Director responds to Cameron’s Wonder Woman movie criticism
Comments from James Cameron criticizing Wonder Woman received a swift backlash online — including from the film’s director.
In an interview with the Guardian, Cameron called the movie a “step backward.”
“All of the self-congratulatory backpatting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so mis- guided,” he told the Guardian. “She’s an objectified icon and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing.”
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins responded with a note on Twitter. “James Cameron’s inability to understand what Wonder Woman is, or stands for, to women all over the world is unsurprising as, though he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman,” she wrote. “There is no right and wrong powerful kind of woman.”
Wonder Woman was a critical success and a box office smash; it has earned more than $800 million (U.S.) globally.
Also in the Guardian, Cameron unfavourably compared Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, to Sarah Connor, a character in Cameron’s Terminator franchise.
“Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon,” he said. “She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit.”
Paul Feig, director of another women-driven film, Ghostbusters, also responded to Cameron on Twitter:
“I wish James Cameron would realize any great leading roles for women are a step forward. Sarah Connor was awesome & so was Wonder Woman.”