The latest Wonder Woman trailer landed online last Saturday and showed off the beautiful locales and intense action that will usher DC’s superheroine to the big screen. But it seems that some across the internet noticed something else about the trailer — or at least noticed something that was missing.
According to Yahoo Movies, quite a few opinions dropped online this week pointing out the lack of armpit hair on Gal Gadot during the trailer. At around 1:50 in the new trailer, you can see the shot in question and it seems that she was not only shaved but also digitally smoothed out. If that sounds odd, you’re not alone. It’s odd that the studio would apparently do that and it’s odd that folks noticed. Take the opinion from Shannon Carlin over at Refinery 29 for example:
“It’s really hard to believe that Wonder Woman, who has been on an island filled with strong women her entire life is worried about waxing and then bleaching her pits to make sure there isn’t a hair left on those babies…
“With Wonder Woman standing in as an example of female strength, it would have been exciting to see her with a little hair under her arms. To prove that women — even those who are superheroes — don’t have to cater to beauty standards that are meant to make them more attractive to men.”
Some online agreed as pointed out by Yahoo Movies and it makes sense when you look at the Amazons as a group of warriors that are too busy to worry with grooming.
https://twitter.com/mattsontomlin/status/840824184552939520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Wonder Woman should have leg hair + armpit hair. If she came from a place with no male standards of beauty she wouldn't gaf about body hair
— Joshua Bruckner 🇵🇸 (@joshington_bear) August 13, 2016
But at the same time, it feels like another attempt to drive some realistic standard on a fictional character that has had a similar look since the ’40s. Just look at the double backlash to Wonder Woman being named a UN Ambassador. There were some upset a fictional character was taking a spot from a real woman, but then others who were upset when she was dropped for being “too sexualized.” Wonder Woman is being dragged through a lot of weird situations and it’s not clear why.
While the character having hair on her body doesn’t really seem to be a world breaking issue, the studio decisionmight be the one that forces most to scratch their heads.
“It seems like an enormous waste of effort to recolor the underarms of Wonder Woman herself for a split-second scene, especially when the obvious editing is much more conspicuous than the unaltered lady pits alone could ever be,”
People have hair and sometimes that hair pops up. Wonder Woman’s grooming standards aside, if the studio and filmmakers did edit for this reason, you have to question their priorities a bit. Considering the response to past DC films, you would hope that it is a good movie before worrying about the character’s looks. But then again, folks have had remarks about her looks since Gal Gadot was cast in the role.
I can’t see this controversy gaining steam, but people did notice. But would more have noticed if the hair was present? It all just seems like the latest oddity for this character’s journey to the screen at this point, and a really odd one at that.
(Via Yahoo Movies / Slate / Refinary 29)