Wonder Woman 1984 is a treat for all ages, but there are many aspects of it that only
adult viewers grasp.
From the film's most obscure references to its uncomfortable moments, these are all the
things only adults notice in Wonder Woman 1984.
As the title implies, Wonder Woman 1984 picks up with Diana in the midst of one of Hollywood's
favorite decades to portray: The 1980s.
There's a lot to love about the '80s, from the decade's awesome music to its gleaming
video stores.
And anyone who lived through the 1980s will recognize many real details from that time
scattered throughout the set of Wonder Woman 1984.
Sparked by the public's obsession with fitness, people everywhere were donning spandex and
leg warmers.
In its earliest shots of people on the streets of DC, Wonder Woman 1984 offers a number of
examples of this look.
Speaking of fashion, no '80s setting would be complete with ridiculously over-the-top
parachute pants and a whole lot of metallic fabric.
Steve Trevor shows off a few of these looks when he and Diana attempt to find him an era-appropriate
look.
Even the crosswalk signs in Wonder Woman 1984 are accurate to the time period.
Before today's modern LEDs were installed in the early 2000's, the signage did indeed
display the words "Walk/Don't Walk," rather than the current symbols representing a person
in mid-stride.
Wonder Woman 1984 gets a whole lot right about the 1980s, but there is still one important
plot detail that it manages to get majorly wrong.
This error can be spotted at the beginning of Max Lord's big finale speech.
After successfully taking over the world's broadcasting signals using secret government
tech, Lord is able to splash his face across the screens of unwitting bystanders everywhere.
No matter where Diana turns, his face is visible, urging the people of the world to wish for
what they want and see their wildest dreams come true.
The only problem with this super-villainous scheme is that those screens broadcasting
Lord's face include television and computer displays.
This scene takes place decades before the internet or streaming services became publicly
available.
In fact, the concept of a home computer was considered incredibly novel and exotic at
the time, as Apple had just started selling their first generation of Macintosh computers
that January.
This sort of all-encompassing broadcast wasn't just impossible at the time — it was basically
unthinkable.
"This is a highly sophisticated office computer."
That this blooper wasn't caught by the production team prior to release just goes to show how
easy it is to take technology for granted.
Adults can't help but roll their eyes when one of Max Lord's last business investors,
Simon Stagg, threatens to report him to the Federal Trade Commission if Max doesn't return
his investment money within 48 hours.
This sort of "race against the clock" trope is favored by film and television producers,
because it provides a sense of urgency to the plot without being too restrictive.
The 48-hour timeline is a particularly popular choice.
"You have 48 hours starting on my mark."
"You have 48 hours to get my money."
"In 48 hours."
"You have 20 seconds" "You have 48 hours."
The 1982 action-comedy movie 48 Hrs., starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, literally calls
itself out for using this cliche in its very title.
We can't blame the filmmakers for using this reliable plot point, but it does get repetitive.
Younger viewers may find Max Lord's conflict engaging, but more mature audiences might
find it to be more than a little bit predictable.
The technology Max Lord uses to take over the planet's airwaves in Wonder Woman 1984
may be the stuff of science fiction, but the parent program mentioned in the movie as its
comparison was actually entirely real.
The 1980s marked the height of the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union
were attempting to one-up each other while maintaining a public pretense of peace.
Secret government programs proliferated during this era, one of which was known as the Strategic
Defense Initiative, or SDI, a missile defense system proposed by Ronald Reagan in 1983 as
an attempt to render nuclear weapons obsolete.
Nicknamed the "Star Wars program," the SDI proposed to utilize state-of-the-art technology
and weapons like lasers, satellites, and ground and space-based missile systems to neutralize
incoming threats, like nuclear missiles.
It was officially scrapped in 1993.
Kristen Wiig does an excellent job portraying the painfully shy and awkward character of
Barbara Minerva, who transforms from an introverted wallflower into the empowered apex predator
known as Cheetah.
However, Barbara's character arc might seem remarkably familiar to older audience members
who have seen more movies.
That's because Barbara's story revolves on the axis of a heavily played-out trope — the
one where the disregarded nerdy girl gets a makeover, and suddenly transforms into a
popular hottie.
Just look at My Fair Lady, Grease, The Princess Diaries, and She's All That.
Indeed, this plot point has been seen countless times before, and its use tends to marginalize
the character in question far more than it empowers them.
To put it plainly, no one is surprised to see the ugly duckling become the swan any
longer — especially because the duckling is pretty much always already attractive.
"Okay now take your glasses off, let that hair down, and act like you don't know how
pretty you are."
In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana unwittingly uses the coveted Dreamstone to bring her lost love
Steve Trevor back from the dead — but he doesn't return in the way you'd expect.
Rather than magically resurrecting his body, the Dreamstone inserts Steve Trevor's consciousness
into the body of another man living near Diana in Washington, DC.
To minimize audience confusion, the "Handsome Man," as he's credited, is shown briefly at
the start of his possession, then his likeness switches to Steve Trevor's.
It's possible this was intended as some sort of metaphor about only having eyes for your
true love.
This is something younger audiences might be able to buy into a little more easily.
But this magical body-snatching comes off as more problematic than romantic for adults.
Steve Trevor doesn't know who Handsome Man is, and disrupts his entire life with his
presence.
What happens to his job, his social life, and all other aspects of his existence when
he suddenly becomes Steve?
Wouldn't the poor man be terrified when suddenly coming to, after Steve forfeits his parasitic
existence?
Also, one can't help but wonder what the implications are of being intimate with someone's body
when they have no presence of mind to provide consent.
At the very least, it's unnerving.
Wonder Woman 1984 is a superhero movie, so there are always going to be some weird physics
involved.
These people are superheroes, after all.
Can Diana lasso lightning?
Sure!
Why not?
But the film is also loaded with unrealistic depictions of physics and technology that
are hard to ignore, especially for a jaded adult.
For example, when Steve insists on flying a modern plane, he does so without issue,
despite the massive differences between planes he flew during World War I and the modern
jet he and Diana commandeer.
"The way I fly, they will never find us."
And when Diana manages to make the jet magically invisible, it also simultaneously disappears
from radar — but just because an object becomes invisible to the naked eye doesn't
mean it also becomes invisible to radar, because the mass of the plane is still there to reflect
the radar waves.
Then again, she made the plane invisible, so we can't nitpick this one too much.
Maybe it's all part of her invisibility magic.
But there's also the fact that at high altitudes, it gets pretty hard to breathe without oxygen.
That's a little harder to explain away for human man Steve.
"Put the mask back on.
That's an order, Marine.
I can't breathe."
But Diana and Steve chat away unassisted, as though they're toddling down the highway,
rather than speeding through the air thousands of feet up at hundreds of miles an hour.
Likewise, the final battle between Wonder Woman and Cheetah defies the rules of electricity
to the point of silliness.
The two women are impervious to thousands of volts of electricity in ways that can only
be explained with comic book logic -- and again, this is a comic book movie, so that's
fair game.
Then, suddenly, those excuses stop mattering at all when the live wire Cheetah swings from
without any apparent trouble contacts the water she's immersed in, and becomes the source
of her defeat.
Professional wrestling is beloved by people of all ages.
But younger fans likely miss the real-life reference planted in the midst of Wonder Woman
1984.
While visiting the home of a man with important information regarding the Dreamstone, Diana
examines a magazine lying near his front door.
It's the August 1984 issue of Pro-Wrestling Illustrated, featuring Jerry "the King" Lawler
on the front cover.
As it turns out, this particular issue really does exist, and it really was in print at
the time.
This was excitedly pointed out by Lawler himself on Twitter, after Stuart Schreck of DC Comics
brought it to his attention.
It might seem random to feature a pro-wrestling themed magazine in Wonder Woman 1984, but
at the time, sports entertainment had reached a pinnacle of unparalleled popularity.
The 1980s were a huge decade for professional wrestling in particular, to the point that
it is often referred to as the sport's "Golden Age."
Offering a nod to this aspect of the decade is something many grown-up viewers of Wonder
Woman 1984 no doubt appreciate.
In the DCEU, Asteria is a celebrated champion of the Amazons who selflessly sacrificed herself
in battle so the rest of her sisters could flee to the safety of what would become Themyscira.
This fallen hero is remembered as the "Golden Warrior" for her courageous heart and legendary
armor.
To honor Asteria, a golden statue of her likeness was erected in Themyscira's coliseum.
The Amazonian athletic competition shown in the beginning of the film is also held as
a way to remember and reflect upon Asteria's legacy.
In real life, Asteria was a name given to several prominent figures in Greek mythology
meaning "starry one."
Interestingly, this particular strand of mythology portrays Asteria as eventually transforming
into an island to escape Zeus' advances.
Adult viewers will pick up on how reminiscent this is of her origin story regarding the
island of Themyscira, and how it echoes the Amazons' desire to separate themselves from
the world of men.
Culture and technology may have changed, but tales of heroes and villains remain timeless.
Considering she fell in battle and was never heard from again, the Amazons naturally assumed
that Asteria died defending them.
This assumption was reinforced when Diana went on a mission to find the fallen warrior
and was only able to track down Asteria's Golden Eagle armor, which she winds up using
in her final face-off against Cheetah and Max Lord.
However, Wonder Woman 1984's mid-credits scene reveals that Asteria is very much alive, secretly
living among normal humans and saving the occasional baby when the opportunity presents
itself.
Although younger viewers may not recognize the stunning brunette playing Asteria in this
scene, adults undoubtedly will: She's the one and only Lynda Carter.
Carter made a name for herself playing Diana Prince on the classic Wonder Woman television
series, which originally aired on ABC and CBS from 1975 to 1979.
Despite the fact that she's been portraying Amazon warriors for quite some time, Carter
still manages to dazzle new viewers in 2020 and beyond just as she did all the way back
in the '70s.
It will be interesting to see what DC has planned for the iconic actress: Hopefully,
there's more to come for her new character beyond this brief, if thrilling, appearance.
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