Saga Luke and Leia's mother in the Classic Trilogy

Let's not forget the way that the "I'm Darth Vader's Daughter!!!" aspect of Leia's character was handled* in ROTJ.

*that is, that aspect is barely even there on-screen

(nods to drg4)....

 

I believe Leia's arrogant personality throughout all 3 films portray that she is Darth Vader's daughter very well.
I've always seen Anakin in Leia, and Padme in Luke. Of course, it is easier to notice this watching the films chronologically.

 

A case could be made that this is due to being raised by the ruler of a planet, rather than a couple of farmers.

Still, it's possible that some of this comes from Anakin.

 

I guess I take a more simple view. I do not think that Lucas really had a clear backstory in place for their mother when he filmed ROTJ. So, he knew he had to address it, but left it vague. Had he known everything about Padme in 1983, then he would have had Yoda or Obi-Wan reveal it to Luke.

 

The uh, unfortunate symbolism of the sarlacc pit was first pointed out to me in an essay by Peter Biskind that was included in a book called "Seeing Through Movies." I had one of the best laughs of my life when I read that. And I honestly think it's one of the reasons Lucas changed the appearance of the sarlacc in the special editions.

As for the rest of your post, yes and yes. Lucas has always had a lot of trouble writing for women characters.

 

How did this get into making uber long posts about women from the past forty years? The reason Padme is not really mentioned much in the OT mainly has to deal with the fact that the PT was not very developed yet at that point. It was mainly nothing more than a vague backstory meant to further develop the OT. I seriously doubt Leia's and Luke's mother had a name yet at that point. Probably no plans of her being a queen or a senator. Had no idea what planet she was from. Probably the only development Luke and Leia's mother had back in 1983 was that she was Luke and Leia's mother and she was Anakin Skywalker's wife.

 

And dead.

I think this thread has run its course.