Patty Jenkins responds to the controversial issue of Wonder Woman 1984

WARNING SPOILERS FORWARD

Or you love or hate Wonder Woman 1984 (which is currently being played in select theaters and is available to stream on HBO Max), one thing is for sure – Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine) to come back from the dead is a bizarre twist.

After all, when Steve at the end of Wonder Woman Movie of 2017 – a story that takes place almost 70 years before 1984 – fans might have been confused how he not only survived his death, but also never got older.

Now Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins defends the controversial choice to bring his character back into the life of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman for the new film.

The plot of Wonder Woman 1984 revolves around a special artifact called the Dreamstone, which has the power to give one wish to whoever has it – like the horror story concept of the mystical Monkey’s Paw. If you want something, there are always some strings attached.

After all, it was the God of lies who gave the stone its power in the first place. When the Dreamstone gives a wish, it takes the something else of the same importance. However, before Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) fully understands the cunning quid pro quo nature of the stone, he wishes Steve’s return and the next day he returns.

But here it’s hard in the movie. Steve is not exactly the same man she remembers from her past. In fact, Steve has basically taken over the body of someone who already exists. And he did not even get permission. Just to make it extra confusing, Steve looks like this other person to everyone else (played by actor Kristoffer Polaha).

Another very problematic point here is that if Steve is not really Steve, it means that Wonder Woman may be physically touching a stranger and not her beloved Steve. Although implied in the film, there is no real sex scene between the two characters.

The lack of permission is what has raised a lot of fans about the movie. Jenkins may just be playing with the well-known story of characters swapping bodies like in the movies Big and Freaky Friday, where permission is not given.

This plot device without a character permission has been used for decades in movies, TV shows, comics and video games, and especially in 80s entertainment. But this is an era in which that old body exchange without consent instrument might not be as politically correct as it used to be.

A fan named Dustin Philipson on Twitter joins Jenkins’ defense about the body exchange in Wonder Woman 1984 and said that it is not only a common plot tool in fiction, but also in this particular story the body exchange was “undone” when people took back their wishes.

While Jenkins offered no additional insight into the plot apparatus used in Wonder Woman 1984, she does agree with the fansweet by responding with “Hahaha. Exactly @DustyDontShoot !!”

It would have been more ideal for Jenkins to give more of her own thoughts on the body exchange device, but for now that would be an explanation for the lack of consent during body modification.

As expected, some fans responded to Jenkins’ retweet with their own theories.

The assumption is that they had sex by those who shot it down. There is nothing in the story or footage to imply that they did.
I will be pretty exhausted and overwhelmed when my lost love reappears. Id succeed after that long night. Even on an awkward futon.

– Adele K. Thomas🦄 Illustrator (@AdeleKThomas) 30 December 2020

Actually, I think it shows that Diana had a moment of weakness; it adds to the complexity of her character’s makeup. She finally realizes that she has gone astray and recalls what she did

– Dustin Philipson (@DustyDontshoot) 30 December 2020

Does it add to the complexity of a culturally beloved superhero that they want to do it against a guy against them? Who the hell went “This is what WW needs to make her more complex!”?
And pointing out that Big is questionable is not a critical revelation, but people have known it for YEARS.

– Richard (@RichardOcelot) January 3, 2021

I think the clearer hint that she was weak and selfish about the situation was when she wanted to lie to Steve and forget the world, and it is Steve who reminds her that the situation needs to be investigated. I liked it, but I think it lacks more in the story # ww84

– Marco Antonio Nájera 🇲🇽 #RestoreTheSnyderVerse (@manthx) 30 December 2020

No one who has seen the film (nor the film itself) could at any stage argue that Diana’s wish and what it does to herself and to a stranger was not wrong and that she did not have to deviate from her wish. do not see, and let both Steve and this other man, go. It was very clear that there were costs.

– Princess Winter 🧜👸 # AP4SnydersUniverse (@SuperWinterGirl) 30 December 2020

Undone? Rocket and the walls rumble over when unwanted, even in Washington DC when Max searches for his child, meaning all physical consequences of wishes remain. Thus, all physical intimacy, including kissing, was not undone. Just admit it was an oversight. Stop defending this nonsense.

– Frederick Vinas (@Frederick_Vinas) 31 December 2020

Plus, I would mention that the popular series Quantum Leap was played with a version of this Trope every time Sam Beckett had a love scene.

– JLanz42 (@ JLanz42) 30 December 2020

You all understand that a herd can still be bad, right? That “it’s a tropic” is not really a meaningful defense? And that many people actually have a problem with turning into BIG? People at that time also had * problems with it. Not just later years.

– LaT ⚖💖💜💙 (@latxcvi) 31 December 2020