In the superhero universe, there are remarkably few women to look up to. Even among the female superheroes that do exist, they are most often depicted on screen as side characters (e.g. Black Widow) rather than the stars of their own big budget movie. This is part of what made the release of Wonder Woman in 2017, and then Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020, so exciting for women everywhere, not only for fans of the DC universe. Its highly anticipated sequel, however, shows that placing a powerful woman with superhuman abilities in a leading role is not enough to ensure positive gender representation.
WW84 follows Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, as she fights to save the world from Maxwell Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, and his message of greed and excess. Her real challenge though, is fighting off the Cheetah, played by Kristen Wiig, another woman who matches Diana’s powers and is intent on protecting Lord from harm. It is through the Cheetah that this movie rehashes a tired depiction of women in competition with one another, and sends a harmful message about gender relations.
“Wonder Woman 1984 ultimately undercuts its own goals as a feminist superhero film by falling back onto regressive tropes about women.”
The Week on WW84
Warning: Spoilers for WW84 ahead.
Cheetah starts off the movie as Barbara, a lonely, somewhat awkward archaeologist who works alongside Diana at the Smithsonian. Barbara is instantly in awe of Diana, and after Diana saves her from being assaulted, Barbara wishes on a Dreamstone to be like her. Barbara’s wish is granted and once she develops powers she soon turns against Diana. Their rivalry culminates in a fight scene where Diana asks Cheetah to reverse the wish and be Barbara again. Barbara refuses and is defeated by Diana.
At that moment, it would have been amazing if there was a shift in the plot, and Barbara decided to give up her wish and join Diana to fight off lord. The movie could show the ability of women to lift each other up, work together, and that even though Barbara is not a superhero, she can be strong in other ways, like through her moral character or extensive knowledge of archaeology. Instead, by refusing to give up her wish, Barbara’s character shows that women who are not like Wonder Woman (all real women) would die for that level of perfection and throw other women under the bus to attain it, sacrificing female empowerment. Although Wonder Woman is a great role model for girls, she is a limited one because she is absolutely flawless and her characteristics are completely unattainable.
It could be argued that this critique of Barbara’s character is unfair, by suggesting women can not be villainous and evil on screen, but that is not the problem. Of course we must have bad women, as well as good women depicted in film, the problem, though, is that Barbara is the only other main female character in the movie. When Diana works with someone in either film, it is her male love interest, Steve, played by Chris Pine.
The other main issue is that Barbara’s evil does not truly emerge out of anger for the man who assaulted her, the man who used her to gain power for himself, or anyone else for that matter. Barbara turns into a villain because of her anger towards Diana, the woman whose mission will prevent Barbara from remaining like her, an impossibly strong, smart, and beautiful woman.
“Barbara is a victim of a system that upholds the patriarchy, but the script is either disinterested in such an investigation, or missed it entirely. Either way, the ensuing battle between Barbara-turned-Cheetah and Wonder Woman devolves to being exactly that: a catfight.”
The Week on WW84
This rivalry could be the movies’ way of intentionally calling back to much of the women to women rivalry perpetuated in the 1980s through movies like Working Girl. If this is the case, however, WW84 never shows its self-awareness, which makes it difficult to give it the benefit of the doubt. While Working Girl did showcase female rivalry, it also was able to point out sexism in the workplace, which was considerably worse at the time. What is actually pretty remarkable about WW84, is the little misogyny Barbara and Diana seem to face in their jobs and just generally. Aside from the one harassment incident shown, the two women face little discrimination or pushback in their lives, aside from each other. No one at the Smithsonian seems bothered that their top two archaeologists are women, which seems unlikely considering today women still face significant work place discrimination.
As of 2018, four times as many women, compared to men, said they were treated incompetent at work due to their gender. There is also still a gender wage gap, which was significantly worse around the time Diana and Barbara were working. In 1980, the median hourly wage for women was $12.48, after adjusting for inflation, while men had a median hourly wage of $19.42.
Despite all of this, Barbara and Diana’s biggest career obstacles are each other. In a more realistic version of WW84, Diana would likely have to fight to be heard and respected at her job and ideally would devote more of her time and powers towards fighting gender based discrimination throughout America, and maybe the world. Barbara, if anything, would be turned evil by the men who patronize, overlook and take advantage of her. Unfortunately, WW84 barely showcases any of the everyday sexism women face, giving Diana’s powers stiff competition for what is the most unrealistic thing about this movie.
Maybe, the plot is meant to show the dangers of comparing oneself to the ridiculous standard held for women in our society, but even if that is the case this movie falls short. Ultimately, the patriarchal structure of our world is at fault for enforcing these comparisons and jealousy that may arise between women. In WW84, however, Barbara is posed at fault and is the only character punished who is not offered and does not receive any sort of redemption.
If Wonder Woman is to pose itself as an inspiring story for girls, it is crucial that it illustrates the power and strength of mortal, as well as immortal women. With misogyny still incredibly prevalent in America and worldwide, the last thing we need is for women to see each other as their enemies.
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