This article is from June of this year, but it took awhile to drift into my field of view.
From Ms. Magazine: When Will Wonder Woman Be a Fat, Femme Woman of Color?
They go on to make their argument:
Now that the female superhero has finally made it to the big screen, critics and audiences are asking whether Wonder Woman is a feminist film. But the question itself is problematic. For one, it makes “feminist” a subjective adjective. Also, it suggests there’s a monolithic Feminism, when really feminist movement encompasses innumerous feminisms in motion. The more inciting questions are: How does this film represent Wonder Woman? What’s missing from this representation? And, what does it say about this particular moment in time?
Why couldn’t Wonder Woman be a woman of color? When it was announced that Gadot would play Wonder Woman, audiences went wild body shaming her for not having large enough breasts. One can only imagine the white supremacy that would have emerged had the announcement said instead that she would be played by a Black woman. On Paradise Island, there are Black warriors in addition to white ones, which is a good start, but other women of color are missing. Also, while the female warriors are strong and ass-kicking, they all have tall, thin body types and they all could be models on a runway. In fact, in a pivotal battle scene, Wonder Woman struts across the battlefield as if on a catwalk. As a result, their physical strength plays second fiddle to their beauty, upholding the notion that in order to access power women must be beautiful in a traditional way. Especially with the body positivity movement gaining steam, the film could have spotlighted female warriors with fat, thick and short body types. While people have said that warriors can’t be fat, some of our best paid male athletes are, particularly linebackers on the football field, and no one doubts their physical strength.
Let me answer their question.
“Dear Sugar Tits,
Wonder Woman debuted in 1941. She is from the island of Themyscira, and her full name and title is Princess Diana of Themyscira, Daughter of Hippolyta. Themyscira is an island of female warriors governed by Aphrodite’s Law.
In the 2017 movie, Wonder Woman is played by Gal Gadot. Gadot is from Petah Tikva, Israel, on the Mediterranean. She served in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, kicking terrorist ass. Before enlisting in the IDF, she was a beauty queen winner as the 2004 Miss Israel.
So, Wonder Woman is a Mediterranean warrior princess, being played by a Mediterranean warrior (beauty) queen.
She’s about as authentic to the character as an actor or actress can be in a super hero movie. Except perhaps for Robert Downey Jr. playing a wealthy, womanizing, celebrity, with substance abuse problems.
For people who can’t tolerate whitewashing of characters in movies, what justification do you have to alter this.
Despite your social justice preening, you will never convince people to see a movie in which a black, trans, Trigglypuff tries to stop the apocalypse by making a German madman check is white male privilege.
Ever.
Sincerely, J.Kb.”
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