She’s Got a Blaster: Feminism Among the Star Wars
Blaster fire has a funny effect on the psyche.
Each red streak a potential mortal blow in a rescue attempt and every second allows for more and more Storm Troopers to arrive.
Taking Luke’s gun, Leia blasts open an escape route to somewhere, nay, anywhere better, and shouts “Well somebody has to save our skins,” before leading Luke, Han and Chewbacca away from certain death.
In one simple scene, director George Lucas transforms Leia from a simple damsel-in-distress archetype into a feminist power icon.
The scene was one of many to indicate the cultural shift of the late 1960’s as Dean Conrad notes in his article “Femmes futures: One hundred years of female representation in SF cinema”:
“Star Wars pushed [science fiction] cinema towards family viewing at a time when feminist debates were filtering through to male filmmakers. As a result, Princess Leia, despite being drawn from fairy tale traditions, is also a feisty, no-nonsense, guntoting heroine”
Truly, Leia was the co-optation of fist-wave feminism in popular culture — Carrie Fisher portrays a central leader to the Rebellion against the patriarchal Galactic Empire of Darth Vader and created a culture of female icons of rebellion within the Star Wars universe.
Two decades later, audiences met the elected Queen (and later Senator) Amidala of the planet Naboo. As Cole Bowan notes in “Pregnant Padme and Slave Leia: Star Wars’ Female Role Models”:
“Like Leia, [Queen Amidala] is a key figure in the action of the prequel trilogy. From the very beginning, she’s shown to be quick-witted and resilient. In order to save her people, she fights bravely against the Trade Federation. During the Clone Wars, it’s her political and military savvy that gives the good guys the edge they desperately needed”
Despite her role as love interest for Anakin Skywalker, she also takes an active role in attempting to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi from the clutches of the Trade Federation and takes the initiative in the coliseum despite colossal odds against her survival.
However, with the close of the prequel trilogy, George Lucas stated there would be no Episode VII and was ready to move on to other projects. It seemed the Star Wars cinema experience was no more.
Until Disney purchased Lucasfilm for a reported $4 billion.
By December 2015, audiences eagerly expected a continued legacy of single biome planets and high fantasy space opera action incorporating a multitude of new and old faces and species with Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
However, the feminist legacy was also preserved in the newest addition to the core series of the Star Wars franchise, with the introduction of Rey.
Portayed by Daisy Ridley, Rey is a woman of action, ready to join a cause bigger than her. A simple premise, really — it’s the same archetype as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. However, in commanding the Millenium Falcon while firefighting two Tie-Fighters of the First Order, the film’s fanatical Galactic Empire remnant, Rey proves herself a natural leader and quick thinker.
Speaking on Rey’s power as a character, Daisy Ridley commented:
“She will have some impact in a girl power-y way. She’s brave and she’s vulnerable and she’s so nuanced… She doesn’t have to be one thing to embody a woman in a film. It just so happens she’s a woman but she transcends gender. She’s going to speak to men and women.”
With Rey, Star Wars continued its tradition as a wellspring of female empowerment since its inception, while writing characters to whom anyone can relate.
And at this year’s Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Rian Johnson, director of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, announced the intention to continue this legacy with the introduction of Rose, a maintenance worker of the Resistance who steps up in the struggle against the resurgent First Order.
For 40 years of storytelling and galaxy-building, the creative minds behind Star Wars have commited to a galaxy filled with strong female characters, no matter how far away.
