Mental Illness in Wonder Woman

[sasha_feather]

This post contains some spoilers for the film.



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One of the characters that accompanies Diana into battle is Charlie, a Scottish irregular purported to be a skilled sniper. We first see Charlie getting beaten up in a pub after picking a fight. From his appearance, he could be taking better care of himself: his hair is unevenly cut and sticking out in several directions. Later, while camping out, Charlie has a nightmare and Diana wakes him up. Charlie is defensive and goes off to be by himself.

During a key battle scene, Charlie is unable to fire his gun. Despite this, he's still lauded as a hero and is an accepted member of the group. Diana urges him to stay with the team instead of going home, saying, "but who sing for us?"

It was nice to see someone with mental illness portrayed positively in Wonder Woman.

Charlie is played by Ewan Bremmer.

Comments

[thingswithwings]

I agree - especially since superhero films tend to really focus on "usefulness," and war films too for that matter. The fact that he wasn't able to do his job anymore (because his job had injured him!) didn't make him less valuable as a person or less deserving of being on the team.

[sasha_feather]

Interesting-- utility as a ableist and also capitalist frame, and not being useful as resistance to that.

[jadelennox]

Yes, and he doesn't magically overcome his PTSD with grit and haggis and a stiff upper lip! He can shoot when he can, and sometimes he can't but can sing, and sometimes he can't and just cries and shakes, and they still value him as a person.