James Cameron Was a Smug Asshole About Wonder Woman, So Director Patty Jenkins Called Him Out
James Cameron did not like the buzz surrounding Wonder Woman. In an interview with The Guardian, he called Wonder Woman "an objectified icon," and "just male Hollywood doing the same old thing." "All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood's been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided," he said.
And then Cameron, a member of male Hollywood, did the same thing he's been doing for years, patting himself on the back in a self-congratulatory manner for his own work on behalf of women: "Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon. She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, [the benefit of characters like Sarah] is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!"
Frankly, it's infuriating that anyone asked him, because it only cements his almighty self-assurance that he is more of an expert than the troves of women who rallied around Wonder Woman, deciding for themselves that this movie, this blockbuster superhero franchise, meant something.
When asked why he thinks Hollywood can't get it right, Cameron, the guy who thinks the world wants four more Avatar movies, said, "Because how many times do I have to demonstrate the same thing over again? I feel like I'm shouting in a wind tunnel!"
James Cameron is a smug asshole. That, or he's afraid of losing his self-anointed status as Women's Warrior in Hollywood. In response to Cameron's remarks, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins took to Twitter, calling out his regressively rigid definition of female strength:
To emphasize, "He is not a woman."
Cameron's Sarah Connor is undeniably an iconic female protagonist. But her appearance and grit are not the gold standard of womanhood—they just make Terminator 2 a phenomenal movie. On that note, let's get back to celebrating movies that women love, not tearing them apart.
This story originally appeared on Esquire.com.
* Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
