It’s a Trap: Why Loving ‘Star Wars’ as a Woman Is Endlessly Exhausting
‘The Mandalorian’ is another reminder that something vital is missing from a galaxy far, far away
All you ever want is for Star Wars to be good.
That’s it. That’s all you want. You want to watch great stories taking place in a galaxy far, far away, a galaxy which has felt like home to you since you were old enough to process stories. Like so many, you came to Star Wars as a child, and it still makes you feel that way, every time you hear the music or see an X-wing fighter. Your brain is filled with the names of fictional planets and characters and species. You know when to look for Willrow Hood in Empire Strikes Back. You took a motherfucking class on George Lucas in college, for which you read Joseph Campbell, and learned about Ray Harryhausen, and watched Kurosawa, and wrote a paper on the thematic connections between American Graffiti and A New Hope. You nearly started crying when you walked around Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, and definitely shed a tear while rushing through the Millennium Falcon there.
Because Star Wars is a vast media universe, you have your gaps. You’ve only read a few of the novels, haven’t finished watching all of the CGI Clone Wars series, know about the Knights of the Old Republic…
