We've spilled an awful lot of digital ink over the past few months over the glory that is Wonder Woman: how good it is, how hard everyone worked to get here, how many records it's broken, what it means to women to see ourselves reflected onscreen.
But everyone has her detractors, even Diana Prince. And one person who's totally unimpressed is James Cameron.
SEE ALSO:James Cameron is making a 'Titanic' documentary to find out where he went wrongThe Terminatordirector made his thoughts known in a recent interview with The Guardian:
All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards.
Unlike, you know, Cameron's own movie:
Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon. She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, [the benefit of characters like Sarah] is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!
You heard it here first, everyone: All the excitement over Wonder Womanis just "self-congratulatory back-patting" from "male Hollywood doing the same old thing," but male Hollywood director James Cameron patting himself on the back for creating Sarah Connor is realfeminism. Or something.
Cameron also had some, uh, interesting thoughts about the role of powerful women in his own life.
Being attracted to strong independent women has the downside that they’re strong independent women – they inherently don’t need you! Fortunately, I’m married now to a strong independent woman who does believe she needs me.
The strong independent woman Cameron is married to now is Suzy Amis, his fifth wife. One of the other strong independent women Cameron's been attracted to in the past is Sarah Connor herself, Linda Hamilton -- who, as The Guardianpoints out, has a very different take on their time together. We'll leave it to Cameron's therapist to parse his need to be needed.
At least we can agree with Cameron on one thing: Hollywood needs more powerful female characters, and it's weird that the industry's still struggling to figure that out.
There are many women in power in Hollywood and they do get to guide and shape what films get made. I think – no, I can’t account for it. Because how many times do I have to demonstrate the same thing over again? I feel like I’m shouting in a wind tunnel!
True, true. Oh, here's an idea: Maybe you could start by spreading the love for successful films by, for, and about women, instead of trashing them to brag about how your female leads are better. Just a thought!
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