Director Patty Jenkins has fired back at James Cameron’s remarks that Wonder Woman was a “step backwards” for feminism.
The 46-year-old helmed the blockbuster movie, which starred Gal Gadot as the princess of the Amazons and was widely praised for her reimagination of the cult comic book heroine as such a strong, powerful woman.
However, Titanic director James criticised the film during an interview with Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, stating that it’s “male Hollywood doing the same old thing”, with Wonder Woman “an objectified icon”.
“I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards,” he said, before comparing Wonder Woman to the characters of Sarah Connor and Ripley in his Terminator and Alien franchises respectively.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 25, 2017
“Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon,” he continued. “She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, (the benefit of characters like Sarah) is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!”
However, Patty hit back in a passionately worded statement posted to Twitter on Thursday night (Aug 24, 2017), insisting that female characters don’t have to be “troubled” to make an impact.
“James Cameron’s inability to understand what Wonder Woman is, or stands for, to woman all over the world is unsurprising as, though he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman,” she began. “Strong women are great. His praise of my film Monster, and our portrayal of a strong yet damaged woman was appreciated.
“But if women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong, and we aren’t free to be multidimensional or celebrate an icon of women everywhere because she is attractive and loving, then we haven’t come very far have we.”
Patty concluded: “I believe women can and should be EVERYTHING just like male led characters should be. There is no right and wrong kind of powerful woman. And the massive female audience who made the film a hit it is, can surely choose and judge their own icons of progress.”
