The Four Color Media Monitor

Warner Todd Huston argues that the upcoming WW movie could be written with a form of anti-war approach to suit the modern filmmakers' PC views, by changing the setting from World War 2 to the much earlier World War 1 (although the latter part of the film may be set in the present), and it may not be for the right reasons:

Featuring Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as the intrepid Steve Trevor, the movie is now understood to be set in “The Great War” of World War One instead of World War Two, the war during which the character was originally introduced. The reason? World War Two was too much the “good war” to give their new Wonder Woman a hatred of war and to drive her conflicted ideas of the evils of men for the new DC Universe of films.

Fans have already seen confirmation that the movie will be set in WWI instead of the war against Hitler. Actor Chris Pine himself made the confirmation.

In a recent interview, Pine said of the film, “It’s a period we don’t see often; it’s usually World War II. Our costume design is incredible. We have scenes with, like, 500 extras all in period dress. I’d never been on a film with extras casting as beautifully done as it is here.”

Since his interview, photos from the production have been made public confirming that the film is set in WWI.

So, why the big switch? Why take the character originally introduced as a true American fighter of the Nazis and push her backwards into a whole other era in a war the U.S. had much less to do with when all was said and done?

It’s likely for the same reason that the new Wonder Woman will be dressed in a drab costume of earth tones instead of the red, white, and blue suit we are all used to. Today’s filmmakers want to erase as much of America from Wonder Woman as possible.

The problem, as they likely see it, is that World War Two was the good war, one meant to rid the earth of one of the most evil rulers in human history. Where World War Two was a tough war that killed millions, it had a moral basis its parent war did not. World War One was a meat grinder of an affair, where millions of young men on all sides were churned into mush with little of the moral justification underpinning the conflagration it preceded.

Producers seem to have decided they had a dilemma. If their new movie debuts with Wonder Woman in WWII and they make her a conflicted character who stands against human society—especially men—then that would mean they’d be portraying a hero who was cynical about destroying Hitler. That just won’t do. We can’t have a hero denigrating the war to take out Hitler, after all.

However, resetting her origin to World War One—a war based on colonial expansionism, cynical economics, and land-grabbing royal rulers—they can give us a Diana Prince who is skeptical about war, hateful of the evils men do, and conflicted about helping men in their unsavory plans.

Only, that isn’t the original story of Wonder Woman. The original Wonder Woman gladly entered the world of modern men, happily aided Steve Trevor, and righteously engaged in war against Hitler’s hordes all for the sake of the virtuous United States of America and its democratic, patriotic vision for mankind.

First, the assumption the First World War stemmed from ambiguous motives isn't really true. Germany and Austria were the countries that started the war, as they did the later Second World War, hoping to take control of the bulk of Europe. And the Turkish Ottoman Empire was a leading collaborator, and responsible at the time for the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians, the real reason why sane people were forced to fight against this early Axis of Evil. So to say there wasn't some kind of moral reason for fighting against the specific brewers of the war is off base.

However, that doesn't mean the WW movie's screenplay will reflect any of the exact facts. For all we know, it could go by an otherwise uninformed view of the First World War, and there's every chance the filmmakers won't make any mention of the Ottoman's bloodbath against Armenians at the time. If not, then the movie could fail as an allusion to history.

For now, what is apparent is that, when it comes to costumes, they're making quite an effort to dumb down and mute the designs, judging from the gray and black colors on WW's outfit in the press photos. If they keep doing this, that only makes the experience a lot duller. As if it weren't enough that the X-Men moviemakers went out of their way to mute all costumes to black leather jackets, and then the comics started going this route for nearly 3 years. Which could end up being where WW's costume back in the comics goes next, just like Superman had the red tights removed from his costume designs, and then replaced with what looks like plastic armor. For WW, it's particularly regrettable, because it strongly hints at how the studio, in all their uppity leftism, has taken a dislike of American-inspired designs.

Labels: dc comics, Europe and Asia, islam and jihad, politics, women of dc, Wonder Woman