Wonder Woman the Accessory

CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2017

Volume 163, No. 112 Serving Chicago’s legal community for 162 years

In behavioral-economic circles, there is research that describes G ad o t’s role shows rare how a woman must be perceived in order to succeed in the work- place: She must project both ca- superhero combo of pability and warmth. That’s not an RE B E C CA easy task. It’s a problem that has L. FORD plagued players as diverse as Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie. capability, compassion Then comes Gal Gadot, giving Rebecca L. Ford is counsel at Scharf us the Atticus Finch of super- Banks Marmor LLC, and concentrates her practice on complex litigation, compliance, heroes. One element of the film’s Now that she’s debuted in the DC cinema board governance and specialized great success —$254 million in employment issues. She is the former opening week international box world, will the guys in capes even compete? executive vice president for litigation and office and counting —is certainly intellectual property at MGM. She can be that Diana is the most capable reached at [email protected]. and compassionate person in the eep under the I.M. Pei Amazons, spend their days in mil- m o v i e . pyramids of the mod- itary and athletic training. dancer-choreographer, an Israeli An optimistic superhero? How ern day Louvre, antiq- I t ’s 1918, and the War to End All Defense Force combat instructor r e f r e s h i n g . uities curator Diana Wars is raging. An airplane shot and mother of two young daugh- Jenkins doesn’t quietly shift the Prince receives a cor- down by the Germans crashes ters who performed her own emphasis of the film over to Pine, respondenceD from Bruce Wayne, through Themyscira’s protective stunts in the “Fast & Furious” either. This time Steve Trevor is the reclusive billionaire. It’s a bat- membrane. Diana rescues its pi- franchise —a wonder woman the accessory. tered World War I era photograph lot, American-British spy Steve even if she’d never been cast in H e’s got the access Diana needs of Wonder Woman, in her golden Trevor (Chris Pine), and the two this movie. to deploy her super skills in the headband and glamazon get-up, bond while teaching each other Her faint Israeli accent gives right arena and he is basically standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a about their respective cultures. her fish-out-of-water character there to move the plot along. bombed-out European palazzo He explains the ferocious war in just the right tincture of sepa- Although “Wonder Woman”is with a ragged, if triumphant-look- Europe, and she implores him to ration to lend credibility to Diana’s rated PG-13, it’s not for all chil- ing crew of men —a handsome take her to the front. Diana believes i n c r e d u l i t y. dren. It has a scary supernatural American, a fezzed North African, villain and authentic WWI battle an American Indian and a kilted scenes. If your kids still hide their S c o t . eyes when the flying monkeys Bruce wants an explanation. The photo from Bruce Wayne is obviously a take off with Toto, they’re not The query causes Diana to re- tee-up for Wonder Woman’s role in “J u s t i c e r e a d y. flect on her past, beginning the The photo from Bruce Wayne is original story of Wonder Woman, L eague,”which will open in November. obviously a tee-up for Wonder the eponymous shero of director Wo m a n’s role in “Justice League,” P a t t y J e n k i n s ’blockbuster movie. which will open in November. Wonder Woman, nee Diana, she alone has the “g o d - k i l l e r ” Gadot has said in interviews It will be interesting to see how Princess of the Amazons, grew up weapon that can destroy Ares, the that she and director Jenkins Wonder Woman performs in the on the paradisiacal island The- god of war, who has fomented this chose to present Diana as some- company of her DC Comics col- myscira, populated by women and unspeakable mayhem. one who has no awareness of so- leagues. She may end up carrying insulated from the perils of the Gal Gadot is the perfect choice cial roles or gender boundaries. In these lesser immortals. world of men by an invisible at- to portray the beautiful warrior. this they have succeeded, and the This is a woman who can an- mospheric shield. These women, S h e’s a former Miss Israel and effect is charming. nihilate the box office on her own.