Heroes....that are super. In movies.

Originally published: 6/5/2017

Original post: https://coalm.blogspot.com/2017/06/heroesthat-are-super-in-movies.html

Took my daughter to see Wonder Woman over the weekend. We both loved it. The best part was looking over and seeing my daughter completely immersed in the story. She was literally sitting on the edge of her seat. The worst part was constantly getting interrupted by my daughter to ask questions about what was going on, which was a small price to pay so that she could maintain her attention throughout this movie.
Seeing my daughter idolize the Amazon on the big screen felt significant, maybe even heavy. Until now, she had compartmentalized movies in the super hero genre as something for boys. There have been super hero movies she has liked (The Avengers, for example) but undercutting every viewing was the idea that girls were allowed to tag along, as opposed to being the true target for the movie. That all changed with Wonder Woman. WW was not a female version of a superhero movie. It truly WAS a super hero movie. The hero just happened to be a woman.
DC certainly stumbled out of the gates with their recent movie offerings, but it looks like they can right the ship now that they have Wonder Woman to anchor them. Marvel needed Iron Man to be the launching pad for the next wave of character movies (Thor, Captain America). DC was a little too impatient with their approach, hoping to crank out a few origin stories, then follow it up with Justice League. It doesn't work that way. You need us to care about these heroes. Wonder Woman accomplishes this, so keep creating movies that way and DC can compete head-to-head against Marvel on the movie screen.