
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SOURCE: Twitter [Italics]
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