The 2017 adaptation of Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, is another standout addition to the superhero genre. With a first-rate cast, including masterful performances by Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the story stays true to the comic book roots while bringing depth and philosophical value to the feature-length story.
Unsurprisingly, Wonder Woman follows the Novel Matrix writing system, with a couple of notable deviations.
One Universe
The storytellers do a wonderful of only setting up Diana, Luddendorf (antagonist) and Ares (mega-antagonist) as exceptional to the universe, and providing just-cause for the exceptional characters’ capabilities. Most of the world conforms with fair historical accuracy to 1918ish Europe, and characters have seemingly realistic capabilities and responses. This allows Diana to truly rise out of the story.
Three Acts
We have a typical three-act structure. However, like many superhero stories, the third act is shorter than usual. The third act is consumed with fighting and defeating the bad guy, and that only takes so much time.
The “Epiphany” moment is not as sharp as depicted here. We have several scenes over several minutes that contribute to Diana changing her paradigm and realizing her full power as the incarnate “god killer.”
Five Conflicts
One of the interesting things about Wonder Woman is that the Little World philosophical conflict is especially integral to the plot. When Diana sees Steves heroic, selfless action, she understands her relationship to humankind differently, and that flows through into who she becomes.
Seven Characters
When designing a story, I recommend that you always choose specific characters to fulfill each role. In this story, we’re really lacking a specific “Object of Affection.” There is not a specific character that has an unwarranted ability to propel Diana to action. However, this is overcome by Diana’s strong affinity and sense of duty for all mankind. Because of who she is, and her specific character development, we understand that she is propelled by an outsized need to act on behalf of any human victim. It works here, but use with caution.
Wonder Woman (2017) Notes
All five conflicts are important to the plot of Wonder Woman. When developing a story, it’s easy for some of the conflicts to really function more like character development. But in the case of Wonder Woman, all five conflicts have a direct bearing on the action of the plot.
The weakest conflict of the five is Diana’s Little World internal conflict. She obviously has an overwhelming sense of duty that propels her forward and justifies her actions. However, she’s consistently rebuffed by people telling her to do nothing. Beginning with her mother, Hippolyta, then the British government, then Steve (consistently). The conflict is there, but Diana rarely listens, so it has the potential to fall flat.
However, this is compensated for by the extra development of Steve, who carries his own internal conflict. Steve must choose if he believes in Diana’s mission. This mirrors some of the viewer’s own questions, so it effectively fills the gap and carries the weight for Diana’s weak internal conflict.
Diana does defeat the Mega-antagonist in this story. This is less common in stories, but it works here due to the strong integration of all five conflicts, and the grand dramatic nature of the story. Given who Wonder Woman is, we expect her to do truly exceptional things.
Because the plot and conflicts are so comprehensively interwoven, the story has bought itself some grace when it comes to the characters. The story does not fulfill all of our typical archetypes.
The Sidekick function is fulfilled by a group of three characters (the mercenary gang Steve hires), and we don’t have a specific Object of Affection. Given that we have two extra characters in the Sidekick role, it’s an interesting and effective choice to keep the character list slim by eliminating the Object of Affection. This is also facilitated by Diana’s overdriven sense of duty, which in some ways negates our need for a specific Object of Affection.
Luddendorf has a particularly prominent henchman in “Dr. Poison.” Note, however, that this is an undeveloped character. She has only one dimension, no aspirations or fears, no backstory, and few lines. Everything she does directly serves the plot—she is never any more than that.
Wonder Woman is also a great example of effective world building.
Right from the opening scene, we see that these Amazon women kick butt and have extreme combat skills. Because Diana’s super skills were introduced in the beginning, we are not surprised later in the film. In fact, within the first 22 minutes, we’ve already seen all of the superhero moves that Diana will use throughout the entire movie.
It’s not enough to only demonstrate how amazing these Amazon women are if there hasn’t been a baseline established for what’s normal. After all, maybe everyone is like that in the universe of this story. Introducing Steve Trevor early solves this. Through Steve’s actions and capabilities, and his reaction to what the Amazons can do, we see what is “normal” in the universe of this story.
While Wonder Woman does hit a lot of the simplistic tropes of the superhero genre, it’s also a great example of how the Novel Matrix can be used to elevate a simple story to something more. Because the storytellers developed all five conflicts and did the hard work to integrate them into the plot, the story feels robust and comprehensive.
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