Israeli actress Gal Gadot met with terrible accusations over anti-Arab racism. The moviegoers took to Instagram and Twitter to express their concerns over the superhero film “Wonder Woman 1984”, premiered on the HBO Max streaming service on Friday.
The Criticisms
The Critics have called the film, “hard-to-follow” and “poorly written”. It also evokes racism and Islamophobia from some.
Journalists like Ahmed Ali Akbar have tweeted, saying “I’m stunned at how racist it was. WW84 is that type of white feminist movie where a white man from Jim Crow-era segregation is the best man humanity has ever known, but the Arab men are fanatic bigots desiring a border wall and Latino men are wife beaters & megalomaniacs,”.
That same thing was also said by Twitter user @altonwang: “All the evil things in the film – a literal border wall, domestic abuse – are portrayed by actors of color that have zero substance in their character other than to be the bad guys, only to be saved by white saviorism.”
Twitter user @metalgearzeta has said: “might be the most racist blockbuster I’ve seen in years. How did producers and executives in 2020 not raise the flag and go ‘we can’t do that’,”.
The critics have shared some parts of the film which showcases an Egyptian king played by actor Amr Waked calling for “heathens” to be expelled from his land. This was interpreted as an anti-Palestinian caricature.
Film podcast host Josh Lewis said, “When they said Wonder Woman 1984 I thought they meant like neon colors and synths but they meant horrifying middle eastern stereotypes,”.
The Israeli actress Gal Gadot previously served in the Israeli Defence Forces between 2005 and 2007. She also faced a backlash last time when she expressed support for the IDF during its 2014 bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip. She has also been criticised for her upcoming role as ancient Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.
