The DC Universe hasn’t had a lot of luck in the later years of the 2010s with its major releases, but there is one movie that has managed to stand out from the rest. It is the Patty Jenkins blockbuster hit Wonder Woman which many were expecting to do justice to the DCU after the critical reception that Suicide Squad received the year before.
James Cameron happens to be one such celebrity who didn’t like the movie for his own reasons. However, almost like a classic phenomenon of liking something you once disliked, James Cameron has gone on to reassess his opinion on the Gal Gadot-led movie and he has now shifted his review of the movie to a much more positive note.
James Cameron
When James Cameron Accused 2017’s Wonder Woman Of Sexualizing Lead Star
When Wonder Woman came out in 2017, expectations of the movie were high from the higher-ups at Warner Bros as well as from fans of the DC Universe. The movie was preceded by a poorly-reviewed but commercially successful Suicide Squad in 2016, and this time fans were hoping that the Patty Jenkins-directed movie would tick all the required boxes this time round for the DCU.
Wonder Woman
And it surely did, Wonder Woman was the tenth-highest-grossing movie of that year and even awarded director Patty Jenkins the title of being the female director with the highest-grossing movie at the time until Hi, Mom broke that record.
Critics were equally impressed as well, giving the movie applause after applause for its acting quality, visuals, action sequences, and so on. But one important figure in Hollywood failed to see all of that, and instead accused the movie of sexualizing its lead star Gal Gadot.
After its release in 2017, James Cameron spoke to The Guardian about the box office hit-
“All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards.
Of course, this take from the Avatar director was met with criticism from many fans as well as from director Patty Jenkins herself who said that James Cameron “doesn’t understand women”.
However, James Cameron Loves Wonder Woman Now
In an interesting turn of events, James Cameron has now given a much different take on Wonder Woman. Nearly six years after giving that controversial interview, the Titanic director has taken a new stance on the Gal Gadot-led movie.
James Cameron
Talking with Time Magazine, the 68-year-old director talked about how he has gotten a newfound love and appreciation for Wonder Woman over the years since that interview. Cameron said-
“I don’t have an issue with ‘Wonder Woman.’ I loved the movie. What was elusive to me at the moment was it’s OK if the woman wants to be beautiful and dress well not for the male gaze, but for her own gaze in the mirror, right? I had maybe missed that part of it at the time.”
He further continues, and much to the incoming dislike from DCU fans upon hearing this, Cameron highlighted that director Patty Jenkins wasn’t the first to have made a successful action movie-
“It was necessary to have a female director own a major action movie, though Kathryn Bigelow had been doing that for a while.”
Kathryn Bigelow, who in her own right is an Academy Award-winning director, and James Cameron have been divorced for quite a long time now. However, maybe he’s just giving credit where it’s due!
Wonder Woman is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: The Direct