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Three things about the Wonder Woman movie. 1. Steve takes over a man’s body and neither Steve nor Diana thinks to question if it’s ok to take over the man’s body. 2. Fighter pilots need to wear oxygen masks.
3. An Israeli woman that soldiered with the IDF and said some highly controversial things playing a superhero that ‘saves’ Arabs seems to be incredibly problematic.
Overall: I’ve watched incredibly bad superhero films before. And multiple times. I am extremely tolerant of the genre. There are some good things in Wonder Woman. I’ve seen universal panning of Pedro Pascal’s performance, but I actually enjoyed it.
Having said that. Wonder Woman pulled me out of the ‘space’ of the movie so many times, with issues ranging from pure ridiculous (we had big debate ending in google search and long out loud reading of article about if fighter pilots need oxygen masks, they do)—
To major plot points (wait he said Diana is losing her powers what is he talking about what is going on?!?!) to serious problems (wait isn’t gal gadot the one who said all that stuff about IDF invading Gaza? And now she’s pretending to be a superhero saving Arabs? 
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That it was nearly impossible to ‘go along for the ride’ with this movie, in ways I can with other bad superhero movies like Batman v Superman.
I’m super tired of ‘wearing glasses makes you ugly’ trope, and Spider-Man already addressed glasses/superhero powers, so unless u have something different to say or something to add to convo, best to just let that ‘she was so ugly, she wore glasses!!!’ Thing go.
The grand unveiling of the gold Wonder Woman outfit was proceeded by a story ‘gaff’ so big that when Wonder Woman landed in her gold outfit we had to pause the movie and debate what the hell just happened-
Entire rust belt rebel household on Christmas: WAIT HOW DID DHE GET THAT WASNT SHE JUST FLYING SURELY SHE WAS HALF WAY TO HER DESTINATION ALREADY, DID SHE ACTUALLY STOP AND TURN AROUND WHAT THE FUCK???
And then the outfight is torn apart in literally minutes anyway. So. What a waste of a debate for the rust belt rebel family.
But my biggest problem with the movie is the entire answer to the bad guy is everybody renouncing their wishes. (Oh yeah, the bad guy becomes a wizard-y type person that can grant a wish and then takes what he wants as payment for granting wishes).
The reason I am so tolerant of superhero movies is bcz they rest on genre foundation that in the end/ hope is a good thing. Somebody will do the right thing, somebody will come save you, somebody will get up one last time, somebody does care enough.
Superhero’s in the movies say it’s ok to dream for something better, it’s ok to wish for something different. Superman is not my favorite, but I think that’s why he resonates and has resonated for so long through so many different actors.
He promises to care, even when it’s hard.
Then you get to this Wonder Woman and she’s like—literally telling the entire world to renounce their wishes- to be brave enough to realize ‘truth is truth’ and our wishes (dreams) are so self centered and self serving...they are destroying to world.
I was taken out of the movie space one last time during this sequence, as I first wondered how many people would wish for their loved ones that died of COVID to return. And then I remembered that 1984, when movie takes place, would’ve seen a ton of people wishing for-
Loved ones that died from AIDS to return. And all I could think then was that this pathetic movie, this pathetic ‘love’ between Steve and Diana, are not big enough to hold the level of grief and healing that renouncing the wish of a dead loved one returned needs.
And if your pathetic movie isn’t big enough to dream of the end of colonization (something one of the characters wishes for) and it’s not big enough to hold the grief and offer healing of those mourning the loss of their loved ones and it even asks you-
To renounce the very thing that superhero movies promise- that it’s ok to hope, even during the worst of times, that things can change, then what is the point of your pathetic movie?
One of the most powerful (and earned) moments in all of the superhero movies is Steve Rogers tightening his busted up shield and walking towards an entire galaxy of bad guys. That moment when you hear the crack of the radio and the quiet voice- on your left-
I burst into loud horse braying sobs in the theater. Like, my kids shrunk in their seats trying to melt away from me, I cried so loud and hard.
That moment is everything that is great and important about the superhero genre. Everybody struggles with their own galaxy sized army of aliens. You’re not alone.
But even as that moment was so important to me- it isn’t lost on me that it was a white man leading that moment and that the love and solidarity of ‘on your left’ came from men.
