Wonder Woman Is About Family Caregivers, Right?

Have you seen the new movie about caregivers? It’s called Wonder Woman. Okay, so maybe that’s actually a movie about an Amazon princess and warrior. It was the warrior part that confused me. And the fight scenes.

There was something about the fight scenes that gave me pause. Sure it was great to see a woman owning a battle scene, but having watched all seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, twice, that wasn’t new to me. What was so remarkable about the fight scenes in Wonder Woman was the absence of glib and cliché comments coming from the hero.

It was so refreshing to see a film that didn’t follow the male-skewed, Hollywood formula. There was no. “I ain’t got time to bleed,” or “You’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?” or “Yippie-Ki-Yay, Motherf*cker!” These quips are fun and memorable, perhaps, but they are also so ridiculously macho that they are eye roll inducing. Wonder Woman had none of that. And I was thrilled that given the box office returns a female superheroine was raking in, we might finally be able to say, “Hasta la vista, baby,” to the manly crap.

But what really struck me about those macho-free fight scenes was how much they resembled real life. Because isn’t that what we caregivers do everyday? We kick ass and we move on. No preening. No grandstanding. No bragging. No ridiculous Hollywood one-liners. We just do what needs to get done and we move on to the next task. It might be changing a catheter. It might be feeding someone who can no longer feed themselves. It might be showing up and listening. It might be taking someone to the gerontologist, someone else to the pediatrician, making lunch, driving the carpool, making a big presentation at work, dealing with an insurance company, and helping with a tube feeding, all in the same day. That’s what I loved the most about Diana, Amazon warrior princess. She did what needed to be done and she moved on to the next task. And of course, she stopped to have ice cream. It was all so matter of fact, so understated, so badass.

You, my fellow working daughters, like Diana, are warriors. You fight, for those who cannot fight for themselves. Isn’t it time Hollywood made a film about you?

 

Sometimes even superheroes need help. Click here.

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