Gal Gadot just shared an empowering message about feminism, and we are here for this
Since Wonder Woman came out in June, Gal Gadot has been elevated from actress to feminist icon. The film is now the highest-grossing film in the DC Extended Universe in the U.S. It’s also the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman, director Patty Jenkins. And that means the Israeli actress has a bigger platform than ever.
Luckily, she’s using it to talk frankly about feminism and sexism in the entertainment industry. Gal Gadot gave an eye-opening interview with Rolling Stone about her work on the film, and the importance of Wonder Woman in a Hollywood that still feels at times very backwards.
First, Gal Gadot addressed her own experiences with sexism.
"I've had my moments where I've felt like men were misbehaving – nothing sexual, but inappropriate in a sexist way. Dismissive. Life wasn't always rosy and peachy for me as a woman in the world."
She also addressed the question every woman seems to get asked in interviews these days: Are you a feminist?”
"People always ask me, 'Are you a feminist?' And I find the question surprising, because I think, 'Yes, of course. Every woman, every man, everyone should be a feminist. Because whoever is not a feminist is a sexist."
Tell ’em, Gal!
Recently, director James Cameron criticized Wonder Woman.
"All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided," he told the Guardian. "She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing."
But Patty Jenkins, the director, had some thoughts on Cameron’s narrative.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 25, 2017
"James Cameron’s inability to understand what Wonder Woman is, or stands for, to women all over the world is unsurprising as, though he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman, Jenkins wrote on Twitter. "There is no right and wrong powerful kind of woman."
All of this discourse is further proof that Wonder Woman is a vital movie for today’s world. The more we can engage with art and its political and social impacts, the better off intersectional feminism will be.
