Discussion The Heroine of the Sequel Trilogy

Just because it's leather doesn't mean it's a bondage outfit. It reminds me of Anakin's costume in Ep III.

 

Kerra Holt would be a good symbol of what a Jedi heroine should be:



Smart, strong, good-looking, funny, and not afraid to get her hands dirty to defeat evil.

 

Now I will never not notice this. Thanks a lot.

 

While generally a fan of all things Old Republic, I really couldn't get into that comic.
It was really kind of "Meh" experience.

 

I keep using the name "Skippy Skywalker" as a placeholder in my head for the main character. I really, really hope they use that name.

 

I'm going to have to play the mythology card. Mythology is also strongly male. Joseph campbell talks about the hero as a male and mentions the meeting with the goddess. There are a few female protagonists. Now look at modern film. We have Mulan. No romance. The hunger games was good. I did not like it as much as anything with a male lead. Many people debate THG I don't know how gender difference in THG's fan base. Harry Potter has predominantly female fans, even though there is a male protagonist. It is possible to not isolate SW's male fan base. The feminine character is supposed to bring some type of balance. In the original plans, luke's sister (not Leia) was supposed to do that in the ST. I would like to see a male and female, both equally protagonists who use gender to bring balance to the Force and the newly created Jedi Order.

 

How would they "use gender" to bring balance to the Force?

In fact, I would like the character to be first and foremost a good character.
I am aware that when someone is creating a work in such a widely spread medium pretty much every choice will be analysed, re-analysed, over-analysed, interpreted, re-interpreted, criticised, praised and all sorts of labels would be attached to all the decisions made. I am aware that in many cases and in many works of various arts this is perfectly legitimate and is in fact the author's intention, to call attention to certain relevant issues - be they dealing with gender, race, religion, sexuality, age, good, evil, etc.
I am also painfully aware that in this day and age people tend to overanalyse and attach certain ideas that were never there in the first place. This, I also understand but I do not like that trend.
Why can't a female character be just that - a good character that happens to be female? No statement, no feminism, no objectification of women, no treating her as a sexual object, no hailing her as a fighter for gender equality, none of that. It's just a good character. And she was born a girl. You know, like it happens in real life, without anyone wanting to make a statement - they just give birth to a girl. Or a boy.

I know that this is mostly wishful thinking on my part.
I know that we, as a species, are still too far away from such a degree of acceptance - real acceptance, mind you, not this forced "political correctness" bull**** - that these sorts of choices are bound to be seen as some sort of "special gesture" by a considerable majority of people.

 

What? A pregnant women is not going to be running around doing overly athletic things unless she is a complete idiot or trying to induce a miscarriage.

Btw, it wasn't the problem that Padme was pregnant. He just didn't know how to make her more relevant to the story. Largely because he wrote himself into a corner with the other characters.

I said in previous thread(I don't know where), it would have far more interesting if the main protagonist in episode 3 was Padme. It would have given a very interesting narrative perspective. But whatever...

 

Are you? Its common sense. Thats why women in the military have to take leave if they are going to have children. Women, after a certain trimester have to completely stop large amounts of physical activity. Its dangerous to both mother and child.

 

Doing Yoga and aerobics qualifies as light physical activity. Running around shooting weapons, and doing dangerous athletic stunts would constitute "strenuous" physical activity.

 

here: http://mcdonald.narmc.amedd.army.mil/mtfdocs/clinics/PublicHealth/AR4050129May07.pdf

Women are non-deployable when they are considered pregnant. They can not be sent to a combat zone. They may be allowed to reclassify into a clerical position up until a certain trimester where they have to take leave.

 

I don't know jumping out of moving vehicles, falling/tumbling in various scenes. Ya know athletic action squences.

Where did I say pregnant women are weaklings? That is your perception not mine. Just because she isn't beating the crap out of somebody doesn't mean I think she is weak.

My mother had a complicated difficult birth with me. Every time she talks about it I'm amazed. Total bravery. But that doesn't mean I think she is going to be running around kneeing people in the balls when she is pregnant.

 

I guess I'm not understanding why if a pregnant women doesn't participate physical activity makes her weak. She has a TON of responsibility. I give her a pass..

It never entered my mind that Padme was weak. She didn't have much to do. Thats largely because Lucas wrote himself into a corner and needed to cover way more material than he should have.

 

1st point, I totally agree on. Padme was awful, awful, awful-awful-awful in ROTS. Awful. Did I mention awful?

As to pregnant Mara: I've read that scene three, four times in the past and I'm 100% sure that it was a sarcastic joke. She wasn't even being half-serious. I also take it as a kind of flirty statement, i.e. "try it again."

The third I also agree with. In the Republic Commando series, Etain does this in True Colors, and despite the fact that many consider her to be an awful, dumb-blonde, overly eager character, this was a major defining moment for her, and I really loved it. Going out in naught but Jedi robes and two lightsabers with a pregnant child to protect? Yes. Another reason I like her, kind of unrelated, was this line: "I have nothing else I can give you. I can't pay you, I can't promote you, I can't give you a few days' R and R, and I can't even decorate you for valor. I'm truly sorry that I can't. And I'm sorry that you're being used like this and I wish I could put an end to it and change your lives for the better. But I can't. All I can do is ask your forgiveness." But again, that was unrelated and I am just basically agreeing with you on the fact that a pregnant girl can fight just as well if she's careful (although Etain did walk into a landmine, and thus in the eyes of many she once again slides into idiocy; me, I see it as something that could happen to anybody).

 

I dont like where this thread is heading. Lets get back onto the topic of the heroine instead of complaining about pregnant women and their physical activity during pregnancy.
Here's a stupid conversation starter: Should she have a love interest and if she does...should they introduce him *or her if they're into that kinda stuff* in the first movie or have it be one of those "Long shipping crazes" where we dont know who the final love interest is so we all go form "Teams" to decide who we think should end up together (you know the stuff that my Tumblr girls and I do all the time).

 

As I said, I think your going to get co-leads a male/female. I think the primary female protagonist is going to be the one help carry the action narrative(she doesn't get a love interest). The other, secondary female, is probably a love interest for the primary male protagonist.

 

I'd really like to see a woman as the protagonist, but I'm not holding out too many hopes that it would be something convention shattering.

Female action characters aren't exactly new, but I think there's always a difference between how men and women are handled in those roles. A lot of the time female characters end up having to "justify" why they're an action hero in a way that the dude isn't.

AKA, obligatory scene in which they're proven to be vulnerable in some gendered way, or they need to be ultra falsely bad tempered so we don't notice that the character doesn't do a lot. So I got a lot of reservations seeing how Star Wars is neck deep in mainstream attitudes and the hypothetical female protag's character would still be neck deep in justifications and gender essentialism.

So I'd kinda prefer one of the characters to be a kind of old anti-hero Boba Fett-ish character. Like Linda Carter in Terminator 2 or Helen Mirren in RED. Someone who's actually allowed to be genuinely violent and shoot first and not criticized for it later.

And I can't stress enough the need for more characters like pre-Nu52 Amanda Waller.

 

Hmm-kay. How about Satele Shan?