“Boys have always had a figure to look up to, whether it’s Superman, Batman or Spider-Man. For girls it was always the princess being saved. Now we have Wonder Woman — she’s fearless, proactive, she believes in herself and she believes she can do anything. That’s a true woman for me,” said Gal Gadot in an interview with The Mirror. The recent Wonder Woman film is not only the first successful female-led film, but the most influential female superhero for young girls. As Gal Gadot stated, girls have only ever had princesses to look up to in which the princess is always being saved. This does not show girls that they are capable of being fearless or to believe that they can do anything. Now that Wonder Woman has been brought back and better than ever, young girls can see her as their role model.
According to an article Christina St-Jean wrote, a writer for Creators.co, argues that the recent portrayer of Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot, is not an exact replica of Lynda Carter who portrayed Wonder Woman back in 1970 “so incredibly appealing.” However, this recent version of Wonder Woman emphasizes and demonstrates different characteristics that the 1970 version of Wonder Woman did not which can benefit the younger audience. For example, St-Jean discusses how Wonder Woman demonstrates “true innocence” when she saw a man for the first time and acts childlike around him. She also adds how Wonder Woman shows leadership throughout the film by bringing “an end to the First World War.” Lastly, St-Jean sates how Wonder Woman demonstrates strength by fighting alongside male soldiers and challenging the people who dare to challenge her. All these characteristics make up a great role model for young girls and give them the chance to see that they can do anything they want.
A writer for the HuffPost UK, Jaelith Leigh-Brown, wrote an article explaining how Wonder Woman is a great role model. She describes how children are “talked out” of following their heart and knowing their talents and gifts; however, Wonder Woman knows how to do those things herself, that way children can look up to her. Jaelith Leigh-Brown is a life coach in which she talks to children who say that “they’re not good enough” in certain subjects in school and say that they are going to fail. Brown states in her article,“Students compare themselves to others based on grades and looks and always end up feeling inadequate, because so and so is more intelligent or prettier.” This statement is very relevant to the way children, teenagers, and even adults think today. Brown lists the following tips to thinking the way Wonder Woman does: “own your power”, “find out what makes you happy”, “be creative”, “face your fear”, and “choose love”. Brown discusses how Wonder Woman “faced a battle, to end all wars” and how that relates to us because “we face a battle — to end the war inside of us”.
Sebastien Malo, a writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote an article stating how Wonder Woman is “a powerful new role model for girls and a break away from sexism in Hollywood.” Malo discusses about Melissa Silverstein, the founder of the Women and Hollywood blog, thoughts about Wonder Woman: “It’s almost an exclamation point on what women have been saying for a long time — in the industry, outside the industry; that our stories matter, we are the heroes of the stories, we can kick butt as well as anyone else and we’re equal,” Melissa Silverstein said. When Wonder Woman made her first appearance in the All-Star Comics in 1941, Malo argues that she has been a sensation since. William Moulton Marston was the first to have “pitched Wonder Woman as a female superhero” and he created Wonder Woman’s comic in July 1942. In 1944, the third comic had been released and “was selling more than half a million copies” according to Malo. Jill Lepore, a Harvard history professor, is the author to Her Past Unchained: The Secret History of Wonder Woman and she argues that there were three comic-book superheroes “whose stories have been published almost without interruption” back in the 1930s and 1940s, which included Wonder Woman. It is seen that female superheroes have always been around, it’s just the fact that people don’t pay much attention to them because they are women. The Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, California, discuss how there was a 29% of female protagonists contribution to the top 100 grossing US films last year.
Wonder Woman has not only been around for many years, she has always been a huge sensation and a role model for young audiences. Even though it took many years for the recreation of a new and updated Wonder Woman film to be released, it has made a big impact as a female superhero. Not only will young girls have her as a role model but they could get inspiration from the film that they can believe in themselves and be anything they want. Just as Melissa Silverstein sayed, “Women’s stories are as valid as male stories”.
