Like a lot of people, I was excited when Wonder Woman was released. I walked into the cinema with high hopes. Upon walking out at its conclusion, I was reasonably satisfied.
Though entertaining enough, I felt the dialogue was a little cheesy at times and I wasn't a huge fan of the slow-mo action scenes that just reeked of producer Zack Snyder.
While I certainly respect a film that broke all sorts of records and no doubt was a symbol for the progress of women in Hollywood, I don't know if I'll see the sequel that was announced earlier this week.
For me, the character of Wonder Woman, aka Diana Prince, is not hugely inspirational. She's too perfect, too powerful, and even though the concept of superpowers is in itself unrealistic, there are ways of making a character more believable, more human. Granted she's a demigod, but as seen in Achilles, even demigods have weaknesses.
Netflix's Jessica Jones, on the other hand, is deeply flawed, and she's a character I'm going to miss after her story comes to an end at the conclusion of season 3 (at least, as we know it given Marvel (owned by Disney) has distanced itself from the streaming service).
Under the mind control of the Purple Man, aka Zebediah Kilgrave, Jones (Krysten Ritter) is a victim of sexual assault several times over; through Kilgrave's mind control powers, she is manipulated into a false desire for him and held prisoner in his hotel room for months.
His control doesn’t take away his victim's memories or emotions, but rather they are powerless to say no.
“You want to do it. You know you do," he whispers in her ear during a flashback in the first episode.
Season one is full of flashbacks and nightmares, though rape is never actually depicted. She subsequently suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and generally avoids human contact as much as possible.
Jones's best friend Trish (Rachael Taylor) also faces her own addiction demons in season two. After Jones vanquishes Kilgrave, she is given the opportunity to begin healing, but season three, the final season, will present a new challenge with the mysterious villain Gregory Salinger.
The Netflix world of Jessica Jones, and indeed the wider Defenders universe that includes Daredevil and Punisher is dark, gritty, confronting at times, and most of all, deals with how different people overcome trauma. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, can't her head around the fact that humans are terrible sometimes and we suffer. A lot.
As Spanish novelist Miguel de Unamuno said: "Suffering is the substance of life and the root of personality, for it is only suffering that makes us persons."