ST If there's a female lead... is Disney going after the Hunger Games money/audience?

Dra---, don't be ridiculous.

Someone has to wear the gold bikinis.

 

Yeah this is true. I suppose my opinion on this is one-sided. My bad

 

Threads like this always feel covered in 'ism.

 

That's why I always carry a moist towelette.

 

With JJ involved, I expect any female character (that is fit) will be in her underwear at least once and get involved in a love triangle.

 

So sick of love triangles. And scantily clad women while all the men are fully clothed.

 

And I also expect a strong female character from him too: Felicity, Alias, Fringe, etc.

 

In my mind's eye, you wandered off to a quiet place to contemplate and reassess your ideas about gender roles in pop culture, while Smashing Pumpkins "1979" plays softly in the background. But we all find comfort in happy illusions.

 

I, on the contrary, am concerned that they might make the lead male. I mean, I suppose it's ok if it's for story purposes--then I'm all supportive of a male being the main character of the new lead. But if it's an attempt to cash-in on trends like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or Knight Rider, then I feel this is a bad sign of the directions and motives guiding the ST.

 

Female protagonist is fine, as long as it's not a pure retread of what we saw with Anakin and Luke. The mythological underpinnings need to be quite different. Personally, the more and more I think about it, Luke should still technically be the main character and protagonist of the ST. We've seen the rise of young heroes, but have we ever seen the swan song of an old hero? That's something new to SW (Anakin only partially fits that archetype). I think Homer would stick with Luke's character to the end if he were writing this.

 

Old Ben Kenobi counts, right?

 

If science fiction and fantasy isn't the place to challenge societal and cultural norms, I don't know what is.

 

I want a hot female protagonist, and lots of gratuitous body close ups (in tight outfits like seven of nine, or bikinis).

 

Can we, at the very least, wait for principals to be cast before pontificating on who the main, support, villain, ancillary, love interest, bartending, and janitorial characters are? Seems it would save a whole lot of pointless discussion.....

We don't even have a basic plot synopsis...

 

"I want a hot male protagonist, and lots of gratuitous body close ups (in tight outfits like Seven of Nine, or bikinis)."




Both sound silly, and not very Star Wars-like to me.

 

NO!

 

We have to have something to discuss until we get some casting information!

 

Fine, but you guys are going to be feel like idiots when the main character is a talking dog...

 

And since it's 2013, that topic is naturally "how all women are body snatcher aliens who are trying to take away This Man's Geek Culture, and replace it with Welcome to Night Vale fan-fic and Jensen Ackles reaction gifs."

 

No, I'm actually referring to a main character. Luke would be ideal if they wanted to explore this route.

 

Has anyone seen Chloë Sevigny in Hit and Miss? Probably the sexiest transgender character I've seen.

 

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm personally pulling for Luke's son to be the protagonist. I say this not because I feel that this fact colors my view on the topic, but just to put it out there.

I do worry that any potential decision to feature a female protagonist could be done for commercial interests, as opposed to the needs of the story. Maybe this is born of the big corporate changeover, but I do know that this worry is not exclusive to just the topic of a female protagonist. Its a general sort of uncertainty and unfamiliarity with Disney's motivations and designs for working with the Star Wars brand. I can say that this worry really took root when I read an unsubstantiated quote which said something to the effect of "we [Disney] want to elicit the girls market, because we know the boys will be there no matter what."

While I find this notion quite worrisome, the fact of the matter is that this sounds like such a ridiculous attitude that I hesitate to give it any real credence. It's entirely insulting to the SW audience. First, to view a female lead as strictly a marketing gimmick, and second, to just assume that the boys will still come, no matter what is done with the franchise (which is a very dangerous attitude to have).



I would ask the OP, though, why it is you make it sound like a sure thing that there will even be a female protagonist? I mean, "Going with a female lead"? Unless I missed some big announcement earlier today, we have literally been given zero information about who will fill the role from anyone attached to the project, be it Disney, Lucasfilm, Abrams, Arndt or Lucas.

In fact, other than the quote I paraphrased above, the only thing we ever heard about a "female lead" was courtesy of the rumor that Matthew Vaughn had an idea for Episode VII to have a female protagonist, which he though Chloe Moretz would be good for.

We have never heard from anyone that the story Disney/Lucasfilm are moving forward with has a female protagonist. Or a male one. Or a human or even alien one.

One thing we do know is that Disney has stated to their stockholders that they have acquired Star Wars with the intent of specifically targeting and strengthening their place in the boys market. Take that for what it's worth. This may point towards a male protagonist, or it may not.

We just don't have any idea, whatsoever, at this point, and it would probably be wise to keep this in mind before people get attached to an idea which may or may not come to fruition, only to potentially find themselves disappointed with the eventual outcome, rather than just watching the film based upon its own merits.

 

I'm still stuck on mid-20's not being considered young.

Not sure anything has made me feel that old in a long time...

As for the topic, I think it's high time Star Wars had a few more female main characters, personally.

 

I don't really understand the concern. This is a big Hollywood production, and marketing is always a huge aspect of planning the film. Why does this seem to be of extra concern when the issue is related to gender? Do people believe Arndt can't write a strong female protagonist? Do people think writing a female protagonist for Star Wars is a more difficult task than a male character?