The new Wonder Woman movie is worthwhile in many, many ways. I was particularly delighted by how it jettisons the contemporary (and badly overused) device of a snarky, irreverent tone and instead embraces an earnest (though not sappy) forthrightness that engenders a sense of hope and inspiration.The scene where Diana makes her first dramatic appearance in full costume, emerging from a World War I trench to carve a path to freedom through the enemy line, is spectacular indeed, and as heroic as anyone could want. It did, however, make me think of something. In every superhero movie, the character's first heroic appearance always comes in the midst of battle, the hero leaping purposefully into a fight, dispatching enemies with skill and strength. Every superhero movie, that is, except the original Superman. In that movie, the character's heroic reveal is not in battle, but in the act of saving someone.
No further comment.
