Gal Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman in
Batman V Superman. This has caused outrage and disappointment amongst fans as
they don’t believe she’s right for the role.
Why is she wrong for the role in the eyes of so many?
Because she’s really, really skinny. Too skinny to be Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman
is and has always a curvy girl, which is a far shout from Gal Gadot’s tiny
frame.
And it’s not just male fans whining that she needs to have
bigger boobs either. Wonder Woman has for a long time been a feminist icon,
because she’s a strong, powerful individual, and to an extent because she’s not
skinny; she’s fantastic and she’s curvy. Casting a skinny Wonder Woman is like
taking that feminist icon and removing all of its power as such, and not
everyone is happy with that.
The Director, Zack Snyder, has said he thinks she’s perfect
for the part; and in fairness, looking at just a headshot she does look like
she’d make a good Wonder Woman. But her body shape is very different from the
comic book.
But is that such a big issue? Film adaptations of classic
comic book characters are rarely true to form. Anyone who’s seen any of the X-Men
films knows just how far from accurate the films tend to stray. Actually the
X-Men films can’t always keep facts straight between the films let alone the
comics, but that’s off topic.
If the film versions are never fully true to the comic, why
can’t we have a skinny Wonder Woman? Let’s not forget that Wonder Woman was conceived
in the forties, when the perfect woman wasn’t rake-thin. If she’d been created
in 2013, Gal Gadot might be an almost perfect match body wise.
I’m curious to see how she pulls off Wonder Woman. I can’t
say I totally disagree with the fans who think she should be bigger, but I’m
big on accuracy to the comics. That’s why people don’t like to watch X-Men with
me. But let’s hope she proves us wrong and pulls off a great Wonder Woman. I
think she might just surprise us.
Words by Ari Carrington
