Patty Jenkins responds to the controversial plot point of the 1984 Wonder Woman plot

SPOILERS NOTICE AHEAD

If you love or hate Wonder Woman 1984 (currently playing in select theaters and available for broadcast on HBO Max) one thing is certain – Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine) coming back from the dead is a bizarre twist.

After all, when Steve died at the end of 2017 Wonder Woman Movie – a story set almost 70 years before 1984 – fans may have been confused as he not only survived death, but also never aged.

Now Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins is defending the controversial choice to bring his character back to the life of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman for the new film.

The 1984 Wonder Woman storyline revolves around a special artifact called Dreamstone, which has the power to fulfill a wish for those who own it – more or less like the mystical concept of the mystical Pata de Macaco. When you want something, there are always some strings attached.

After all, it was the God of Lies who gave the stone its power in the first place. When Dreamstone grants a wish, it receives another thing of equal importance from the wisher. However, before fully understanding the tortuous nature of the stone’s quid pro quo, Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) wishes Steve’s return, and the next day, he returns.

But this is where it gets complicated in the film. Steve is not exactly the same guy she remembers from her past. In fact, Steve basically took control of the body of someone who already exists. Nor did he get consent first. Also, just to make things even more confusing, Steve looks like this different person (played by actor Kristoffer Polaha) to everyone else.

Another very problematic point here is that, if Steve is not really Steve, it means that Wonder Woman is possibly getting physically involved with a stranger and not with her beloved Steve. Although the movie is implied, there is no real sex scene between the two characters.

The lack of consent is what left many fans up in arms about the film. Jenkins could simply be playing with that well-known trope in the story of characters who change bodies like in the Big and Freaky Friday films, where consent is not given.

This “body change without character consent” plot device has been used in movies, TV shows, comics and video games for decades, and especially prevalent in 80s entertainment. But this is an era when that old conspiracy device exchanging bodies without consent may not be as politically correct as before.

A fan called Dustin Philipson on Twitter came to Jenkins’ defense about the exchange of bodies in 1984 Wonder Woman, saying that not only is this a common plot in fiction, but also in this particular story the exchange of bodies was “undone” when people withdrew their desires.

Although Jenkins didn’t offer any additional insight into the plot trick used in Wonder Woman 1984, she agreed with the fans’ tweet, replying with “Hahaha. Exactly @DustyDontShoot !!”

It would have been more ideal for Jenkins to offer more of his own ideas about the body changing device, but for now, this will serve as an explanation for the lack of consent during body changes.

As expected, some fans responded to Jenkins’ retweet with their own theories.

There is also an assumption that they had sex for those who shot him. There is nothing in the story or visual that implies that it does.
I would be very exhausted and overwhelmed if my lost love reappeared. I would pass out after that long night. Even on an uncomfortable futon.

– Adele K. Thomas🦄 Illustrator (@AdeleKThomas) December 30, 2020

In fact, I think it is showing that Diana had a moment of weakness; this increases the complexity of your character’s composition. Finally, she realizes that she has taken a wrong path and undo what she did

– Dustin Philipson (@DustyDontshoot) December 30, 2020

Does it increase the complexity of a culturally loved superhero that they do it to a guy against their will? Who the hell said “This is what WW needs to make it more complex!”?
And pointing out that Big is doubtful is not a critical revelation, people have known this for YEARS.

– Richard (@RichardOcelot) January 3, 2021

I think the clearest hint that she was being weak and selfish about the situation was when she wanted to sleep with Steve and forget the world and it is Steve who reminds her that the situation should be investigated. I liked it, but I think there is more of it missing in the story # ww84

– Marco Antonio Nájera 🇲🇽 #RestoreTheSnyderVerse (@manthx) December 30, 2020

At no time could anyone who saw the film (not even the film itself) argue that Diana’s wish and what she was doing to herself and a stranger was not wrong and that she did not need to renounce her wish and allow both Steve and this other man, go. It was very clear that there were costs.

– Princess Winter 🧜👸 # AP4SnydersUniverse (@SuperWinterGirl) December 30, 2020

Undone? Missiles and walls left debris when unwanted, also in Washington DC, when Max searches for his son, which means that all the physical effects of the wishes remain. So, all physical intimacy, including kissing, has not been undone. Just admit it was an oversight. Stop defending this nonsense.

– Frederick Vinas (@Frederick_Vinas) December 31, 2020

In addition, I would mention that the popular Quantum Leap series played with a version of this Trope every time Sam Beckett had a love scene.

– JLanz42 (@ JLanz42) December 30, 2020

You all understand that a trope can still be bad, right? That “is a trope” is not really any kind of meaningful defense? And that many people really have a problem with this BIG twist? People also had problems * at the time *. Not just after the fact, years later.

– LaT ⚖💖💜💙 (@latxcvi) December 31, 2020