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tellitslantI am so very far from being able to be objective about Wonder Woman 1984 because so much of my entire being is composed of sheer delight that we live in a world where there are TWO Wonder Woman films and THIS ONE has BARBARA ANN MINERVA and did I mention we get WONDER WOMAN FILMS? With AMAZONS? And [spoiler] and [spoiler spoiler] and [spooooillllerrrrrr]!!!!
I continue to be fucking salty that Gail Simone didn't get a shout-out in the film's Special Thanks, but at least they did get some female creators in there this time - if I remember correctly, there were NONE on the 2017 film, and this time both Ramona Fradon (which was a delightful surprise) and Nicola Scott got namechecked. But Gail's Diana was definitely an influence here, c'mon!
Okay, first, I know we're going for period-specific and all that, but could someone please tell the writers that 'lame' is no longer an appropriate pejorative? YIKES. That sort of carelessness in showing in 2020 the world of 1984 also really coloured the film's representation of the Middle East and of Maxwell Lord's Latino background. I honestly wonder if with the latter they did a colour-blind casting process and then just didn't bother to adapt the storyline at all. Turns out that made it pretty racist! I really hoped this film would take some of the criticisms the first one received on race and actually... think about them... but it, uh. Did not. Which continues to be a disappointment.
Also I much prefer Diana snapping Max Lord's neck in the comics to literally anything that happened here. IDK, why use MAX LORD if you're going to try and redeem him? Sigh. I guess that works better with this version of Diana - like, to be clear, I never expected this Diana to actually kill Lord, but of all the characters who are unlikely to be redeemed by The Power Of Love, Lord has to be top five on that list, you know? Anyway, he was fine, but I sure didn't give much of a shit and would have traded a lot of his screentime for more Barbara. (I know you're all shocked.)
And I know Jenkins et al are working within the confines of the DC film universe, which say that Diana didn't hit public consciousness until after Batman versus Superman, and thus have to make it plausible that she's been flying (ha!) under the radar... but the whole I WILL NEVER LOVE ANYONE BUT YOU STEVE AND I WILL KEEP MYSELF FROM MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALL OF HUMANITY... that just doesn't sit well with me. Not only is it CREEPILY heteronormative, but Diana's entire ethos is about love. I could have forgiven this were there like seven years between the worlds of the first and second films, but nearly SEVENTY? I refuse to believe that any Diana can go so long without falling in love with humanity itself. I hate that Steve has to be the one to say, no, you must love again, it would be too sad if you didn't. Ugh. I forgive a lot because Gal Gadot and Chris Pine do have tremendous chemistry, but this was just so unpleasantly contrived. #AreTheStraightsOkay
THAT SAID :D :D :D :D :D I loved the film, have watched it twice already, will watch it many more times, DID I MENTION WONDER WOMAN
The first time I saw the first WW film I started crying about ten minutes in and just did. not. stop. for the entire film. This one wrung me nearly as emotionally dry and yep, once again, started me weeping over the Amazons. I JUST LOVE THEM. And I loved seeing the Amazon games! And all the other Amazons in the stands! It's just still incredibly overwhelming to watch all these women on screen together. I LOVE THE AMAZONS A LOT. And I desperately want to see this on the big screen just for Amazon Ninja Warrior! (Jessie Graff from American Ninja Warrior is in fact one of the competitors, but I have so far failed to pick her out, boo.) I want Patty Jenkins' Amazon film more than almost anything.
The mall scene felt like a lovely nod to the one in Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott's first Rebirth arc, while the Black girl Diana saves really reminded me of Star-Blossom! That was very cute.
My Barbara Ann Minerva feelings, let me show you them! I was deeply unsure about how the changes in Barbara's academic background would work. Her archaeological passion and how that drives her to researching and envying Wonder Woman is so integral in the comics... but of course, with Wonder Woman not in the public spotlight, something had to give. They did a good job adapting the dark mirror elements of the two of them (Diana... Minerva... right? right.) to this version of their story, and I think are setting up a future deeper dive in to that rivalry and Cheetah's desire to be like Diana while at the same time feeling twisted, hard-done-by, screwed over. I can absolutely see a third film being about that struggle. (Please let the third film be about that struggle.) I felt Barbara got short-changed in the film - I wanted so much more of her, not some cheesy Max Lord ending, bleh! :P But I LOVED seeing her and Diana fight.
I loved that they took the creepy virginity-obsessed god out of her backstory here, though again, not ruling out getting another version of Urzkartaga and/or the Duke of Deception (yeah, that was one of the points where I yelped out loud) in a third film, if they go deeper into her story.
I'm just really happy we got Cheetah on screen! And Kristen Wiig was pretty damn good. I'm not sure she would have been my choice, but for how they did the story she worked very well.
God, and they pulled so much from the George Perez intro of the Cheetah, too. One of my tumblr tags was #let kristen wiig have a tail you cowards AND THEY LET KRISTEN WIIG HAVE A TAIL, HOORAY. So much of the blocking of both fight scenes called directly back to, what was it, WW vol 2 issue 9, with the fight by the lake and the lasso face-off! And Diana trying to reach Barbara's essential self echoes through Perez and into what Rucka did in Rebirth and - was it Steve Orlando who did the most recent heartbreaking iteration? ahhhhhhhh I LOVE THEM.
*heavy sigh*
I have seen some reviews commenting on the heavy subtext about women competing with each other, but I honestly didn't mind that or find it problematic - I think part of that is the period setting, where 80s feminism pushing into professional settings interacts with the genre, and also I like having female heroes and villains fight each other. No one says Batman fights too many dudes, you know? And like I said, Cheetah works incredibly effectively as a narrative foil to Wonder Woman. I want her to hook up with Circe (read that as literally as you want) and get even more femslashy foe-yay going on in the WW 'verse.
I may or may not have said here how much I fucking hate the retconning of Diana's history to make her a child of Zeus, BUT I have to give major kudos to this film for the first use of that setup that I have ever cared about: DIANA CREATING HER OWN INVISIBLE JET. When I tell you I yelled: I YELLED. The moment I figured out they were going there! Hilariously, I had been thinking about thirty seconds earlier how much easier their life would be if they had the jet! Man! I would never have guessed it would be possible to do something so... well, comic-book-y... in these films!
Another yell: THE MOMENT I SAW ASTERIA. I am still not entirely sure HOW, but I shot STRAIGHT UP in my seat the second I saw her eyes and went ASFKLJDG IT'S LYNDA CARTER. I can't believe I called that. I guess when you spend three to four years of your life concentrating intently on a tv show, it, uh, imprints! AND I SCREAMED DURING THE CREDITS SCENE. Please bring me the Amazon film with her backstory and the third film with Asteria and I don't even care what I'm just so happy. Cheetah and Asteria? SOMETHING. GOD. GOD.
Many years ago when the possibility of a WW film first started seeming like it might become reality, I and one of my bffs agreed that adapting the first Perez arc from 1987 and just updating it from the cold war era to the current day would be our ideal first film. Obviously they did not do that, but it cracked me up that in this film where we went back to the 1980s they did in fact use a LOT of that story! Instead of preying on people's fears, they used wishes, but the mechanism was very much the same, and the nearly-launching-the-missiles, and even Diana's use of the lasso to end things rather than by fighting the villain. I love how that played out here. We got our great setpiece battles AND we got the core of Diana, coming from a place of truth and love. So Diana <3 <3 <3
Also, I loved how deliberately the reversal of Diana and Steve was in this film from the first - here Steve gets the makeover scene, yes, but also Diana gets to teach him what dancing is! It was just really very cute okay.
I do wish we'd had a bit of closure with Cheetah at the end, but - okay, I watched Batman Returns on Christmas Eve, and do you know what that final shot of Cheetah reminded me of? The end of Batman Returns where Catwoman's head pops up into frame, silhouetted against the moon. *g* Hopefully we get more Cheetah where we were unsuccessful in getting more Catwoman.
Overall I think that there was definitely a sophomore slump, but also that this film was coming in to much higher expectations than the first. I still think it's better than most of the DCU and a lot of the MCU; I really want them to get some more people of colour in the creative team and stop fucking that up, but I also want so, so much more of this universe and am so very happy we get to have it at all.
I continue to be fucking salty that Gail Simone didn't get a shout-out in the film's Special Thanks, but at least they did get some female creators in there this time - if I remember correctly, there were NONE on the 2017 film, and this time both Ramona Fradon (which was a delightful surprise) and Nicola Scott got namechecked. But Gail's Diana was definitely an influence here, c'mon!
Okay, first, I know we're going for period-specific and all that, but could someone please tell the writers that 'lame' is no longer an appropriate pejorative? YIKES. That sort of carelessness in showing in 2020 the world of 1984 also really coloured the film's representation of the Middle East and of Maxwell Lord's Latino background. I honestly wonder if with the latter they did a colour-blind casting process and then just didn't bother to adapt the storyline at all. Turns out that made it pretty racist! I really hoped this film would take some of the criticisms the first one received on race and actually... think about them... but it, uh. Did not. Which continues to be a disappointment.
Also I much prefer Diana snapping Max Lord's neck in the comics to literally anything that happened here. IDK, why use MAX LORD if you're going to try and redeem him? Sigh. I guess that works better with this version of Diana - like, to be clear, I never expected this Diana to actually kill Lord, but of all the characters who are unlikely to be redeemed by The Power Of Love, Lord has to be top five on that list, you know? Anyway, he was fine, but I sure didn't give much of a shit and would have traded a lot of his screentime for more Barbara. (I know you're all shocked.)
And I know Jenkins et al are working within the confines of the DC film universe, which say that Diana didn't hit public consciousness until after Batman versus Superman, and thus have to make it plausible that she's been flying (ha!) under the radar... but the whole I WILL NEVER LOVE ANYONE BUT YOU STEVE AND I WILL KEEP MYSELF FROM MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALL OF HUMANITY... that just doesn't sit well with me. Not only is it CREEPILY heteronormative, but Diana's entire ethos is about love. I could have forgiven this were there like seven years between the worlds of the first and second films, but nearly SEVENTY? I refuse to believe that any Diana can go so long without falling in love with humanity itself. I hate that Steve has to be the one to say, no, you must love again, it would be too sad if you didn't. Ugh. I forgive a lot because Gal Gadot and Chris Pine do have tremendous chemistry, but this was just so unpleasantly contrived. #AreTheStraightsOkay
THAT SAID :D :D :D :D :D I loved the film, have watched it twice already, will watch it many more times, DID I MENTION WONDER WOMAN
The first time I saw the first WW film I started crying about ten minutes in and just did. not. stop. for the entire film. This one wrung me nearly as emotionally dry and yep, once again, started me weeping over the Amazons. I JUST LOVE THEM. And I loved seeing the Amazon games! And all the other Amazons in the stands! It's just still incredibly overwhelming to watch all these women on screen together. I LOVE THE AMAZONS A LOT. And I desperately want to see this on the big screen just for Amazon Ninja Warrior! (Jessie Graff from American Ninja Warrior is in fact one of the competitors, but I have so far failed to pick her out, boo.) I want Patty Jenkins' Amazon film more than almost anything.
The mall scene felt like a lovely nod to the one in Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott's first Rebirth arc, while the Black girl Diana saves really reminded me of Star-Blossom! That was very cute.
My Barbara Ann Minerva feelings, let me show you them! I was deeply unsure about how the changes in Barbara's academic background would work. Her archaeological passion and how that drives her to researching and envying Wonder Woman is so integral in the comics... but of course, with Wonder Woman not in the public spotlight, something had to give. They did a good job adapting the dark mirror elements of the two of them (Diana... Minerva... right? right.) to this version of their story, and I think are setting up a future deeper dive in to that rivalry and Cheetah's desire to be like Diana while at the same time feeling twisted, hard-done-by, screwed over. I can absolutely see a third film being about that struggle. (Please let the third film be about that struggle.) I felt Barbara got short-changed in the film - I wanted so much more of her, not some cheesy Max Lord ending, bleh! :P But I LOVED seeing her and Diana fight.
I loved that they took the creepy virginity-obsessed god out of her backstory here, though again, not ruling out getting another version of Urzkartaga and/or the Duke of Deception (yeah, that was one of the points where I yelped out loud) in a third film, if they go deeper into her story.
I'm just really happy we got Cheetah on screen! And Kristen Wiig was pretty damn good. I'm not sure she would have been my choice, but for how they did the story she worked very well.
God, and they pulled so much from the George Perez intro of the Cheetah, too. One of my tumblr tags was #let kristen wiig have a tail you cowards AND THEY LET KRISTEN WIIG HAVE A TAIL, HOORAY. So much of the blocking of both fight scenes called directly back to, what was it, WW vol 2 issue 9, with the fight by the lake and the lasso face-off! And Diana trying to reach Barbara's essential self echoes through Perez and into what Rucka did in Rebirth and - was it Steve Orlando who did the most recent heartbreaking iteration? ahhhhhhhh I LOVE THEM.
*heavy sigh*
I have seen some reviews commenting on the heavy subtext about women competing with each other, but I honestly didn't mind that or find it problematic - I think part of that is the period setting, where 80s feminism pushing into professional settings interacts with the genre, and also I like having female heroes and villains fight each other. No one says Batman fights too many dudes, you know? And like I said, Cheetah works incredibly effectively as a narrative foil to Wonder Woman. I want her to hook up with Circe (read that as literally as you want) and get even more femslashy foe-yay going on in the WW 'verse.
I may or may not have said here how much I fucking hate the retconning of Diana's history to make her a child of Zeus, BUT I have to give major kudos to this film for the first use of that setup that I have ever cared about: DIANA CREATING HER OWN INVISIBLE JET. When I tell you I yelled: I YELLED. The moment I figured out they were going there! Hilariously, I had been thinking about thirty seconds earlier how much easier their life would be if they had the jet! Man! I would never have guessed it would be possible to do something so... well, comic-book-y... in these films!
Another yell: THE MOMENT I SAW ASTERIA. I am still not entirely sure HOW, but I shot STRAIGHT UP in my seat the second I saw her eyes and went ASFKLJDG IT'S LYNDA CARTER. I can't believe I called that. I guess when you spend three to four years of your life concentrating intently on a tv show, it, uh, imprints! AND I SCREAMED DURING THE CREDITS SCENE. Please bring me the Amazon film with her backstory and the third film with Asteria and I don't even care what I'm just so happy. Cheetah and Asteria? SOMETHING. GOD. GOD.
Many years ago when the possibility of a WW film first started seeming like it might become reality, I and one of my bffs agreed that adapting the first Perez arc from 1987 and just updating it from the cold war era to the current day would be our ideal first film. Obviously they did not do that, but it cracked me up that in this film where we went back to the 1980s they did in fact use a LOT of that story! Instead of preying on people's fears, they used wishes, but the mechanism was very much the same, and the nearly-launching-the-missiles, and even Diana's use of the lasso to end things rather than by fighting the villain. I love how that played out here. We got our great setpiece battles AND we got the core of Diana, coming from a place of truth and love. So Diana <3 <3 <3
Also, I loved how deliberately the reversal of Diana and Steve was in this film from the first - here Steve gets the makeover scene, yes, but also Diana gets to teach him what dancing is! It was just really very cute okay.
I do wish we'd had a bit of closure with Cheetah at the end, but - okay, I watched Batman Returns on Christmas Eve, and do you know what that final shot of Cheetah reminded me of? The end of Batman Returns where Catwoman's head pops up into frame, silhouetted against the moon. *g* Hopefully we get more Cheetah where we were unsuccessful in getting more Catwoman.
Overall I think that there was definitely a sophomore slump, but also that this film was coming in to much higher expectations than the first. I still think it's better than most of the DCU and a lot of the MCU; I really want them to get some more people of colour in the creative team and stop fucking that up, but I also want so, so much more of this universe and am so very happy we get to have it at all.
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Date: 2020-12-27 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-27 01:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-27 07:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-27 07:38 pm (UTC)