Even Without a ‘Wonder Woman 3,’ We’ll Always Have Themyscira

Jenkins’ ‘Wonder Woman’ leaves fans with the memory of Themyscira, a community of strong, supportive, loving women.

In the wake of Wonder Woman 3’s cancelation, there was plenty to mourn, plenty to critique, and plenty to celebrate. Even even though Wonder Woman 1984 turned into a leave out for many lovers, director Patty Jenkins’ original 2017 film added one of the maximum emotionally powerful movement scenes inside the superhero canon and showed the sector what lovers already knew: that the mythical Diana/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is a multifaceted female of vast dignity, empathy, and aspirational price. Thankfully, that earnest complexity carried into the depiction of Diana’s place of birth, the paradisiacal Themyscira. In the arms of a much less adept writing and directing crew, an island of handiest ladies may want to easily were depicted as hole, surface-stage diversity. Worse, the script may have mocked the idea with cheap one-liners. Instead, Jenkins’ Wonder Woman leaves fanatics with the reminiscence of a community of indomitable, supportive, loving women.

What Is ‘Wonder Woman’s Themyscira Like?

Despite condensing Diana’s origin story into roughly half an hour, Wonder Woman‘s smart screenwriting, purposeful editing, and use of color all coordinate to display a vibrant portrait of Diana’s home. In comparison to other films in the DC SnyderVerse that skew emotionally and technically dark, the bright sun over Themyscira banishes all shadow. The mountainous landscapes are a lush green, the skies and ocean a vivid blue, and the fields burst with yellow flowers. From a character standpoint, a young Diana dashing through streets populated by women (who greet her fondly) shows, not tells, how harmonious and bustling life is on the island.

Following in quick succession is an equally busy schooling montage that might’ve been Wonder Woman’s first-class scene if No Man’s Land didn’t exist. A widespread group of Amazons practice their warfare skills with midair gradual-motion kicks, flips, twirls, and aim that put John Wick to shame. The extra senior warriors tutor the rest, illustrated by using the mighty Antiope (Robin Wright) asking after one woman’s progress especially. Within a few minutes, Jenkins’ Wonder Woman establishes and reinforces a sense of lady community that spans thousands of years. There’s splendor in how everyday their actions are; in Themyscira, bodily effective ladies exist unquestioned and uplift one another morally. A young Diana emulating their punches is a sight to behold and calls to mind what number of younger women twirled alongside to Lynda Carter’s incarnation of Wonder Woman.

‘Wonder Woman’s Female Relationships Feel Genuine

From start to finish, Jenkins and screenwriter Allan Heinberg use their time wisely in Wonder Woman. After demonstrating the wider scope of Themyscira, the script zeroes in on Diana’s relationships with the 2 maximum essential figures in her existence, her mom Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and her aunt Antiope. The most breathtaking component of Wonder Woman become casting two women of their 50s as Themyscira’s chief protectors with out a tries to sexualize or de-age them. Hippolyta and Antiope are a regal, dynamic pair befitting the Amazonian archetype, with a power of presence as a good deal as musculature. Nielsen and Wright’s natural age lines are staggeringly stunning with out their splendor being their characters’ best focal point. Instead, they’re characters with the natural adulthood and intellect supplied by way of age, and to name that inspiring is a sarcasm. The palpable talent of actresses and characters over forty is some thing cinema desires some distance greater of. (And when the sisters fight, they get as many epic actions as Diana herself.)

Each woman’s relationship with Diana is lovely and authentic. Fondness tempers Hippolyta’s recognizable motherly exasperation because there is not anything Hippolyta treasures greater than her daughter. Her overbearing want to defend Diana stems from a worry so deep that she cannot permit herself to imagine hazard, but she accepts the dangers instead of depart Diana smothered and defenseless. There’s a clear intimacy among them as Hippolyta tucks a more youthful Diana into mattress, and the Queen of the Amazons passing on their historical legacy to her daughter echoes moms telling their kids approximately their grandmothers and super-grandmothers. Honoring their way of life’s matriarchal history is important to Diana’s coming-of-age tale in Wonder Woman and Jenkins’ contact is each sensitive and understanding.

What’s greater, Hippolyta isn’t always completely within the wrong; the war over Diana’s training isn’t as smooth as black and white. She tells Diana “fighting does now not make you a hero,” and a part of Diana’s journey in Wonder Woman is getting to know to fight for romance as a lot as the thrill of it. Her mother is her guidepost regardless of what number of miles separate them.

Diana Carries Her Family’s Legacy With Her

If Hippolyta teaches peace, then Antiope instructs Diana in preparedness — not war. Her aunt’s goal isn’t shaping Diana into the Godkiller but keeping her safe in the way Antiope knows best (and better than anyone on the planet). Her lessons to Diana include shedding self-doubt, focusing her strength, and keeping her guard up against the unfair world; they double as battle techniques and credible life tools. Diana learns from Antiope’s actions, too, as the “shield” callback proves: a combat maneuver and a reminder about the strength in community. As awful as it is to lose Antiope, the greatest warrior in history sacrificing herself for her niece is the ultimate example of the love Diana believes in. She learned it firsthand from her family. Antiope’s tutelage lives on through Diana as much as Hippolyta’s, and centering women in a mentor-hero story normally reserved for men was long overdue.

The only time something tests the Amazon’s sisterhood in Wonder Woman isn’t a real test because Hippolyta and Antiope remain close. Their argument over Diana’s training isn’t a shouting match that forever damages their relationship, but low-key and more true to life. Loving families can definitely quarrel up a storm, but women created by Zeus thousands of years ago are smart enough to communicate like experienced adults. A life spent worrying about Diana’s safety has wearied Hippolyta more than discovering that her sibling and daughter disobeyed her, and Antiope is there to support her sister differently than her niece, but just as devotedly.

Likewise, Diana and Hippolyta don’t argue when Diana leaves Themyscira. The two part on the best bittersweet terms they could because Hippolyta respects Diana’s independent will as much as Diana respects her mother’s wisdom. When Hippolyta tells Diana “you have always been my greatest love; today you are my greatest sorrow,” the line is well-deserved and heartbreaking.

We Can Always Come Back to Jenkins’ Themyscira

Whether it is mom to daughter, sister to sister, aunt to niece, or aspect character to unnamed more, Wonder Woman depicts complex, loving, and wholesome dynamics between a network of emotionally and physically empowered women. Any destiny Wonder Woman movies beneath James Gunn’s supervision will probable feature a version of Themyscira, and the arena desires more development in lots of methods. Still, lady enthusiasts can go back to this Themyscira for consolation and thought as frequently as they need. Who would want to depart an island like that?