March 2019
This essay is about the 2017 film reimagining of Wonder Woman. I argue that it is “a film so steeped in the cultural contemporary moment that it is inseparable from its context as mass media commercial blockbuster expanded-universe-style superhero genre movie made in the U.S. at a time of rising global conservativism and capitalist cooptation of liberal signifiers." My way into the analysis is a close reading of 3 critic's reviews of the film to pick at the way the film is perceived. One review is generally positive, enjoying the cultural fervor with a little critique. The next review is solidly a pretty scathing critique on the front of American fiction and feminism. The last review touches on Wonder Woman's messy relationship with queerness, and opens me onto an imaginary rendition of the film that fully realizes some queer political potential.
Written for Anna Banks's Film Theory & Criticism.
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