First, lets get some behind-the-scenes stuff out of the way. This website hasn’t been updated in a while. None of us have time! We’ve all been parenting up a storm this year, as everyone in America has. We all need to take a break, and what better time than now in the holidays, and with a beautiful, exciting, romantic and feminist movie?

I won’t hold back⸺I loved this movie! It took me all the way back to my childhood in the 1980s, which I don’t really remember. Unlike other movies set in the 1980s it doesn’t unfairly expect me to be familiar with the 80s, or show me anything too specific from back then. That always makes me feel left out! This is a much more inclusive historical movie, which doesn’t make me or my kids feel “alienated” from anything. I was also worried that with “1984” in its title it’d be some dark tale of totalitarianism, but luckily it has nothing to do with imposed consensus or endless war, and instead is set in the 1980s, phew!

The other major thing I love, love, loved about this movie was the important messages it had. Of course there’s the strong feminism one expects from a Wonder Woman movie, but there’s also a really important lesson in that if you wish for shortcuts you’ll get what you deserve! There aren’t any shortcuts in life, and I’m so so glad that my kids can learn that lesson while watching WW1984. As long as kids are paying attention to the movie, they can’t help but learn that no amount of systemic injustice or bad luck ever justifies deviating from the long path of hard work and following the rules. And you can’t just ask for or expect to get things for free. You have what you have, and you’ll have to work hard if you want more!

And kids will be paying attention, because wow is it exciting! There were two, maybe three action scenes in the first hour and a half of the movie, and even more in the next hour, ending in a thrilling conclusion that subverted expectations by having Diana literally turn to the camera and tell everyone not to wish for more than they deserve. Obviously I loved the elecrifying conclusion of the first Wonder Woman but it was a real blast (no pun intended) to have a climax that for once wasn’t two beams of energy pushing against eachother.

And the stuff other than action scenes was plenty exciting too! I’ve seen movies before where people try on clothes and it’s just short bursts where we barely get time to see each outfit, but WW1984 kept my attention by really spending time with each (and this paid off in the end!). Got my fingers crossed for action figures I can buy for birthdays! Of course the most exciting part to me is the romance between Wonder Woman and Captain Kirk. That’s a bit over kids heads. In fact my kids actually complained to me, saying they found it confusing. But as they grow up and start crushing on boys or girls (I can’t wait!) new aspects of this wonderful story will unfurl for them. Like how it’s really romantic to hold onto someone’s love for decades but you also need to know when to let that go.

In a year where we can’t travel, it’s relaxing and educational to see Washington D.C. on screen. They really earned their tax credits. My kids want to go to Hogwarts once the pandemic is finally over, but I’m hoping now I can convince them to take a trip to our nation’s great capitol instead.

I’m going to go now and put the movie on again. Have to enjoy it while it lasts on HBO Max! Every time I think we should cancel one of the 17 streaming services we’re subscribed to something wonderful comes along if you know what I mean 🤣