ST For the female fans, how much does Rey being the hero effect(affect?) your enjoyment of TFA?

Do you feel a significant jump in investment, or is there no real change? My niece is 7 and loves TCW and Rebels, but hasn't seen the OT yet. I am weighing the pros and cons of introducing her to the series with Ep. 4 or 7. On one side the OT is a classic, but on the other I wonder if a strong, and balanced, female lead will help her invest more into the story.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

We all female fans are a very diverse bunch and as such, like you males, we like different things. I don’t know what your niece looks up to or what type of characters she wants to see on the screen. My favorite character in SW has always been Darth Vader since I was a little girl. I was always more invested on the villains than on the heroes, so one of the things that I was really looking forward to in this movie was Captain Phasma – it turned out to be my greatest disappointment.

That being said, regarding Rey: her character affected my enjoyment of the movie only in the third act. I was enjoying her character until her ass-pulled abilities started getting over the top and she made the villain somewhat ineffective for me.

But since there is such a huge media hype about Strong Female Characters nowadays, allow me to offer my thoughts on what I think about it in the context of SW, as a fellow fan:

The concept of a Strong Female Character currently seems to be reduced to any female heroine with numerous abilities at the expense of a realistically flawed personality and logic. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having characters like this to overcompensate for the overwhelming amount of male protagonists in movies that are exactly like this. But, as someone who never liked Gary Stus, who never enjoyed Supermans or Starkillers; having female versions of them still wouldn't make any story better for me just because I’m a female. The idea that somehow I need an unrealistically perfect female heroine that might as well be an archetype for the geek man’s fantasy girlfriend to feel that my gender is being well represented in the saga is patronizing to say the least.

I don’t need characters like Rey. You know what I would love to see in the new Disney-owned SW saga however? Actually diverse female additions as important SW characters instead of the few female ones we are getting being reduced to either Perfect Badass Chick or Sexy Villain Chick.

Like, I don’t know, a female main villain who is disfigured? I would LOVE that. A female Han Solo who is as much as a selfish jerk as he was in the beginning, and grows a heart of gold? A female Luke, one who whines and fails and needs constant saving, but goes through amazing character development? A female Finn or Zeb, for comic relief? Or hey, what about a female Anakin/Kylo Ren who starts good and goes to the darkside? See, we don’t have this. Because major female characters in SW are still very, very limited in terms of characterization and flaws they are allowed to have. The best thing we got since the awesomely bitchy Princess Leia, is Ahsoka in The Clone Wars. And even then, the writers were very tamed in giving her much flaws (or giving her some properly written character development, instead of just “hey, here is 14-year old Ahsoka, sometimes a bit immature and bratty, sometimes wiser than Jedi Masters” -> time skip -> “here she is now, mature, curvy, absolutely great Jedi, badass!” But well, at least they tried, and I’m glad a character like her was created.)

But Ahsoka was really the last good surprise we had. Rebels has two main female characters, both of them falling under the Perfect Badass Chick category, who apparently don’t need any character development. In contrast, the male cast is allowed to be flawed and diverse.

And now the Force Awakens. We had Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren and Han Solo as the main leads (I’m not even counting Poe because he barely appeared). The males ones were flawed, limited abilities, not gorgeous looking, very relatable. The female one was… yeah, you get my point.

But anyway, that is just my personal opinion. Your niece might love Rey. Or she might be more like me and find Vader more intriguing. There's no way to predict her tastes. Just show her all the movies and allow her to enjoy them by herself

 

I say it's about time! I was a kid when ANH came out, and remember playing with another girl and we wanted to play Star Wars and had a fight because of course we both wanted to be Princess Leia, and there was NO OTHER girl for us to play. Other than Aunt Beru, there is no other female in the whole movie. I recently saw a video that gave a composite of every line spoken by a woman other than Princess Leia in the entire OT, and the video was only 90 seconds long. That's the extent of spoken dialogue by women (other than Leia) over the course of THREE movies. The PT had more female roles, yes, but other than Padme, (and for a little bit, Shmi) there were still no major speaking parts for women. Padme's handmaidens almost never spoke, and, there were no great role models in the PT for women to follow. You could make the case for Padme, but she started off strong and then fizzled out, as far as I'm concerned. She might have been a queen and senator, but we almost never got to see her DOING anything of any importance for her people, and then of course, she marries Anakin, and does nothing but brood for the whole third movie and then dies of a broken heart. Sorry, if I was a kid, I wouldn't rush to want to role play that at all. Now we have Rey, who starts off as an everygirl and then does amazing things in the movies. I really enjoyed that she was the main protagonist and a girl who could handle herself with ease and some self-assurance. This is a character I could point out to my daughter as a role model. (Sadly, my main gripe with her is that she's a little too good, a bit of a Mary Sue: handles the Millennium Falcon with ease, can fix things, speak Wookiee AND speak droid-talk, and practically out-mans Kylo Ren the first time she wields the lightsaber, and on top of that, maintains her sunny, can-do personality in the face of all adversity...I know they wanted to show how amazing she was, but I would like to see her have some character flaws to balance out the amazing, and that was one thing they didn't give us) Still, finally having a Star Wars movie that passes the Bechdel test (even if just barely) is a nice change of pace, IMO, and having a strong female role model to lead the story is hopefully a sign of things to come. It also gratifies me that the audience, which I understand was 58% male, seemed pretty well satisfied with this movie, female protagonist and all. I hope that the next two movies keep Rey strong and showcase some more women, good and bad, and of different colors and shapes.

 

Thanks for replying, I really appreciate the perspective. I never really noticed that Rey fit into the perfect category, I just viewed her as the ideal character for my niece to emulate. The perfect role model, much as I would view Finn or Poe for my nephew. I can see where you are coming from though, Rey certainly might not appeal to everyone.



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This statement can actually be used for any "group" perceived as liking a movie just because a certain demographic is seemingly represented.

 

It is SO important.

As a kid, when we played Star Wars in the backyard, my best friend always got to be Leia, so I had to make up a character because I wasn't about to be Mon Mothma.

That being said, I'm going to be honest here. I loved The Phantom Menace as a kid and have continued to defend it because it's the only prequel that makes Padme a person, not a love interest. As a seventh grader sitting in the audience, Padme meant everything to me.

I'm 29 now, but Rey has reignited that excitement for me mostly on behalf of all the girls in the audience. When I walked out of the theatre on Thursday night, I told people TFA was everything I ever wanted in a Star Wars movie. That's mostly due to Rey.

 

Oh, oops. In answer to your question, ThorOdinson, introduce your niece to 4, first. Even if Rey is the main protagonist of the movie, Carrie Fisher can certainly hold her own against anyone. But starting with 4 she can watch in some sort of chronological order. Besides, ANH is where the fun begins.

 

IMMENSELY.

I've been waiting my entire life to see a female protagonist to pick up a damn lightsaber. I've been waiting my entire life to watch a Star Wars movie and think "if I was in this universe I could be Luke...and not a ~female Luke~ or a ~female Jedi~"...just a Jedi. Just the hero. not a "girl hero".

I honestly started to cry when the lightsaber flew into her hands. it was like FINALLY. Lets be real, these movies are a damn sausage fest and a half. watching the prequels and seeing all these random BACKGROUND WOMEN have lightsabers and basically just hold them like props was so frustrating. SO FRUSTRATING. And then in Episode 3 when Padme is relegated to being the barefoot and pregnant trope...I wanted to scream.

this movie is everything.

 

That is exactly what I was hoping to hear. I tried to show her the PT, think it's flashiness would appeal more to her age group than the OT, but outside of padme she really didn't like it. Not to say she only likes movies with female leads, she just didn't care for TPM over all. I was really hoping TFA could offer her both a good movie and a Female role model/heroine

 

There's two movies to come, there's plenty of time to give Rey flaws, issues or challenges to overcome. I believe that the more variety, the better, and I certainly enjoy complex and tridimensional female characters, but as a member of the demographic in question, we needed to see at least one female character that fell into the classic archaetype, even more so when this saga is mainly idealist and aspirational in its concept. It didn't change my liking of the movie at all, but it was a nice surprise and I bet girls these days, like boys in the late 70s, have found a great character to engage with.

 

I agree! I just worry about souring her on them by introducing them to her to early, they don't seem dated to me, but I'm not a 7 year old haha. I do want her to understand the story without me having to give her the cliff notes version.

 

(double post)

 

My daughter is 14 and loved it. It has become one of her fave movies. If there were no strong female characters, she never would have asked to see it. She is going to go see it again in a couple of days by herself.

 

At last, finally, a leading female talking and using a saber in a fight. Its just nice to be able to see it on screen. Am 32 we played star wars in the playground, I was always the female that needed saving. I would have boys running up to me yucky kisses, it was not a pleasant experience. I actually cried, I watched the teasers back to myself, I was welling up. A sad and happy feeling it was, I felt sad as I did not have Rey to look up too as child but happy that what I wanted is now available to a new generation. Am not buying the crap of we have plenty of leading ladies. This is star wars for christ sake, its not a special all boys club where only boys are interested and this demographic are the only ones catered for. KK is a blessing, she does not take **** from anyone, especially not from those dingbats posting stupid videos saying women don't need a star wars female protagonist to look up to. Am actually quite sore about that but when I'm upset I just think about Rey lighting up the sabre and think it as a finger up to all the naysayers. Am so happy girls have Daisy / Rey too look up to they are both special people.

 

Awesome quote. My only "difference" is that Star Wars tends to "label" most characters, regardless of gender, so in that sense, I'm a bit less perturbed in this movie. (However, my initial complain about Ahsoka in TCW - well, that's another forum).

As an older female, my female heroes were sidekicks, always. Dale Evans to Roy Rogers, etc. Leia was a breath of fresh air, even if roundly derided as a ***** at the time. I'm used to identifying with the hero, male or female, because I grew up with little choice.

I do believe it's important to have both heroes and villains in all stripes - gender, race, looks, whatever. It's even better if our heroes and villains are people first, roles second. (Exception: ANH, at least, was meant to be archetypes and I think that's fine when that is the intention).

Do I identify with Rey the most? Honestly, I'm not sure if I "identify" with any at this point in my life. I like Rey, I like Finn. Even though I'm not a huge Han fan (yes, I do like him, I just liked Luke more), I loved him in this film.

But to the youngest fans, below a certain age, boys will think girls are "icky" and girls will think the same of boys. They might "need" gender role models, at least, so it's good they have choices, be it their gender or not.

 

As a bloke, my opinion may not be called for in this thread, but I just wanted to say that I 100% agree with this sentiment as I have felt exactly the same way over the years; and I welled up too when she called the lightsabre into her hand. FINALLY indeed!

 

Sorry, I realize this thread is to give space to female fans' thoughts on Rey, but I do want to add this, as it seems we're going to have the "Mary Sue" conversation here:

I think people who believe Rey is flawless might've missed the look of dark side fury on her face just before the earthquake saved KR's ass from being whooped, but good.

I don't think she's flawless, by any stretch. There's some deep wounding in that character that we've only caught a glimpse of so far.

I think it will turn out there's a good in-universe explanation for the rapidity of the growth in her force powers. Her skill with mechanical things makes sense given her background. The only thing that's a little off to me are where she got her piloting abilities, and why she wasn't able to make a living with them if she was as good as it clearly seems she is.

 

Esperanza_Nueva mentions that TPM where Padme is presented as a person and I have to agree, but then you have just remind me of the complete character assassination that Padme suffered throughout the prequels. Maybe this is off topic for this thread, but can we talk about the nonsense that is having her daying just because she is sad? In what world? The droids said that her constants were OK, however she didn't want to live anymore. I'd rather have her die because Anakin left her severely wounded, which would have made more sense for his character's fall to the dark side than this.

 

People perceiving her as a Mary Sue doesn't have anything to do with the character design itself but the exposition screentime given to said character, which in Rey's case is close to zero. I think JJ and others were too tight on keeping some details out the final version when Rey's much needed exposition is featured in the novel. Her familiarity with spaceships, for example, is explained in the book. Girl has some chops on that because she has practised. The rest as we know it, it's the Force's work

 

I dont get the Mary Sue gripe...she isnt flawless. She rejected Maz's advice. She accidentally released the tentacle monsters lol. She was an okay scavenger, she was just getting by.

I find the Mary Sue gripe is usually griped about by neck beards who only barely tolerate a female hero, so instead say that Disney/JJ is "pandering" by not only making it a female hero but making her a Mary Sue. honestly, I find it a bit misogynistic, this complaint. Rey has flaws - she won't accept a job she actually really wants and that will offer her adventure and a way off Jakku because she cant LET GO of her past. She runs away from her destiny at Maz's castle. She has baggage.

 

Padame dying of a broken heart was a real but pain. Sobbing over a loony guy like Annakin WTF? Pathetic she was nothing more than a plot device in ROtS, to plop out two screaming brats. Such a waste of a character

 

Again sorry for hi-jacking a thread that is not aimed at me, but I just had to say yes absolutely: Rey is a deeply flawed character. She has suffered past trauma and memory loss; is struggling with her own identity; had significant intimacy issues until she learned to trust Finn; and has quite the temper, which seems to be something of a Skywalker trait...

The clue as to why she is suddenly powerful is in the title of the movie: the Force awakens in Rey. She is literally transformed. This is very different from what happened to Luke.

 

blokes are welcome! I mean, the Rey storyline and character will always mean more to female fans, but men are allowed to feel happiness about it, absolutely!

 

I didn't mean to sound like only women should comment, most of us have wives/daughters/gf's who we took to the movies. Anecdotes about their experience are great as well.

 

also, wtf at her children not being a reason to live? Im not a mother and I dont even WANT kids, but as a human being I found that weak and ridiculous. total waste of a character.