Wonder Woman and The Golden Age

Unless you're a teenage girl, Wonder Woman 1984 is a pretty bad film. It's too long, there are plot holes, staggering liberties taken with scientific laws, likely reshoots and the character of Steve Trevor didn't even need to be there. But, as something with lots of bright colours and flying stuff that you can point your head at for 2 ½ hours without thinking too much, it's great! It does have the 'woke' politics of course (a 'Trump' character with his eyes on the White House, the creation of a wall and the empowering effects of ditching your man) but most films do now and there seems very little point in complaining. It isn't without its fun moments either (I chuckled at 'You're hired!') but this isn't a film review. I was looking at the symbolism and WW84 is LOADED.

Following being exposed to the Dreamstone, both Barbara Minerva and Max Lord are transforming. They are achieving god-like status because they are developing the ability to control their realities and manifest whatever they want. With the exception of characters like Thor and Superman (who were born gods) transformation is a key element in superhero films, but most of the time the pivotal 'transformation' of the central character is normally a brief, single scene and the bulk of the film about what happened before or after. Take for example the 70lb weakling Steve Rogers spending a few minutes in the Vita-Ray chamber and emerging as Captain America, or the nerdy Peter Parker receiving a bite from a radioactive spider and waking up the next morning as Spider-Man. Wonder Woman 1984 is different. Most of the film is the gradual transformation of Barbara and Max, and of course gods can do anything - not just defy gravity, see with X-ray vision or stretch their arms and legs to impossible lengths. For those who are prepared to entertain the possibility of predictive programming, know about ancient Egyptian mythology and where we are now in the grand scheme of things, the chosen story for WW84 may not come as a surprise.

According to the ancients, life on Earth cycles between two states which are known as the Golden and Silver Ages. When we fall from Gold to Silver. gods become men; when we ascend from Silver to Gold, men become gods. The Silver Age is the one we live in now - and the only downside to this intriguing non-linear version of history is that each time we switch from one age to the other, it's always accompanied with a huge, destructive event. Coincidentally, life on planet Earth may be accompanied with a few challenges in the years to come as grand solar minimum is on its way and we're also in the window for a geomagnetic excursion and a magnetic pole flip. MAGnetism and MAGic share a common etymological root with 'power' and in WW84, of all possible living things, Barbara (BA BA RA) is turning into a cat. Coincidentally again, huge destructive events are also known as CATastrophes and CATaclysms. Wonder Woman herself undergoes a minor transformation (and gets a new GOLDEN suit of armour) as she is now able to fly, just like the winged Egyptian goddess Ma'at. Ma'at represents balance and order which is again symbolic of the Golden Age.

We're in undeniably fertile ground for change and the events of the last few years - Brexit, Trump and Covid-19 - have caused a genuine awakening. I know people who, under lockdown and with nothing else to do, finally started investigating those ridiculous 'conspiracy theories' and are now looking at the world with new eyes. This kind of heightened awareness may not necessarily lead to the development of 'superpowers', but it also seems unlikely that these abilities will appear first within the feeble-minded or immature. In fact, take the fun and games out, and WW84 could actually be regarded as a warning: Max LORD has released a power neither he nor anyone can control and, in the film's credit, it does take the time to explore the questions that naturally follow: What would you do with god-like powers? Would you instantly manifest millions in cash? Conjure up limitless weapons? Bring a loved one back from the dead? Given that the last 20mins of WW84 is basically a plea for a return to normality, the 'Peter Parker Principle' could be this film's clearest (and perhaps only) message: With great power comes great responsibility.

But why did they set this film in 1984? The nostalgia seemed heavy-handed and, more importantly, Wonder Woman's appearance in the 80s conflicts with what she says to Bruce Wayne in Justice League about staying away 'for 100 years' following the death of Steve Trevor. Perhaps 1984 is a reference to George Orwell's famous dystopian novel (and few would disagree that this is rapidly becoming a reality in 2023) but there is another WW84 coincidence that's directly related to the concept of the Golden and Silver Ages and Master Numbers in numerology - and has already been mentioned in previous articles:

1+9+8+4 = 22