Wonder Woman breaks through
IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A photo-op.
Earlier this year, the United Nations decided to name Wonder Woman an honorary ambassador ahead of the 75-year-old comic-book character’s first-ever feature film. The title had previously been bestowed on Winnie the Pooh and the red Angry Bird without much commotion. But this time, the U.N. named the bustiered bombshell Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls. The U.N.’s press officers set up a ceremony in October at the organization’s New York City headquarters to honor the comic-book character as well as Gal Gadot, the Israeli actor who played her in 2016’s Batman v Superman and will reprise the role this summer. Things quickly went sideways. As Gadot greeted dozens of cheering elementary-school-age girls, the adults sitting behind them raised their fists and turned their backs. Outside, some 100 U.N. staffers gathered in protest. More than 600 of them had signed a petition objecting to “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions” and “the epitome of a ‘pinup’ girl” becoming an official symbol of female power. Two months later, Wonder Woman’s ambassadorial privileges were unceremoniously withdrawn—setting off another round of cheers and jeers.
Wonder Woman has seen it all before. Since her inception, the world’s most recognizable female superhero has been a source of controversy, her values and significance changing with the times. She has been a suffragist, a sex symbol, a soldier—and President of the United States. Along the way, Wonder Woman changed costumes dozens of times, her hemline migrating up, down and back up again.
But the woman who now plays her hasn’t gotten used to the vitriol. “There are so many horrible things that are going on in the world, and this is what you’re protesting, seriously?” Gadot asks, reflecting on the U.N. blowback. Warner
