Saga Male/Female ratio in Star Wars

Is it just me, or is there a lot more men in Star Wars than women? I suspect a lot of single men, given this.

 

It's a war story it makes sense the focus would be men.

 

I don't know, Battlestar Galactica is a war story but doesn't seem so male focused.

 

It's also more modern.

 

So you're saying George Lucas is sexist?

 

Since we don't know how many jawas and sand people are male or female this viewpoint is moot.

 

Yeah, the male-to-female ratio is heavily skewed, but it was the 1970s, so let's give credit where credit is due. Sure, we only had one main female, but she was ahead of her time for the genre. She wasn't just some sniveling, helpless, arm candy for the heroes. She had personality, strength, and was able to hold her own in a blaster fight (actually, I think she was one of the best shots in the films!). So, no. I don't think Lucas was sexist at all. I applaud him.

But yeah, now it's time to take what he started in 1977 and expand on it in the new trilogy. Which, looking at the additional females in the cast, looks like they have every intention of doing.

 

And now that I think about it, the original Emperor that appeared in the OOT-version of ESB was actually a woman in makeup. Sure, she was *playing* a dude, but still, that's pretty interesting, I think.

 

Girls have cooties.

 

It has nothing to do with the 1970s. The OT only has one female protagonist. The PT only has one female protagonist. The Lord of the Rings has no female protagonists. Pirates of the Caribbean has one female protagonist. Harry Potter has one female protagonist. Lost had one female protagonist. And on and on it goes....

 

It has nothing to do with the 1970s. The OT only has one female protagonist. The PT only has one female protagonist. The Lord of the Rings has no female protagonists. Pirates of the Caribbean has one female protagonist. Harry Potter has one female protagonist. Lost had one female protagonist. And on and on it goes....

 

Maybe males generally find it harder to write females so if it's a male writing the story then the characters will default to male unless a female is required. Just a thought.

 

It absolutely has something to do with the 1970s. First there was Leia, then came Ripley, Sarah Conner, those stupid tomb raider movies, Katniss Everdeen…and others in-between Not saying there isn't a far way to go, but it's definitely a changing landscape now, changing from what it was back then. Leia was like a first crucial step.

 

Or it's just sexism
That's one of the few things I can honestly say I dislike about SW. It's great that they didn't make Padme and Leia some helpless damsels in distress rather than capable in battle, but the fact that there are so few females with a large role is disappointing. Even fewer with dialogue even. Even the background areas are lacking in females characters
Which females had lines in the OT? Leia and Mon Mothma.... I can't think of any others
The PT? Padme, Shmi, the queen from AOTC.... uh.... is that it? Lol

 

Yanksfan has it correct, though, that one can make the argument that "Leia started the ball rolling" towards more inclusion of females. Newer fans won't remember there was a lot of folks who hated Leia as a character: she wasn't nice enough to her rescuers (didn't defer), she wasn't real (no female would get involved in her own rescue), etc. There was a lot of venom, granted, it may have been a minority of folks, but it was a loud minority.

When GL put in some female background Jedi, there were threads that can be found on this very board that decried female Jedi - they aren't "strong enough" to be Jedi, it's not an appropriate role for females, how "male Jedi will be more concerned with protecting female Jedi and will get themselves hurt therefore."

There's this "attitude" that females don't bring in viewership that goes back years. A woman broadcaster: no way, a female's voice is too high pitched and any news show that has a female anchor will sink in the ratings. (I was around in those days: I remember all this).

Movies that star females: "chick flicks" that males will hate. A man wants to identify with other men, not some "chick."

Yes, times are a'changing, but we've still got a ways to go. Unfortunately, movies are still hung up on bringing in "the audience" and will tend to play it safe, especially if it's big budget. Safe usually means younger male oriented.

 

well personally i don't care if the lead character is a female as long as it's an interesting character. ripley, sarah connor and hermione are good examples of this. unfortunately they keep making terrible movies with female main characters like twilight, hunger games, divergent, etc. women deserve better movies than that.

 

i haven't read the books but the movies are pretty bad.

 

'Luke' was originally going to be female wasn't he? If you know what I mean...

 

Greedo was played by both a male and female actor under that costume.

 

Personally, I haven't seen Alien, Hunger Games, etc. so I can't speak to those movies. And Twilight - no way, doesn't sound remotely interesting. But I guess (rightly? wrongly?) those are targeted at women and expect to pull in the female audience?

GL had good intentions, but after initial strong female roles, the women somewhat tend to devolve (after scene cutting, anyway) into male adjuncts - although I grant you that was probably not his intention, and for sure, Padme "had to" mother Luke and Leia. They still had roles to play ( !) but the roles became essentially somewhat neutered because now they were in a relationship (which is why I tend to hope Daisy doesn't become "the female love interest" for one of our male heroes in Ep VII - if that's her main purpose over the next 3 movies I'll be very disappointed).

Even with strong female villains (looking at you, Ventress), the character is still to some degree sexualized: I doubt that's to please female fans, because "we all know" Star Wars largest audience is younger males. (Not so sure that's accurate, accurate, really.)

Heck, one reason Disney is reported to have wanted Star Wars is they want to pull in "young(er) male audience" - which I'm crossing my fingers doesn't mean whatever the opposite of "chick flick" is. Audience-tailored movies are too formulaic, although of course there's nothing wrong with keeping your audience in mind.

Interesting true story, as well: I was a voracious reader as a child and I was embarrassed to check out "The Boy's Sherlock Holmes" in grade school. I wondered if the library would even loan the book to me since it was not "intended" for females such as myself (no problem, btw).

If a story is engaging with engaging characters...it should work for all audiences.

 

"Hunger Games" is awesome. Both the books *and* the movies. As a little girl, I would've gone ape-**** over Katniss. For real. Personally, I think she's a good female character.