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Hollywood Finds Its Feminism | Real Female Athletes Cast For Wonder Woman’s Amazon Warrior Tribe

From Olympians to yogis... This film is real showcase for female athleticism

Since it hit cinemas a month ago, Wonder Woman has made some serious waves in UK and America. Widely hailed as the first truly feminist superhero film, it’s a piece full of female strength, fitness and power.

“Millions of young girls will see this movie and be exposed to real female athleticism … We can’t underestimate how important that is.”

The most inspiring element of this film is not the adventure or even the main character, it’s the Amazons; an all female tribe of warriors to which the character of Wonder Woman belongs.

These women are warriors in the truest sense, they’re total powerhouses, trained in war and bred for battle, and for that reason they’re pretty revolutionary for a mainstream action film. The Amazons are tougher than any other warriors on film and for that reason we were happy to discover that the film’s director decided to coast no ordinary extras to fill the roles, but real female athletes instead.

When finding her Amazons, director Patty Jenkins looked to sport to find some real Amazonian women. Real-life Cross Fit athletes, wrestlers, trainers, martial arts professionals, Olympians and even farmers were approached to make up the world’s ultimate girl gang.

Athletes such as American CrossFit champion Brooke Ence, Swedish fighter Madeleine Vall Beijner, farmer Clare Duncan, and martial artist Mayling Ng, met in London for weeks of training in horse riding, spear throwing and sword fighting, before shooting begun on Italy’s Amalfi coast.

“It was really cool to see this whole training area, and there’s not one male figure in sight” said Brooke Ence in an interview.

“Women wrestling other women, kickboxing, doing pull-ups and practicing with spears – just a lot of stuff that in the real world is very male-dominated.”

Watching the film, its obvious that these women set the tone of the film. They’re strong, muscly and hot on their own terms. They truly look like they could break you in half, because they truly can.

Hundreds of thousands of young girls will go and see this movie and be exposed to real athletes and female athleticism being celebrated. They’ll see powerful women kicking ass, though the gaze of a female director. We can’t underestimate how important that is.

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