More Than Entertained

The secular holiday season, which runs alongside the Advent season, provides an opportunity to see the world with renewed enchantment. Through the various traditions associated with this time of year, we’re invited to break free from any mundanity or discouragement which may have entered our lives over the past year. We’re invited, in the words of T.S. Eliot, to encounter what is familiar yet “know the place for the first time.”

With this idea in mind, consider adding the two recent Wonder Woman films directed by Patty Jenkins—Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)—to your holiday queue. In short, they’re excellent and provide a powerful worldview for seasonal reflection. In the first film, simply titled Wonder Woman, viewers meet Diana (played by Gal Gadot). She is Princess of the Amazons, a mythical female warrior class who lives on an island magically separated from the real world. Away from this oasis, World War I is in full swing. Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), an American spy, crashes his plane off the coast of the island, and he relays the details of the war to Diana and the rest of the otherwise ignorant Amazonians. Convinced that Ares (the God of War) is behind this worldwide conflict, Diana sets out with Steve into the real world to find Ares, defeat him, and end the war.

Viewers will note that Diana, who was raised on the Amazonian island, has never traveled to the outside world. As becomes clear when she first encounters Steve, she has never even seen a man until him. Diana is gazing upon the open sea when she sees his plane crash into the water. She races out to the wreckage and drags an unconscious Steve onto the shore. Clearly bewildered, Diana leans over and observes him. When he wakes, Steve gazes upon her and can only utter, “Wow.” Realizing what she has encountered, Diana gasps, “You’re a man.”

The initial encounter lasts mere seconds, but it’s beautifully captured. Through it, we see clear biblical imagery. Recall the creation story in Genesis, where God creates the woman. He “cast[s] a deep sleep on man” (2:21) and creates her from the man’s rib. The man awakes, and when God presents the woman to him, the man cries, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh” (2:23). Steve’s reaction to Diana, after awaking from a “deep sleep,” is more-or-less the same response. One can imagine Diana’s reaction as being similar to that of the woman in the creation account as well.

Diana’s encounter with Steve sets the tone for much of the remainder of the film. As she ventures out into the world, she sees everything for the first time, and much of it fills her with wonder. By the way, note the clever use of Diana’s superhero name: “Wonder” Woman, as in, a woman who experiences the world with wonder.

For example, when Diana and Steve first arrive in London, Diana sees a baby for the first time. She exclaims, “A baby!” and rushes over to the infant. In another scene, Steve buys her ice cream, and she takes a bite. Clearly delighted, she states that it’s “wonderful” and remarks to the salesman, “You should be very proud.”

In a later scene, Diana, Steve, and their team, have ventured onto a battlefield and freed a ravaged rural town. It’s a winter evening, and couples are dancing to soft music in the street. Steve decides to teach Diana how to dance. They banter back and forth and are clearly falling in love. As they dance, snow starts to fall gently.

In my opinion, this magical scene is the high point of the film. Her enchantment with the world is essentially complete.

However, as we move into the end of the first film, life’s difficulties begin to bear upon Diana. In brief, she defeats Ares, but Steve sacrifices his life for the cause in heartbreaking fashion. Diana is obviously devastated and, being immortal, she must perpetually live with this devastation. Her heartbreak continues into the second film. However, as we will see, her ensuing experiences are restorative.

The second film, Wonder Woman 1984, brings us to Washington, D.C., in the year 1984 (about 65 years after the events of the first film). Diana has integrated herself into society as a curator at the Smithsonian and as a superhero in her free time. However, the loss of Steve continues to bear upon her. Meanwhile, we meet one of the main villains, Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), a failing businessman desperate to gain glory by any means necessary.

As the plot unfolds, the Dreamstone—a crystal of sorts which can seemingly grant one wish to whoever touches it—enters the scene. However, the Dreamstone has been created by the God of Lies, and it takes away one’s greatest treasure upon granting the wish. That treasure can only be regained by renouncing one’s wish.

As you might have guessed, Diana and Max each get their chance to make a wish. Diana wishes for Steve to return, and so he does. However, she slowly begins to lose her powers as a result. Max uses his opportunity for more evil purposes. Through his efforts, everyone on earth is given the opportunity to use the stone. As more and more people wish, unexpected destruction results.

As she becomes more and more unable to defend the crumbling world without her powers, Diana and Steve both come to the realization that she must renounce her wish. There’s a moving scene between them where Diana tells Steve that she can’t let him go. Steve responds, “You don’t have to. I’m already gone.”

Steve’s remark is profound. He essentially tells Diana that his return is nothing more than a false reality. When Diana chooses to resurrect Steve, and as the rest of the world wishes, she and her fellow wishers are effectively saying, “I wish for a reality other than the one in which I live. I wish for the truth to not be the truth.”

When framed in this light, the mistake being made here is a serious one. Upon wishing reality away, upon wishing away what’s true, we wish away Christ. Jesus, the fulfillment of all our desire, can only be encountered in the present moment—as it really is, and not as we wish it to be.

Diana finally realizes her mistake and gives an impassioned plea to Max in their final encounter: “[T]his world was a beautiful place, just as it was. And you cannot have it all. You can only have the truth. And the truth is enough. The truth is beautiful.”

Yes, there are difficult experiences in life, but Diana helps us to remember that every moment, even when it contains suffering, is meaning-filled. Every moment serves an immense purpose in the good plan of our God—who is Truth and Beauty Himself—down to the finest detail. The great Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” reminds us that He “order[s] all things mightily.”

In the final scene, Diana is wandering in a park. It’s clearly the holiday season, with Christmas decorations and all, and the surrounding people are full of joy. Snow is falling. After a nice conversation with a man, she muses on the wonder of life as a balloon ascends into the sky.

While they may not appear to be so at first, perhaps they’re Christmas movies after all. Viewers should recall the scene from the first film, where Steve and Diana are dancing in the war-torn town and snow begins to fall. From my view, we’re meant to connect this scene to the final scene of the second film. Difficulties have been endured—yes, Steve is gone—yet Diana’s original wonder as experienced in that first snowy dance with Steve has been restored. She’s “Wonder” Woman once again.

Finally, note that a Catholic Christian should distinguish between Advent and the secular holidays. Advent does invite an attitude of preparation for the return of Christ, rather than merely celebrating as if Christmas has already arrived. One wonders what Christ would hope to observe when He returns. Surely it would not be people who are, to use the words of St. John Paul II, “ground down by mediocrity.” Surely it would be people who are not blind to life’s very real difficulties, yet they rejoice in the enchanting wonder of life anyway. It’s beautiful. With that, a blessed Advent and happy holidays to all.