Earlier this year, Avatar director James Cameron said that Wonder Woman was "a step backwards" and said the character, played by Gal Gadot, was "an objectified icon." He also claimed that Terminator's Sarah Connor is how a female character should be portrayed in an action franchise and neither that nor the aforementioned controversial comments from Cameron didn't sit well with director Patty Jenkins.
Now, he's doubled down on those remarks and made it clear that he still believes Wonder Woman was little more than an objectified icon, making a point to criticise Diana Prince's skimpy costume choice.
"Yes, I'll stand by that. I mean, she was Miss Israel, and she was wearing a kind of bustier costume that was very form-fitting. She's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. To me, that's not breaking ground. They had Raquel Welch doing stuff like that in the '60s. It was all in a context of talking about why Sarah Connor — what Linda created in 1991 — was, if not ahead of its time, at least a breakthrough in its time. I don't think it was really ahead of its time because we're still not [giving women these types of roles]."
Asked about Jenkins' response that not every female lead has to look "hard, troubled and tough to be strong," Cameron went into detail about where he believes she went wrong with the Amazon warrior.
"Linda looked great. She just wasn't treated as a sex object. There was nothing sexual about her character. It was about angst, it was about will, it was about determination. She was crazy, she was complicated. … She wasn't there to be liked or ogled, but she was central, and the audience loved her by the end of the film. So as much as I applaud Patty directing the film and Hollywood, uh, "letting" a woman direct a major action franchise, I didn't think there was anything groundbreaking in Wonder Woman. I thought it was a good film. Period.
"I was certainly shocked that [my comment] was a controversial statement. It was pretty obvious in my mind. I just think Hollywood doesn't get it about women in commercial franchises. Drama, they've got that cracked, but the second they start to make a big commercial action film, they think they have to appeal to 18-year-old males or 14-year-old males, whatever it is. Look, it was probably a little bit of a simplistic remark on my part, and I'm not walking it back, but I will add a little detail to it, which is: I like the fact that, sexually, she had the upper hand with the male character, which I thought was fun."
It seems Cameron and Jenkins will need to agree to disagree as they have very different views on what makes a female character strong. The Avatar helmer's thoughts on Wonder Woman are sure to upset some DC Comics fans but he's entitled to his opinion even if it does seem a tad old-fashioned here.
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