Patty Jenkins slams James Cameron for saying Wonder Woman is a ‘step back’ for Hollywood

Cameron said that Gal Gadot was playing an "objectified icon"
Feminist icon? Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has hit back at James Cameron
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David Gardner25 August 2017
The Weekender

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Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins slammed James Cameron today after he said her blockbuster was a “step backwards” for women in Hollywood.

The DC Comics film, starring Gal Gadot in the title role, has earned more than £600 million worldwide since its release earlier this summer.

But Cameron, whose hits include the first two Terminator films, Titanic and Avatar, told The Guardian: “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.”

He appeared to suggest the character of Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton in The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), was a better role model.

Hitting back: Patty Jenkins has slammed Jams Cameron
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

He said: “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.”

The Canadian, 63, who also directed Sigourney Weaver as action hero Ripley in 1986’s Aliens, said he did not understand why Hollywood had problems depicting powerful women.

“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,” he said.

Jenkins, 46, tweeted: “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.”

The US director also referred to Cameron’s praise for her 2003 film Monster, starring Charlize Theron as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. “His praise of my film Monster, and our portrayal of a strong yet damaged woman was so appreciated,” she wrote.

But she continued: “If women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong, and we aren’t free to be multidimensional or celebrate an icon of women everywhere because she is attractive and loving, then we haven’t come very far, have we?”

Wonder Woman, in pictures

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