The first Academy Awards show was in 1929. The year is 2018, and 89 Academy Awards shows later, hundreds of superhero movies have been released. Ranging from “Superman” to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Spider-Man 3,” the films have had varying degrees of success. However, there is a definite bias in the nomination of superhero films by the Academy. Out of these hundreds of superhero films created, only 26 titles have been nominated for any category. Only five have ever won the category they were nominated for. When considering what makes a great superhero movie, the viewer often looks for a meaningful plot, strong leads, diverse casting, good costuming and makeup, and good special effects. With these concepts in mind, why did “Wonder Woman” not get nominated for any Oscars or any other major award?
Typically, when a person is not fond of superhero movies, they cite the old “Dark Knight” trilogy or the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, claiming that the films are carbon copies of each other, meaning the plot consists of a few basic elements. The hero discovers their powers, finds a female love interest, defeats the bad guy and gets the girl. Pretty much every superhero film to ever be released, save for some “X-Men” films, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and a few others, follows this exact template. While “Wonder Woman” fits into these categories, it takes a slightly different approach to the tried and true way of creating a successful superhero movie. Diana of Themyscira (Gal Gadot, “Justice League”) is different than Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne and Steven Rogers in the most obvious way: she is a female.
Having a female superhero movie is, of course, not indicative of whether or not the film was good or deserving of the award. However, the highly anticipated film, before even finishing casting, was under fire from some superhero fans. They were claiming that few people would be interested in a movie with such strong role reversal. Because of this early backlash, both Gadot, director Patty Jenkins, costume designer Lindy Hemming (“The Dark Knight”) and the rest of the cast and crew knew they had to give this film 110 percent.
Discrimination might be too dramatic of a term, but the innate dislike of superhero movies from critics stop them from even giving a film that was as well executed as “Wonder Woman” a chance. The costuming alone should have been nominated. The armor on the Amazonian women was practical for battle and the heat and remained modest. Gadot looked flawlessly stunning in everything she wore. This added to the comedic value of a tall, beautiful, armed woman trying to fit into WWII-era America.
DC and Marvel fans both usually agree that “Suicide Squad” was the worst superhero movie to be released in a long time. However, it was the last superhero film to be nominated for an Oscar. Before that, it was “The Dark Knight,” released in 2008. Marvel, DC, Fox and other smaller publishing companies are learning that superhero movies are starting to be held to a higher standard of expectations. With the release of “Wonder Woman,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” and “Black Panther,” the bar has been raised significantly for those who work on these films. It is about time for the Academy Awards to see that too.
Image from Warner Bros. Pictures via YouTube.com
