» Blog Archive Why Warner Bros. won't cast a "heavier" Amanda Waller
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By Adam Vega

Often in the media, stigma will generalize a certain group, weather race, gender, sexual orientation, and even age. We live in the era where Hollywood demands the imagery of “the perfect person.” Even if that person is deemed a villain, homeless, a wandering vagabond, or whichever flawed characteristic trait stems from us humans is made into perfection. After all John Rambo was a homeless drifter, but never seemed to look filthy, and still had a a well trimmed body for a man who could not afford to eat. All the while, Bill Bixby’s Dr. Banner was a hitchhiker who always seemed well groomed and never ran out of cloths. The point , why must the imperfect still be made with a measure of perfection? In this case, we contemplate on the subject of weight within comic books, in regards to characters such as DC’s Amanda Waller.
Why is DC reluctant to cast a heavier Amanda Waller in its latest movies? Could it be that Hollywood feels secure about what the “perfect woman” demonstrated as? Yet, with celebrity women such as Queen Latifah, who has won a Golden Globe and Kathy Bates winning an Academy award for best actress, indicates that females do not have to portray a powerful character as a size zero.

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Amanda Waller created in 1986 by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne is a hardcore government agent who made her debut in Legends #1. A force to be reckoned with, Waller created the Suicide Squad, led the Secret Six, and can often be seen having a rivalry with “The Caped Crusader” himself in regards to the way law and order is to be approached and enforced. Obviously a person with a lot on her plate, who never sheds a morsel of sweat demonstrates her firm values in never cracking under pressure. This indeed projects a form of power not every comic book character or real life person for that matter can wield.
Yet Amanda Waller enforces it like no other, making it even more impressive that she was never gifted with super-natural or paranormal abilities. Once again, what is the problem with such an empowering women not having the most slim body for her audience? The issue is that Hollywood was always a market that thinks it knows “what is best for business.” Hollywood often forgets that the derived origin of characters that stem from the comic fandom is not as male dominated as one would assume. In the several live action outings that Amanda Waller has made, she has been cast by not so heavy actresses, including Angela Bassett in Green Lantern, Pam Grier on Smallville and Cynthia Addai- Robinson on Arrow. Viola DAvis has just been announced to play Waller in the up coming big budget “Suicide Squad”. None of the above actors, although good in their own right, has any physical resemblance to the true nature of the character.

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Remember that 46.67% of comic fans are women, and that the “sex appeal” of female characters is not as potent as one would think. Character development, in regards to the maximum potential a character such as Amanda Weller can uphold is the primary fascination to the readers. Sure, sex appeal is always a major part (seek the obsessive cosplay phenomenon), but Hollywood negates that weight is least of the fans worries in regards to manifesting a character to life. Who is to say that reducing ones weight is what is required to outshine such a phenomenal figure, and what does this say about ourselves in regards to internalizing complex characters such as Amanda Waller? After all, society is a myriad of diverse people, and if we cannot find a character we relate to based on our own characteristic traits, then who do we turn to? In a world where imagination is unlimited, why must Hollywood still limit its multitude of characterizing? If it is not broken, do not fix it I always say. Weight is a futile existence, and if Amanda Waller was a real person with the skills of a doctor, military strategist, and leads special groups as a U.S. Agent, I’d marry her on the spot. So by all means, let Amanda Waller’s weight rain supreme, because being heavy or not is an old fashioned debate that Hollywood has not broken out of yet in this life time.

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