Why Wonder Woman Needs To Succeed

Jenkins’ direction led Charlize Theron to an Oscar for her turn in 2003’s Monster and she’s another key reason why Wonder Woman can’t fail. If the movie bombs, her career basically crumbles. The fact that DC was able to snag her and her talent is incredible by itself; the directors they’ve hired so far don’t hold too much promise. Snyder and Suicide Squad helmer David Ayer didn’t exactly do proper table-setting in their respective films, making her job far more difficult than it ever needed to be. So far, we’ve been “treated” to movies that crackle and pop with barely-contained kinetic energy but can’t structure a story worth telling. Such is the plague that’s killing the DCEU.

There’s no doubt that continued incompetence on DC’s part will result in a steady decline in comic and animated movie sales, too. The entire company and all of its properties will suffer greatly at the hands of fans unimpressed by the lack of quality titles put out by the publisher. A January 2016 Bleeding Cool article reported that Marvel and DC Comics were both experiencing significant drop-offs in subscriptions and general interest in the publishers’ respective books. The writer included comments by numerous comic store owners; one Illinois retailer explained, saying, “It seems to me that Marvel is doing ‘carpet bombing’ of all available dollars we and our customers spend, while DC doesn’t seem to have much of a clue about publishing popular comics.”

Honestly, they don’t have too much of a clue about making movies, either. It’s likely, even probable, that the lacklustre pictures put out by DC and WB drove longtime readers away from their titles and toward indie publishers like Dark Horse or BOOM! Studios. What’s more, their commitment to quantity over quality will likely discourage new readers from venturing into the worlds the company created. After all, the DCEU exposes audiences without even a passing knowledge of DC lore to the characters and concepts offered by the publisher.

Despite this disheartening report, it’s not DC’s fate that’s in question; it’s its reputation. It may seem like a stretch to say that Wonder Woman alone, if successful, could remedy this, but it’s true. Restoring faith in their properties should be paramount, and Wonder Woman could be an immediate answer to the company’s numerous problems. People want to see DC return with style and substance, a return that could effectively put the company on the field with Marvel on the movie front.

Right now, all the DCEU needs is one good film. It won’t completely mend the broken trust between the fans and the franchise, but it will be a sure-footed step forward. Wonder Woman still stands as DC’s most important female character, a paragon of strength, resilience and integrity who needs to be portrayed well in any medium in which she appears.

This is especially significant given the current sociopolitical climate we all must endure. Women in particular have been negatively affected by the policy and pandering of the current presidential administration, making it more important than ever for pop culture to represent them in a truer, more respectful light. Because of this timing, Wonder Woman has the unique opportunity to remind people of the strength and importance of women and how they help shape the world around us. Whether or not the film actually accomplishes this is still unknown, but for the sake of the DCEU and its continued relevance, it must do so.

Thankfully, early buzz has been positive. Critics took to Twitter recently saying that the film is “dark and funny” and that Jenkins is “a wonderful human being who is too good for this world.” While this spells good news in more ways than one, it’s important to exercise caution. These reactions don’t necessarily mean that the film will be fantastic, and many get caught up in the privilege of being treated to private screenings. This may sound exceedingly cynical, but it’s now a defense mechanism against the mostly atrocious filmmaking we’ve seen from the DCEU’s head architects.

However, it’s also important to maintain some optimism. Wonder Woman may very well indeed be as good and surprising as these reviews indicate, and it would be unnecessarily negative to say it’s already failed. After all, every film deserves a shot, especially this one.