The movie Wonder Woman, starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, premiered this weekend to mostly rave reviews and the biggest opening ever for a female director, Patty Jenkins. Gadot, who previously won the Miss Israel contest, starred in the Fast & Furious movie franchise, and worked as a model and product spokeswoman, has found herself in the middle of some controversy as a result of her casting. Which of the following is true?
Wonder Woman by FaceMePLS is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A. When it was announced that Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman, some complained that she was not buxom enough for the role. An Israeli news station interviewed her, and the reporter posed the question, “Wonder Woman has curves, will you be getting those...what about your breasts?”
B. In October, 2016, Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter jointly announced that Wonder Woman, a character whom both have portrayed, was the new United Nations Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls (other United Nations honorary ambassadors have included Tinker Bell and one of the Angry Birds). However, protests arose, including a petition which said that “A large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots” is not an appropriate representative of gender equality. As a result, the United Nations fired Wonder Woman.
C. A number of guests on the Fox News show Your World With Neil Cavuto criticized the costume design for Gadot’s Wonder Woman because the colors are not as prominently red, white and blue as they are in the comics and previous Wonder Woman movies and TV shows. Said media personality Mike Gunzelman, “I think the Hollywood aspect, we see this time and time again, it’s cool to hit America these days.” And commentator Dion Baia said, “Gal Gadot is a part of the Jewish Hollywood liberal, Obama-loving, America-hating, Israel-bashing, quinoa-eating, Soros-funded, Saul Alinsky-idolizing movie star elites who you would expect to take the God Bless America out of Wonder Woman. But boy, is she hot!”
D. There have been complaints on social media that there are no persons of color in the movie Wonder Woman. Matthew Mueller, a writer for comicbook.com, disavowed that criticism, noting that “Gal Gadot is not actually Caucasian, but is in fact Israeli.”
E. When a trailer for the Wonder Woman movie was released in March, one brief scene showed Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, with her arms raised high as she lifts and hurls a car down the street. Many viewers posted on Twitter and other social media that Gadot’s armpits were a lighter tone than the rest of her skin, implying that her armpit hair had been shaved, digitally bleached, or in some other way altered. Said one tweeter, “Why is an Amazon with no previous contact with humankind shaven?” And HuffPost United Kingdom blogger Kirsty Baines wrote, “Although I am thrilled that a gorgeous, fierce, strong and independent woman is taking the lead on our screens, in my opinion the Photoshopped armpit saga has pushed feminism a couple of steps backward rather than forward.”