Open Collections

Penney, Dana Mateline

University of British Columbia

Wonder Woman (2017)’s action sequences rearticulate the gendered binaries of male/female, masculine/feminine, active/passive, and mind/body by centering women as the film’s heroes. I map director Patty Jenkins’s representations of the female/feminine body and mind (what I refer to as the bodymind) in her film as transgressive. The filming techniques that Jenkins uses speaks to and against the conventional and sexist filming strategies of Hollywood film. Traditionally, film negotiates the troubling and anxiety inducing female/feminine action hero and superhero by limiting her speaking, action, and power. I situate Jenkins’s film in the action and body genre as it centres the body and the action sequence as a primary site for Diana’s (Wonder Woman’s) character development. To analyze how Wonder Woman (2017) rearticulates gendered binaries, I compare Jenkins’s use of containment strategies in her film to that typically found in Hollywood film as well as in the comic book tradition. Filmmakers use these strategies to inhibit female/feminine characters’ action sequences. I find that Jenkins uses some containment strategies such as casting a white, hetero-passing, able-bodied, and conventionally attractive woman as the film’s hero, Diana, and presenting the German scientist Dr. Isabel Maru (also known as Dr. Poison, for her ‘advances’ in chemical warfare), the villain, as physically disfigured. Although Jenkins uses some traditional containment strategies, however, the film regularly challenges others. The film not only defies but also scrutinizes many of the containment strategies that restrict the action-effectiveness or even emphasize the passivity of the female/feminine hero. In contrast to most action and superhero cinema, therefore, Wonder Woman (2017) consistently presents Diana and the Amazons as performing physically demanding feats of skill, strength, and determination in convincing ways. Thus, the film presents exerting female/feminine bodyminds that overcome obstacles in their physical environment. Contrary to many action and superhero films, Jenkins’ film provides action sequences that show an exerting female/feminine hero who develops her skills while countering external forces with her forceful bodymind. As popular film is a powerful medium that reflects societal assumptions, Jenkins’s representation of female/feminine bodyminds effectively challenges and rearticulates the gendered assumptions that the ‘female’ and ‘feminine’ are passive and weak.

Text

2022-08-11

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82333

English

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/