Always on a mission, Wonder Woman frequently finds herself going to parties which is a huge trigger for social anxiety. The problem is that she attracts every eye in the room, making social anxiety even more difficult to deal with.
There is no level of fascination with Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman that we haven’t seen since she debuted in Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice. All of her DC Cinematic Universe appearances have showcased her as supremely powerful, highly intelligent, and willing to make sacrifices for the good of world. We’ve seen her battle The God of War Ares, a powerful alien known as Steppenwolf, the creature of killed Superman; Doomsday, and even a…cat. Yes, a cat! Her name is Cheetah and she was a hand full.
Although we’ve seen how strong and powerful Wonder Woman (Diana Prince) is fighting these creatures, there is an enemy out there which could have given her the fight of her life. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is that enemy and it is no joke. In fact, Steve Trevor would have lived at the end of Wonder Woman (2017) if Diana had SAD. The internal struggles of SAD in a social environment tend to manifest externally for everyone to see. The combination of the internal and external beat-downs of SAD wreaks havoc on the person experiencing it. Below we look at two very similar social anxiety provoking events that Diana put herself in in both of her Wonder Woman films.
The Two Scenes in both Wonder Woman Films that provoke Social Anxiety
Movie: Wonder Woman 1984, 2020
Scene: Diana arrives at the party by chauffer, walks the red carpet right into the building, and enters with all eyes on her
Wonder Woman, 1984, 2020
Anxiety Provoking Event: As soon as she steps into the building, everyone is looking at her. She is being eyed by every man in the room, including men who approach and speak to her.
Understanding that the only reason why Diana attended this party is because she was on a mission to gather information on Maxwell Lord, we should give her the benefit of the doubt. Wonder Woman does not live for the spotlight, although it’ll always be on her. She arrived at a fancy and elegant party looking stunning and catching the eye of every person there. Noticing so many people looking at her, men and women, Diana does her best to ignore them. She walked past the crowd of people who were mesmerized by her beauty, with one man even approaching her trying to spark conversation. The Amazonian warrior kept her focus solely on her mission and kept moving forward.
If Wonder Woman had social anxiety disorder
If Diana had Social Anxiety Disorder, she would never have attended that party. People with SAD don’t like being around large social gathering’s, especially one where there is a specific class of judgement by those attending. Wearing fancy jewelry, a beautiful dress, and looking glamorous is an attention-grabbing and anxiety provoking moment for SAD sufferer’s. In other words, too many eyes would make Diana too uncomfortable. She would develop Red Face and start to blush and sweat. Then when someone points out her red, sweaty face, she would blush and sweat even more. All the while, her heart is pounding, her hands are trembling, and she is feeling stiffness all over her muscles. This is an incredibly uncomfortable position for her to be in. She would feel embarrassed and humiliated the whole night. Diana would rather just quickly turn around and go home or find another way to complete her mission.
SAD causes you to lose focus
The highly underrated problem with Social Anxiety Disorder is it’s psychological effect. Diana needs to focus on her mission of gathering information about Maxwell Lord. She would not be able to do that if she developed Red Face. When you are embarrassed and humiliated, the only thing you can think of is getting the hell out of there. Not, “let me sneak in this room for some information, or open up that drawer, or eavesdrop this conversation”, etc. It’s extremely difficult to zone in on your work, your goals, and your mission, when humiliation strikes. Diana would need to find another way if she had SAD.
Movie: Wonder Woman, 2017
Scene: Diana walking toward General Ludendorff (her enemy) at the German hosted party.
Wonder Woman, 2017
Anxiety Provoking Event: As she is walking through the fancy and elegant party, everyone is looking at her. She is grabbing the attention of all in the room.
As we saw in party scene of Wonder Woman 1984, Diana is stunning when she goes to these fancy and elegant parties of the upper class. She is so stunning, that people can’t help but stare in amazement. And although this scene took place in the early 1900’s, the fixation of the gazing eye has no bearing on time.
Similar to her sequel, Diana enters this German party with a mission in mind. Simply, she wants to kill General Ludendorff as she believes he is the God of War (which we find out later he isn’t). As she approaches the General, we notice that every man, woman, and miscellaneous genders are eye lusting Diana. Dressed in a bright blue dress and a sword attached to her back, Diana walks right through the center of the room sternly looking at the man she intends to assassinate.
if wonder woman had social anxiety disorder
If she had Social Anxiety Disorder however, Diana would really hate being at this party. I mean she would dread the symptoms that she is bound to get while there. With everyone looking at her, her face will turn bright red in blush, her head will start dripping sweat off her face, and her hands would be trembling. She would feel extremely uncomfortable. And just like in her sequel, she would either want to go home or find another way to accomplish her mission. The SAD symptom of Red Face would be too much for her to tolerate. Instead of focusing on her mission, she would end up focusing on her embarrassment and humiliation. This is what Red Face does to people. You cannot focus when Red Face hits you.