Cinematic symbols of ‘Wonder Woman’ show our strengths need not be superhuman

I don't think I can overstate how much I loved 'Wonder Woman.”

For those who haven't seen it yet, it's the story of Diana Prince, immortal princess of Themyscria, a mythical island of Amazon warriors. She's a woman who doesn't need anyone to tell her she is powerful, and the film is essentially a story of her taking up her mantle as humanity's protector.

She does this, to moviegoers' delight, by bursting through walls and sprinting through battlefields while taking on entire German armies by herself, never waiting for her bemused companion, Steve, to give her permission to do so.

Here's the thing: I loved this movie, directed by Patty Jenkins, because, first of all, it was very good cinema. It wasn't dark and dour the way a lot of DC Entertainment superhero movies have been lately. It featured beautiful cinematography, a rocking theme song and a cast of likable, charismatic characters.

But I also loved it, in large part, because women simply don't get to see characters like Diana very often, and the experience is affirming and empowering. It's hard to explain why this is important - why representation matters so very much. But the truth is, the roles we see modeled on screen become the stories we tell ourselves and each other about who we are. They change what girls and boys think are the good and right things for girls and boys to do.

I went with a large group of female friends, and over the next week I kept seeing posts on social media from others scattered around the country. The consensus was joy and amazement. It just felt so good to watch Wonder Woman dominate the battlefield, something we've been watching male superheroes do for years.

I am an unabashedly huge geek and superhero movie fan. For the most part, I've enjoyed Marvel's movies more than DC's. But seriously, we've had 15 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies over the last nine years, and not one of them focused on a woman or a person of color. They've done better with their television shows, and they've planned Black Panther for 2018 (the trailer looks amazing) and Ms. Marvel for 2019, but it still feels like the studio executives want us to be grateful they're paying attention at all.

Minutiae of comic book movie franchises aside, my favorite parts of 'Wonder Woman” were the two times someone used powers to propel someone else to victory.

When the Amazons are battling German soldiers storming their island, Diana's aunt and all-around top warrior Antiope yells out, 'Shield!” and another woman crouches down and raises her shield, letting Antiope vault off it, the better to rain three arrows at once upon her enemies.

Later, Steve, remembering the move, corrals the members (all men) of his crew to huddle under a sheet of metal and together vault Wonder Woman to the top of a tower, where she quickly dispatches a sniper hiding there.

The scenes were a beautiful metaphor for an often discussed tenet of feminism, and intersectional feminism - that we can be most powerful when we crouch down and help each other leap over the boundaries in front of us.

When we do this we all win, whether we're fighting in a War to End All Wars or just struggling through life.

I hope the people who decide which movies get made next are paying attention to all the winning 'Wonder Woman” is doing - $600 million at the box office and counting - and agree to help more women vault to the top.

l Comments: (319) 398-8434; alison.gowans@thegazette.com