moment – as though playing upon the idea that the audience might have assumed she is simply some kind of ‘damsel in distress.’ 

Likewise, the character of Mera undergoes several ‘Gotcha!’ scenes. There is the reveal, when she saves Thomas Curry, that she not just an emissary of Atlantis, but also a powerful being in her own right. There is the reveal that she is herself subject to the prospect of an arranged marriage, and is betrothed to Orm. Then, there is the reveal that she is also capable of independent thought. 

On the one hand, these story elements combine to create the idea that a woman can be personally powerful, and still subject to oppression – and this is an important thing to see depicted so clearly on the big screen, in a big budget, high profi...

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