James Cameron keeps saying words about Wonder Woman, and most of those words don’t make much sense. A few months ago, Cameron was asked about the success of Wonder Woman and he said that he had seen the movie and liked it, but he didn’t think it was “feminist” because Wonder Woman is “objectified” and beautiful. As in, he will never buy an action heroine if she’s beautiful, sexual or has personal or sexual agency because action heroines cannot have sex or be sexual because that’s True Feminism. I’m paraphrasing, but that was the basic gist. Cameron doubled-down on his previous comments this week, saying that WW isn’t breaking any ground and that he didn’t think putting a beautiful woman in a bustier was good feminisming. So, OG Wonder Woman Lynda Carter has something to say to James Cameron.
To James Cameron -STOP dissing WW: You poor soul. Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do. Like all women–we are more than the sum of our parts. Your thuggish jabs at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins, are ill advised. This movie was spot on. Gal Gadot was great. I know, Mr. Cameron–because I have embodied this character for more than 40 years. So–STOP IT.
[From Lynda Carter’s Facebook via People]
I love that OG Wonder Woman is defending the new Wonder Woman team. You might even say that she’s deflecting Cameron’s attacks with her lasso of truth and her Bracelets of Submission (I only just learned that they’re called that). Now, all that being said, I don’t actually think Cameron was being “thuggish” – I think he was being a typical mansplaining douchebag. He thinks he knows everything because he’s got a penis, and well, people keep asking him so of course he’ll mansplain what all those womenfolk are doing wrong.
Thank you all for this!! Just maybe we'll even make that last inch to… https://t.co/GThzY4TK4M
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) September 28, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
She. Did. That.
Well, bless his heart and all that. Nice showing by the OG Wonder Woman!
I love her. I grew up watching her show, and I love that she’s standing up for WW still.
I’ll agree “thuggish” isn’t the right word, but eh, no one’s perfect.
“Mean?” “Rude?” “Unpleasant?” He’s trying to throw his weight around on a subject that doesn’t really concern him. I liked his sparkly alien move but IDGA* what he thinks about Wonder Woman. He’s more than a decade older than me, so perhaps he was too cool for the original WW. In any case, his opinion is irrelevant. They k1ll3d it, and the box office numbers show it. Maybe I’ll see it a time or two just to bump the numbers!
Also there is a biography out about the creator(s) of WW that looks really good.
Yes I watched the tv show when I grew up and Lynda is fabulous.
Standing ovation. Love it. Wonder Woman was fun and needed right now.
I think a lot of critics would like to point out they would have liked WW to be more than just fun.
Totally needed is what I totally agree about. I just wish WW had been more than it is.
“… and her Bracelets of Submission (I only just learned that they’re called that). ”
Oh man, if you haven’t delved into the weird and kinky world of the WW creator, it’s a good rabbithole to get sucked into. Polyamory, D/s dynamics, BDSM… he was an interesting man (invented a machine that basically helped lead to the lie detector) but the women around him were fascinating.
There us a movie coming out about them–Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
I didn’t like the film or the lead actress…unpopular opinion, I know. But for me, it was all a bit meh.
Either way I’m glad a female led film did so well and Cameron needs to just STFU about it.
I liked the movie, and I like Gal ( I was surprised how well she did because she was atrocious in Fast and Furious), but I just don’t feel like I saw anything groundbreaking.
It was a very enjoyable movie, it was directed by a woman which is a huge deal, a female superhero was finally given her own movie and some gender roles were flipped, which is all great. But it wasn’t this groundbreaking feminist movie it was marketed to be. Cameron does have a point, how ever poorly worded it may be. I think we’re all easy to dismiss him becaus he tends to be an ass.
And Gal’s appearance is something I think we should be able to discuss, I don’t understand why it’s off limits. Of course women can be strong and smart and beautiful, but women who look like Gal are the only ones that are allowed to be protagonists in Hollywood. Did the costume also really have to lok like that?
The movie did pander to a certain demographic, which it had to, but I don’t understand why we have to pretend it didn’t?
Eh, I thought it was very mediocre and Gal Gadot was atrocious.
But, I’m done hearing James’ Cameron’s opinion about this. People need to stop asking him about it, and he needs to stop commenting on it. I agree he IS an ass. At this point it is boring, Just like the film.
Exactly. I didn’t care for the movie because like most superhero movies I thought it silly and boring, but I’m happy it was a financial success and appealed to a broad demographic of movie patrons (especially young girls). None of this means the movie is above criticism. As feminists we don’t do ourselves any favours when we fail to take a critical eye to our own projects. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get made, or need to be perfect, but they are not above criticism.
I thought Gal Gadot was the best part of the movie (other than Chris Pine and the fight scenes), but the rest of it was so meh, and I like it less the more I think about it. Horrible villains, cringey writing, flat humor…
The fact that Wonder Woman wears a tiny swimsuit and Batman and Superman wear full body armor isn’t an accident, and that should be acknowledged.
We live near a cool, retro 1960’s theater that charges $2 a ticket for second run films. My husband was walking out recently and saw girls of all ages lined up around the corner, talking fast, laughing, jumping up & down.
They were in line to see Wonder Woman.
He said it was awesome to see all these girls super excited to watch a movie featuring a powerful woman. The energy was palpable.
When I saw the film right after Charlottesville, I thought how f*cking cool to see badass women warriors taking down men who were essentially predecessors to the Nazi regime, saying not this time mofos. It was the right movie at the right moment for me. I walked out a little taller, my back a little straighter, chin up, ready to take on the world.
We’re parts of it problematic?
Yes.
Was it still empowering?
For me the answer is absolutely.
I thought gal’s acting was fine, but when I saw all those amazons with their strong bodies and visible muscles, I wasn’t buying that she was the strongest of them all. Even robin wright had more visible muscles. Her arms were ripped.
That said, I saw watching a group of kids playing and one of the boys had cardboard cuffs on and yelled “I am wonder woman! Made my heart sing.
I like her use of ‘thuggish’. I understood it as ignorant, over-bearing and borderline bully-boyish.
yes i agree. his comments are cruel and the fact that he’s doubling and tripling down on them in interviews has make them vicious. drag him lynda!
Great comment from Lynda Carter. What is James Cameron’s problem? Is Trump syndrome contagious because he sounds like a misogynistic, jealous, attention seeking, wrong as he!!, mess.
Sadly, yes, the syndrome is contagious and spreading. I went to a favorite diner shortly after the election and a group of rough white men surrounded me and my 6 yo daughter in a way that literally felt unsafe. They were like hyenas. And like hyenas they backed off when I stood in my power but I also heard several under-the-breath comments about me for…standing there without being submissive???
UGH, Embee, that sounds terrible. I love that you “stood in your power,” I’m going to remember that phrase the next time I’m in a room with all men and I’m the only woman. I agree that (white racist sexist homophobic transphobic) people feel “emboldened” in this age of Trump. The things my friends are telling me are being said to them on the streets, in bars, even in country clubs, are shocking and appalling.
James Cameron needs to take aaaaaall the seats. STFU and make your 4 more Avatars, you arrogant, sexist creep.
OG Wonder Woman foreva!
But It was a terrible movie ? who cares what someone says about some dumb superhero film? It wasn’t good .
Dear god Linda Carter is still the most beautiful woman.
I’ve already said all I have to say on James et al. He’s entitled to his opinion. And he did create a super kick ass heroine….
Isn’t she INCREDIBLE? Her skin is luminous. And she is a fantastic dresser.
This may sound stalkerish, but I swear it was innocent.
I once had occasion to stand in Lynda Carter’s closet, and it was magnificent. It was more like a wing than a closet, and everything was color-coordinated, and every color you could imagine. Intense, jewel-like tones, sumptuous fabrics, incredible gowns, feathers, you name it. The shoes were in rack upon rack of color coordinated rows, every shape and size heel, etc.
Nowadays you see closets like that on Cribs and other shows (see- Mariah’s recent closet tour in vogue.com) but in late-80s suburban Washington, DC, it was a mind-blowing sight…
Dear James Cameron, if you think that slathering Zoe Saldana in blue body paint and putting spots on her made her somehow detracted from her beauty, you should watch Avatar again. Not to mention Kate Winslet in Titanic. Fix your own house first.
Dear James Cameron,
Men pontificating about how women need to cover up (or keep their legs closed) for some “greater good” is neither groundbreaking nor feminist. Ever. “Male allies”, know your place.
Sincerely,
A whole bunch of anti-victim-blaming, sex-positive feminists who are tired of concern-trolling men trying to spin their virgin-whore complex as”wokeness”.
I couldn’t agree more. JC needs to sit down. He has no right to decide how women should look or dress as heroes. I get tired of women’s looks and sexuality being categorized by men as if it is all about them. How is it a woman can’t be attractive and heroic or full figured and heroic, plain and brave or nontraditional looking and noble. We aren’t our appearance, and it is the same train of thought that leads women to be forced to wear burkas and dress without regard to their comfort and freedom of choice.
Rapists justify their actions by deciding she asked for it based on a woman’s appearance and slut-shame to silence the victims.
The reactions men have about our appearance is for them to police; it isn’t our responsibility.
I loved Wonder Woman. One of my favorite superhero movies of all time.
I adore Lynda Carter! James Cameron needs to take a seat. I think Linda Hamilton almost became anorexic while married to him because of his obsessive controlling nature. He’s always been a douchebag in my eyes.
I said it before and here it is again- he is basically calling Ripley unattractive, and wow, she certainly is so beautiful and compelling, in any role.
Sigourney Weaver is the ultimate bad ass action hero, in any category. What an arse he is.
“get away from her, you bitch!”
Ripley is the boss! WW movie just made me miss Xena.
<3 <3 Xena. I still pine for the Lucy Lawless WW we all deserved 15 years ago.
My favorite part of Aliens!
Ripley, and also Linda Hamilton, the woman who made it cool for us all to covet muscular arms! She is hot AF in T2. Ripley and Hamilton were MY heroes. Hot or not is irrelevant, but just so we’re clear THEY WERE SMOKIN’.
Well he traded Linda Hamilton in for Suzy Amis who promptly stopped her acting career after she married him. May well have been Suzy’s choice but I’ve got some side eye headed Mr Cameron’s way…
I’ve always loved Lynda Carter! I watched her WW TV show religiously as a little girl!
Ah, those 1970s childhood memories…She has always been so beautiful. Her smile just lights up everything.
I have no memory of doing so, but I remember pretending to be Wonder Woman a LOT, so I think I must have.
Do you think Gadot and Carter coordinate their outfits? In the premiere photos, they both wore their hair up and Carter’s red clutch matches Gadot’s red dress. In the conference photo (or whatever #WithWonderWoman was), they’re both wearing navy blue. I *love* that their outfits go together, just wondering if there is pre-planning happening?
Go, Lynda Carter, go!! Go, Wonder Women, go!! Cameron is an ass with a tiny penis.
I just watched it. Loved it. Cried like a baby when the plane blew up. I thought it was really well done
I think he resents not having directed WW himself. He seems to keep talking about it as a form of attachment, telling different way’s “he” would have put the film together. As many of the comment’s have attested, he is responsible for many female led action films and probably was a shoe in at one point to direct WW but lost out on account of SJW activism previously and currently happening.
Ugh. I hate when men try to mansplain feminism. I don’t go around whitespalining racism; I am white, so I listen and try to stay woke to struggles I don’t personally deal with. It’d be nice if more people would do that.
You can disagree with James Cameron. (I do, in this case he’s wrong) but come on, he’s no douche bag. He’s a genius and a class act. (this one instance of stupid comments not withstanding)
On another note, you know who gave us strong, independent female leads long before Patty Jenkins did? James Cameron that’s who. Its not related to his comment and it doesn’t negate his comment but never forget that this man gave us Ellen Ripley and Sarah Conner back when the criteria for leading actor was “muscle bound meat head”
I think he is wrong and I think the fact that he keeps saying it over and over seems like he thinks he owns the heroic woman genre and is envious of this movie.
His work should not be dismissed, but he needs to listen what women are saying and stop trying to convince us to agree with him.
His opinion shouldn’t be dismissed either I think. Like I said, I disagree with him, but he’s not malicious or evil or hurting anybody. He just has an opinion that a lot of people disagree with. Hardly “thuggish” behavior or a “douchebag” level offense.
I personally thought Linda Hamilton in Cameron’s films was beautiful and sexy and even feminine along with very tough and capable and hard edged. I felt that was well balanced in her. It’s just that people are so skewed toward seeing femininity as this one faceted thing that they can’t see it in such a tough woman who isn’t dolled up. But I feel like that representation was more accessible and real. Of course, WW is a superhero and a fantasy so there’s that….ultimately though I feel more affirmed by that character or Ripley than WW. Of course that’s just me. But WW always looks just damn perfect.
I appreciate his thoughts – and I thought WW was meh on many levels. However I know I’m in the minority and anyway do love it that a woman directed it and that it did so well.
But I still like hearing that Cameron’s criticisms and felt it was too appearance based. I agree. I don’t see how his opinion makes him thuggish. Maybe Carter feels motherly or protective toward Gadot so she used that word. But it’s extreme.
You’re right Jenn. The movie was just meh. It’s an important movie for what it represents but its not a great movie by any stretch. And like I said, agree with him or not (I personally don’t agree with him) he is a genius film maker entitled to have an opinion on a film. I mean I get why Wonder Woman is an important movie but its not a sacred cow. I mean can you imagine how defensive people would be if the movie was truly great instead of what it is which is succeeding by not failing?
Also on Gal, I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it until she proves otherwise: That woman cannot act her way out of a paper bag. I have honestly seen better acting skill on display in high school productions.