What you can learn from Wonder Woman 1984
I get it, the expectations were sky-high. This year has been horrendous. And when it was not horrendous, it was as exciting as a beige wall. We deserved some riveting entertainment for our Christmas break. Many of us expected the new movie Wonder Woman 1984 to be that entertainment. And for some of us, the movie delivered.
I found myself spellbound by it. Right from the opening scene when an astonishingly self-confident young Diana Prince, a little girl with plump cheeks, sprints across the green mountains of her homeland, past susurrant waterfalls, to compete with women twice her age, I was all in. Hans Zimmer's music got my heart to soar. I felt pure joy whenever Diana transformed into Wonder Woman and twirled her golden lasso.
I found a few lessons, too, in the movie. Lessons that are valuable to remember for work and life. Those are what I want to share with you today.
1. Know what you long for, and what you're giving up in return.
We have heard the classic tales of greed gone awry. Faustian bargains where what is given up is more valuable than what is acquired. Midas' wish to turn everything he touches to gold nearly starves him to death. Dorian Gray's longing for eternal youth leads him to lies and murder.
Unquenchable and destructive greed is the central moral of WW84, and one that cannot be more relevant to us in our corporate world. As professionals, we can become inveterate box-checkers. Buy a home. Check. Get promoted at work. Check. Get another home. Check. Get promoted again. Check. Get your first million. Check. Get another million. Check.
Though some of this ambition is healthy, it never stops. The hunger for more intensifies and can lead us down some unhappy paths. All the while, we unthinkingly sacrifice our health, the time we can spend with our loved ones, our personal passions, may be even our legacy. We need to pause and think about what we long for and what we're giving up in return in this bargain.
2. Everyone has a backstory. Be curious and empathetic.
Most superhero movies I watch are thoughtless shows of power. Gunshots and explosions almost tear the screen apart. In most of them, heroes embody pure good and villains embody pure evil. There are few nuances and few attempts made to humanize these black and white caricatures.
In WW84, we learn a lot about the backstory of Diana Prince. She becomes a superhero by learning in tough Amazonian wargames and training grounds. We see her disappointments and failures strengthen her. But we also see the villain Max Lord abused by his father and endlessly feeling unworthy of being loved. We see the villain Cheetah simper nervously as an insecure nerd, craving being "more than nothing". The lived experiences of our villains, just like those of our hero, make them who they are. We judge our villains less viciously once we learn what their beginnings were like.
In our work and life, we often come across people that strike us as difficult. But we rarely think about their backstories. I love that WW84 shows us that we should be empathetic to not just the people we like but ones that frustrate us as well.
3. Do not be in a rush to "become great".
All too often, in our rushed world, we can't wait to be great. Not just be great, but also be recognized as great. But as Antiope warns Diana in the opening scene, this haste doesn't result in excellence. You need to pace yourself, set expectations in your head right, listen, learn, be patient, and progress. Becoming outstanding at anything - whether it is stopping tanks with your bare feet or becoming an admired developer in a software company - is a process and takes time. Bide your time, and do not be in a rush.
4. Show resolve to make hard choices in life.
Doing the right thing, sometimes, can be like running up a steep mountain in biting wintry air in the indigo dark of dawn. Uncomfortable, and you really REALLY do not want to do it. You would rather stay warm in your bed, tucking your blanket around your toes. And yet, you may need to steel your heart and go on.
In life, such resolve is what will make you great at what you do. When Diana makes her tough choice in the movie, we feel her heart collapse in her chest. But she walks away resolved to move on and face her next steps. That resolve, my friends, is a superpower.
5. Be true to yourself.
It is better to live in a disappointing truth than a pleasing lie. In the movie Matrix, Neo is offered a choice between a Red Pill and a Blue Pill. The Red Pill will cause him to face a reality that is unpleasant, and the Blue Pill will let him live swimmingly in a blissful make-believe world. Neo chooses the Red Pill. The Truth. Likewise, the Wonder Woman in WW84 urges us to choose Truth. The mirages of wealth, power, fame, and so on can be irresistible, but Truth is what will save your humanity, the movie argues.
What is your truth? What will your life be like if no one was watching (because no one truly is)? Who are you, genuinely? Who do you want to be? Not who you are for the sake of all the mirages in your life, but who do you really want to be? These are all wonderful questions for us to answer as professionals.
I loved WW84 for all these lessons. Unlike other superhero movies, it made me reflect on work and life. Unlike in other superhero movies, too, the hero doesn't just beat up people because she can. She carefully picks apart the innocent people from the guilty ones, and avoids punishing the innocent. Such thoughtfulness in the middle of crises is something every leader needs to show.
I know the reviews for the movie have been largely atrocious. Many people found the movie to be a let down. The pacing felt jittery. There was too much stuff happening and yet not enough. The story was needlessly soapy. Major plot points were inexplicable. I get their disappointment. But, personally, the movie was a highlight of my Christmas day. I might have even found a new Christmas day tradition.