MovieChat Forums > Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Discussion > Young Diana in the Competition at the Be...

Young Diana in the Competition at the Beginning.

posted 3 years ago by Jeepster (1026)
10 replies | jump to latest

One part of this movie that irked me was the very beginning where Diana competed among the other Amazons in the Olympic style competition. I’ve been wondering how was what she did considered cheating? Yes I know what she did, I saw the same movie movie along with everyone else. I’m saying if anything she used her wits & guile to turn around a major setback into an even greater achievement where one would think she would have been greater rewarded & more impressive to everyone else that she managed to do that. She didn’t sit around & feel sorry for herself but overcame greater odds to prevail.

So she found a way back to her horse through a shortcut she had discovered. She needed to get back to it against the odds & did so, ok so the problem was? If any of the other Amazons had this happen to them do you think they wouldn’t have done the same thing if they had thought of it? Oh that & a even better question to ask is who in the hell was around to see all of this in the first place?

You’re telling me that the entire event was up for surveillance from the very start, where every one could see what was going on? Uh I don’t think so because that would’ve been impossible Again Antiope had no right to stop & disqualify her for this when what she did would’ve been considered more impressive in most other arenas around the world for having the gumption & presence of mind to turn it all around. How did she cheat? Sheesh, I understand the lesson that was meant to be taught but I think they erred on this particular part. Anyone else?

[–] FFNogoodnik (770) 3 years ago

The rules were you had to shoot or contact the indicators for each section. She did not do that for the last one so she was disqualified.

[–] Jeepster (1026) 3 years ago

Was THAT it? I didn’t realize. She was right in front of it then, probably a goof on her part. But thank you anyway.

[–] 123 (543) 3 years ago

She had the time to go back and got the bow before sliding down the shortcut, so another very poor decision as least they could have made her look like she had no choice and was going to be overtaken.

Plus they should have done the whole scene with a teenage Diana rather then the child Diana.

[–] Jeepster (1026) 3 years ago

That’s debatable on the teenage Diana front 123 but I understand your point. Maybe in the next WW they’ll move up to a teenage Diana in a flashback if they include one in the next film. But I guess this is just a testament to Lilly Aspell & the job she did as young Diana in the first film. She was also great in this, so I’m not 2nd guessing the decision.

[–] fc31 (4559) 3 years ago

It is weird and unconvincing that a child could or should compete with grown ups. Also they have been trying to hide Diana's difference even to herself, because that should make Diana question herself, why she was so special, why she was so different from everyone else?

It would have been much more convincing if she was a teenager or a young adult, in just about every way.

[–] 123 (543) 3 years ago

First her mother doesn't want her to train in any form of combat but at the same age she was competing in the Amazonian games expecting to be the winner.

as fc31 said it looked weird an 8 year beating all the best of the Amazonians, if she was a teenager or even someone 12/13 that had been training for a number of years it would been more believable plus her being slightly smaller then the average woman would have looked so much more better.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2645) 3 years ago

Agreed. Even right at the start she somehow was ahead despite being smaller and able to close less distance in a stride, she's somehow ahead of the other contenders. I suppose she is some kind of god amongst those people seeing as she can fly when she's older and I take it that none of the others can.

[–] Jeepster (1026) 3 years ago

Great points fc31 & 123. Yeah that’s true, I hadn’t thought of all of that, but yes you both make a world of sense. Whether you believe it’s unconvincing or not for child Diana to compete in the games is not really the issue. She’s got the best excuse in Themyscira as to why she’d be allowed to compete in the games, she’s the daughter of the queen, simple as that, with the point being she was given special privileges that no one else would question. Even she wouldn’t question it herself so she’d never really question as to “who am I really?”

The competition itself had nothing to do with combat so despite her mother not wanting her trained in combat doesn’t figure into it at all. As a Amazonian citizen, especially as daughter of the queen, she’d be trained early on in the use of the bow & the riding of a horse, so that all makes sense. It’s obvious the first obstacle was geared for a child specifically as she went straight to it while all the other adults went on to different ones. Especially the other one where there was a hole where she could jump through, so yeah her being a child did figure somewhat into how the course was laid out but who am I to say? Good points though.

[–] 123 (543) 3 years ago

In the first WW movie the starting scenes are specifically showing us how her mother forbade her to do any training at all until she was a teenager, so suddenly she would allow her to take part in a contest which could potentially lead to death in between her telling her not to do any form of training.

Riding horses barely could maybe forgiven as they are used to get around but archery is combat - firing an arrow at a target is the exact combat training the adult Amazonian do.

Also for a mother who doesn't want a scratch on her precious daughter while doing any training she would allow her to:
climb onto the spin ladder where she could of fallen off (plus she wasn't the only one doing that there was another),
back flips onto the top podium bit before jumping into the small hole because she was so little, she couldn't reach around the stone,
she did back flips on the trapeze bars same as others just the straight path,
jumping down the beams which she could fall to her death as another Amazonian was shoved of by another into the water,
She could of been hit by the big dragon door enforcer thing which she ducked down otherwise she might have been hit in the head with,
jump over a cliff into water which she could drowned into,
doing archery while riding horse which she could of fell to her death,
So this is something a protective mother would have approved of from the first movie?

Also as before it was awkward for an 8 year only just over 3 feet tall - near half the size of the other Amazonian.

[–] fc31 (4559) 3 years ago

What I mean is they have been hiding the fact Diana is a god, not an amazon, from Diana and everyone else. Maybe her status as a princess could get her in to competition, but what child can compete with the best grown ups and almost win?

I mean Diana, and everyone else, would definitely question that, why she was so powerful beyond her years.