Even though she’s just a child, Diana competes and stands a reasonable chance of even winning until she loses concentration, is thrown from her horse, and attempts to cheat to gain victory. But her Aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) prevents her, teaching Diana that “nothing good is born from lies, and greatness is not what you think.” Though the scene may, at first glance, seem a bit of an add on for a movie that is meant as a decades-later follow up to Diana’s origin story, the electrifying flashback is incredibly important for the narrative and themes of the movie. Jenkins says that she initially hadn’t planned on including a Themyscira scene in the sequel but ultimately realized it was not only weird not to but it was also necessary from a practical perspective, too. “I think [Themyscira is] heavenly and it looks so otherworldly,” Gal Gadot adds, of the setting’s popularity amongst fans. “But it’s also the context of everything. I think that’s what makes it so profound and strong.”
How the Themyscira Flashback Also Adds to Barbara’s Story
Contextualizing Diana’s upbringing has narrative significance past exposition for those who haven’t seen the first film. It’s also important to understand Diana’s upbringing in comparison to that of Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig). Though Diana has lived in human society since she left Themyscira during the first world war, her formative years were spent surrounded only by women – casual sexism is not something she would have had to normalize or internalize. Diana is also the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and has great power and strength. Even in her own world, she has privileges that others do not. In our world, Diana’s femaleness doesn’t come with the disadvantage of being physically weaker than a man because of course she is not. Diana does not carry an innate fear of physical violence that many women do because she doesn’t have to. Women’s reactions to gender-based injustice is rarely physical because it’s not safe to start a fight with a man. Diana, on the other hand, can be physical. She simply doesn’t have to put up with the things other women do, and certainly that pre-wish Barbara does. As the second line of that other great American classic The Great Gatsby reads (paraphrased slightly): “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Most women haven’t had the advantages that growing up in Themyscira afforded Diana. Don’t judge. Be kind. And fortunately, Diana is. Yes, Diana has super strength but concepts like being “sexy,” “cool,” and “special” are not objective. Diana is beautiful, but so is Barbara and after her wish is granted she doesn’t actually look that different – she just suddenly has a confidence she didn’t have before. We don’t see Barbara’s childhood or much of her life before she meets Diana and makes a wish on the Dreamstone, but we do see the casual harassment she experiences all of the time, how vulnerable she is before she gains Diana’s strength, how often she’s overlooked and ignored, and how she has clearly internalized these feelings of not being special, sexy or cool. Understanding this difference between the two makes it especially important that Diana is kind to Barbara, which also fits into the themes of the film. Since the passing of Steve, Diana has become somewhat isolationist, preferring her own company to that of others and she initially rejects Barbara’s offer of lunch before changing her mind and suggesting dinner. Later we will understand one of the messages of the film is that society doesn’t work if we only serve our own needs – Diana might prefer to be alone but Barbara clearly wants company and female friendship. Sometimes, you have to do things you might not want to out of kindness.
Themyscira Remains an Outlier in Franchise Films
Themyscira is an unusual setting for a studio tentpole movie: an entire island populated solely by warrior women. Though the lush, light, yellow, green, aquamarine color palette has become something of a signature for Wonder Woman films, it’s not something Jenkins was always conscious of—but it’s something she acknowledges. “I hear people saying they felt like they’d never seen it before. Although, because I’m the person that made it, I’m so far down the rabbit hole I wasn’t thinking about that while I made it,” she explains. “When people were saying that they hadn’t seen that reflected before, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess that’s true. I guess you’ve not ever seen a female battle sequence before,’ but I wasn’t thinking about it at the time.”
