WW looks good, but Gal still doesn't look strong enough. her arms are like twigs. I know her power comes from magic or what not, but in the comics she's drawn a bit differently. Gal has arms like a 13-year-old girl. LOL
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You've been misled by a generation of comics art that has mistaken bodybuilder-style bulging for strength. Genuinely strong, athletic people -- those who actually use their muscles rather than building them up for display -- are often quite lean and wiry. Also, women naturally have a slightly fuller layer of body fat over their muscles, softening their definition. Female bodybuilders have to reduce their body fat to unhealthy levels to make their muscles stand out to the same extent that men's naturally do. So a woman can be plenty strong without the muscles being as clearly defined as a man's. For that matter, men can be quite strong without being as sculpted as a Schwarzenegger or Ferrigno. Look at old footage of circus strongmen, and they often looked kind of doughy by today's standards.
Gal Gadot is a veteran of the Israeli military, and she trained extensively to play this part. She's not weak, you've just been lied to about what "strong" actually looks like. So let's have no more of this ignorant body-shaming, please.
Good post!
Yes, the body-builder physic has nothing to do with actual strength, it's pure show. Go and google strongmen. Those guys that compete in those Strongest Men In The World competitions. Most of them seem to just have big bellies, round arms and legs. But it's all actual muscle. Sure, they're not fast. But they can snap most body builders like a twig. Those bellies are rock hard.
For that matter, look at a racehorse. Those legs are really skinny. But they're very powerful. They just don't have excess bulk to slow them down.
Muscle cells are long, thin fibers, after all. They don't need to be oversized in order to be strong. In fact, training for muscle size and training for strength are two very different regimens.
Muscle cells are long, thin fibers, after all. They don't need to be oversized in order to be strong. In fact, training for muscle size and training for strength are two very different regimens.
And, ofcourse, martial arts. When I was 10 or 11, I had the thinnest kid living in our block, I mean wiry as f***. I was pudgy, to say the least. He had big talk about how he could put me on the grass in a second. I couldn't even finish my sentence, I was already eating dirt. Turned out, this scrawny little kid had a brown belt in judo. Did not know that.
I know, FMS, that you have a big fetish for things looking 'the part' in movies. Personally, it's all good if it works in the end. And thin arms is definatly the last thing Im worried about.
I know, FMS, that you have a big fetish for things looking 'the part' in movies. Personally, it's all good if it works in the end. And thin arms is definatly the last thing Im worried about.
For comparison, I don't think Gadot's arms look any thinner than those of Venus Williams, one of the most physically powerful women in tennis. Maybe Williams has a bit more visible definition, but the diameter is about the same.
Serena is actually the more muscular of the Williams sister though, she's taller too. The issue of Gal Gadot's body has come up before and she's merelt laughed it off, she's comfortable with her looks and that's all that really matters.
I don't think Serena is more muscular per se, just fuller-figured and stockier. Look at her mother and some of her other sisters, and they're quite full-figured. Serena is what you get when a woman with an endomorphic build gets extremely strong. Venus is what you get when a woman who's more ectomorphic or mesomorphic to begin with gets extremely strong. Even with the same degree of muscle development, people of different body types are going to have different shapes.
As a counter-point I would point out that WW is an amazon, who are supposed to be unnaturally tall and large - reverse hobbits if you will. If you google images of female swimmers - who tend to have broad shoulders & a bulkier chest volume, that's a bit closer to how I imagine WW should look.
It's always a tricky business casting superheros - I recall Brandon Routh got a lot of complaints also for being too slim.
It's always a tricky business casting superheros - I recall Brandon Routh got a lot of complaints also for being too slim.
Well, that depends on the portrayal. I don't think the Golden Age Wonder Woman or Amazons were rendered as any taller than normal women. And the Amazons of Greek myth were probably inspired by the horse-nomad peoples of Anatolia and Central Asia, who had more gender egalitarianism than the misogynistic Greeks and trained women in combat. If you specialize in riding horses, it's probably best if you aren't gigantic. (This is why Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal did not become jockeys.)
So did Christopher Reeve, for that matter.
Of course, part of it is that you're casting actors, not models or stunt performers. So their physical match to the part is less crucial than their performance and charisma. That's why we have a screen Wolverine who's nearly a foot taller than the comics character.
But also, standards change over time. As I said, modern comics have embraced the mistaken idea that bodybuilders, rather than other kinds of athlete, are the proper model for depicting physically strong characters. Today we have a widespread myth that Adam West's Batman had a pronounced pot belly, but in fact he was perfectly fit; it's just that back then they had more realistic standards for what a physically fit man looked like.
Yes it's all dependent on preference - there are different kinds of strength.
This is the critical issue. It's quite difficult to find a real person who is physically identical to a fictional person & can also act the part. Things like muscle & haircut can be changed - height is an absolute. I think Gal looks great, but she isn't what every fan has envisioned in their head.
I think she lookes good enough
Well, she's half an inch taller than Lynda Carter, for what it's worth -- and only two inches shorter than Wonder Woman's canonical 6-foot height. (By the way, the Golden Age Wonder Woman was 5'8", two inches shorter than Gadot. She was 5'11" in the Silver Age and didn't reach 6'0" until the post-Crisis reboot.)
Anyway, I saw video of Gadot in her panels at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, and they convinced me that she is absolutely perfect for Wonder Woman. Not only does she have the look and the voice for it, but far more importantly, she projects the strength of character, poise, serenity, and compassion that Diana should have, and she offered a very positive and affirming message to the people in the audience. There was a bit where a male fan talked about being teased by his friends for wearing a Wonder Woman t-shirt or something, and she was very supportive and spoke to him about being proud of his identity and not being brought down by others' narrow expectations. At that moment, she was Wonder Woman to me. I don't know if the script or the directing will do Wonder Woman justice, but I am completely convinced that the actress will.
Remember when it was announced that Affleck will play Batman and everyone was in an uproar about it?
Now, after only a couple of minutes of trailer footage, he's already hailed as "best Batman ever" by some.
The 10 seconds of WW we've seen in the trailers has already convinced a lot of naysayers, I kinda have a feeling after the film finally gets released this will be a non issue.
Regarding her look, she doesn't seem any "less strong" than Xena and I'm sure we can all agree she's a universally acknowledged benchmark for a female warrior.
I'd have liked to see an actress with a more "Amazonian" physique but I'm well aware of the many factors making that unlikely and undesirable from the perspective of the studio. It clearly isn't something to blame Gal for.
Someone built like Samantha Wright (but taller, obviously) would have been just about perfect in my eyes though. Alas, maybe if they get around to Power Girl at some point.
Someone built like Samantha Wright (but taller, obviously) would have been just about perfect in my eyes though. Alas, maybe if they get around to Power Girl at some point.
Lex Luthor gave an interview to Lucy Lane's husband.
I think a good example for a character like Wonder Woman would be a stunt woman like New Zealand's Dayna Chiplin/Grant (some of her youtube videos call her Dayna Grant some say Chiplin)
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgIEKMDOuDY[/yt]
Or somebody like Kacy Catanzaro
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZFuw7a13E[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgIEKMDOuDY[/yt]
Or somebody like Kacy Catanzaro
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZFuw7a13E[/yt]
I'm not a fan of the super buff Wonder Woman either but I liked Cavill's ex, Gina Carano.
A good read. Thanks for that.
