Discussion The Heroine of the Sequel Trilogy

"Star Wars: Episode 9: Knocked Up Jedi" where the female protagonist who has grown into maturity over the course of 2 movies spends Episode 9 in the depths of her third trimester while also saving the galaxy!

 

Well Luke didn't need a love interest, so I don't think a Skywalker/Solo daughter will necessarily need one either. If they DO go that route, I would like to see the Heroine rescue her love interest at some point, similar to Leia rescuing Han in Return of the Jedi. Otherwise, I'd be happy with a chaste female lead as long as we get some form of romantic subplot. It's not Star Wars without romance - that as well as comedy, adventure, and action are the formula that makes a full-bodied epic film. Now Phantom Menace and A New Hope we less reliant on romance, so it may stand to reason that Episode VII will only introduce the sexual tension to be expanded upon in the following two films.

 

If we have a female heroine saving her love, a Sith Lord, throw in a Devaronian, or two....



...we're a few characters short of a full blown 'TWILIGHT' movie.

...or Lak Sivrak, the Wolfman.

 

Actually, the answer is YES. Toryn Farr, in Echo Base... "Stand by, ion control". Hasbro fans have been wanting a figure made of her for ages. Plenty of background females, too (Tonnika Sisters in the Cantina, plus one or two others in the Cantina; some women walking around Mos Eisley; a few women in Jabba's palace--one in a red suit, one in kind of a blue version of Leia's bikini, but with a full skirt or blue pantaloons, I forget which; probably some more in Echo Base wandering around; Rebel pilots in the Briefing Room scene in ROTJ, Cloud City people, etc). One of the A-wing pilots in ROTJ actually IS a woman, her one line, "Got it", is dubbed by a man, however. Wedge says something like "Red Three, Red Two, pull in" (or vice-versa on the numbers), and then it cuts to her & the man-voice says "Got it". The EU/Hasbro identifies him/her as Sila Kott, Red Two, but the hatch-marks on her helmet match the marks on Red Squadron's wings in ANH--Biggs' X-wing marks, specifically, which makes 'Red Three' seem the more logical choice... I suppose since she didn't have a ton of makeup on and didn't look particularly 'feminine'--and especially because it was such a brief scene--she got dubbed. Hell, for years I thought it was just Green Leader, Arvel Crynyd, in that shot, and that they figured nobody would notice him going by a Red Group designation, until someone pointed it out to me.

Also, in the original post.... don't put too much stock in the order of the Casting Call list. Schmoes-Know linked the casting call entry they found on an actual casting call website when this news first hit, and it featured the list in a DIFFERENT order; if memory serves, it listed the early-20s male first, then late-20s, then the good-humored teen girl, then the tough teen girl, then the 30-ish, 40-something, and 70-ish males. Only a few roles were described as "fit", the rest were NOT described as "apparently doesn't need to be fit". It's possible the teen girls were listed first and the whole thing was in age-order young to old, I'm not entirely certain and that listing's vanished from the Schmoes-Know page, and definitely the 'good humored' girl was first among the late-teens females, but the tough one wasn't described as "a second" or "other" female.

 

I hope we have a strong female lead role in the ST, I really do, we've had the boys' club for two trilogies, time to mix it up a little bit.

I mean come on if some authors and writers throughout the EU can create some strong female characters, why can't a AAA trilogy set in a multiple billion dollar franchise not do the same?

 

I have a feeling one of the late teen girls on that casting call might be the lead character. Poor girl's going to have the weight of the most rabid fan world on her shoulders.

 

She'll be anything but poor.

 

So, she isn't in the new Spider-Man Sequel any more. Shailene Woodley got my Thumbs up! She has this decent "Skywalkish" tone and could be a nice fit to Mark.

 

/\...I can picture her as a Skywalker-Solo. Mark and Hayden both had similar roles to her before their big break with The Wars. Plenty of talented acresses out there, of course - my hope is for the best woman for job, lead role or not.

 

Please, no gender essentialism in the ST. Gender is a construction; it doesn't inherently stand for anything. Just because mythology via Campbell may be historically male-centered does not mean that it should remain that way.

 

Dear Episode VII Casting Director:

Please look for a special chemistry between the cast. Not individual performers, necessarily. Like GL did for ANH.

 

Where did you get the idea that girls fight like that? It is my experience that they are just as aggressive and confrontational on the battlefield as guys. As a medieval re-enactor for more than ten years, I have been in many sword fights with girls, and none of them fought the way you describe. Many of them rely more on finesse and timing than brute strength, but not hateful and backstabbing.

 

No matter if she is the main character or just the lead female, the new heroine needs to be tough, funny and sexy, and in that order. Leia's greatness came from her toughness and her humor. Padme never had a chance to be funny at all, plus I just don't think Natalie Portman was properly invested into the character. She had the toughness and the sexiness, but she wasn't fun at all. Leia was hilarious without being stupid.

 

I wouldn't mind more than one female character (it was one of the reasons why I felt the Thrawn trilogy was so successful), but going half and half would be too much like the Twilight series. I'm sorry to say this, but let's not forget that Star Wars was made for boys.

 

But still, if they want to try and get girls, they should have a strong, dependable female character to look up to.

When I think of a female heroine or a fictional female role model, I think of one who can find the proper balance between acting like a girl and somebody who can look after herself and kick butt like no tomorrow. Yet, the female character shouldn't fall into the trap that many fictional franchises try to do with female leads: make her so god awesome that she might as well still be a guy, just with female parts.

For me, one of the best examples of a female heroine that's a role model for girls is Katara, from Avatar. She gets the right amount of balance between the young male and young female demographic by taking the best elements from both ends of the spectrum, yet still give her faults that the female demographic can sympathize with.

 

Thanks for the tacit "screw you" towards Toph, Lin Bei Fong (BAMF), or Korra for that matter, that's great.

Come to think of it Aang isn't exactly Captain Alpha Male Gender Essentialism Nonsense himself. What's with this double standard that says female characters need to channel mainstream notions of gender but the dudes don't? Better conform, ladies! That means you, Sarah Robles!

 

Of course it is. The merchandise alone says it all.

 

Don't get me wrong, Toph and Korra are all great too.

I'm just speaking from experience here and I don't pretend that I'm extremely well-versed in this type of stuff, but I think, as much as girls like action females, they don't want them to go too overboard.

I used to teach an elementary school class of 5th graders, and we shared a common likeness in Avatar. Once day during lunch I was sitting with some of my female students on who was there favorite between Katara and Toph. Most answered Katara. When I asked why it's because they like how she still acts feminine and has certain traits; she worries about love, she gets emotionally confused with guys, she still worries about her appearance, etc.

I couldn't get their opinion on Korra because I had left the school by the time they started to watch it themselves. But I'm just speaking from my own experience and using it as an example why Katara could be seen as the stronger female lead of Avatar, and therefore the better role model for girls. In the case of Star Wars, if this new trilogy has a character similar to how it was done with Katara, it could go over well.

 

I agree. I don't see why the female protagonist's pregnancy has to immobilize them in a sci-fi fantasy. We have male characters with various health conditions that aren't portrayed 'realistically' at all. Luke's an amputee, Vader's a burn victim, Yoda's vertically challenged, etc. If this was realistic none of these characters would be combat-worthy. With this precedent, there's no excuse for excluding one type of character from the action.

 

I think if there is a female lead, I prefer a strong lady with good character and decision-making ability. She has to fit into the universe, though. It seems to me that Hayden and Natalie were cast for roles in the PT as eye candy, not because of their acting abilities. I want that to change here. None of these wooden, lame actors, and give them a decent script to work with.

I'd also be happy if the main character is not a Jedi. I want Jedi, of course, but it's cool if the main gal isn't one of them.

 

When I first heard about a possible female lead, my knee jerk reaction was.. nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I don't know anything about mythology, or narratives, or any other words of the movie making vernacular. I base my initial reaction on one singular solitary opinion; Women fight scenes typically don't look very good. There are many reasons why that is, but they usually come off as looking a little awkward to me, or heavily choreographed, or containing lots of lame predictable ninja moves. Women don't typically grow up getting into fist fights, so they also don't pretend-fight very convincingly either. That's just how it is.

So unless my assumption is wrong, there will be lots of fighting in store for the lead character, most likely with light sabers. I haven't seen many women sell fight scenes extremely well, so I would really hate for that to be come up way short. That was my initial reaction in the first 5 seconds of hearing this rumor.

The good news is that physicality isn't required to be a Jedi. Luke wasn't physically impressive and he managed just fine. And Yoda... judge him by his size, I do not. It would help to have brute strength, but I imagine that technique has a lot to do with sword fighting.

My opinions aside, there are exceptions to every opinion anyway. I thought that Scarlett Johansson's fight scenes were very believable in Avengers. Rachel Luttrell was very good in Stargate Atlantis as well, IMO. I seem to remember thinking that Bridget Regan was believable in Legend of the Seeker. There are many examples, so that is reassuring. As long as they would cast well, there should be nothing to worry about.

Even if worse came to worst, they could always CGI the actress' head onto the body of a more athletically inclined stunt woman, like what they did with Christopher Lee.

So while initially I was nervous about it, now I don't mind either way if the hero is male or female.

I don't, however, want a female antagonist, but that's for a different thread.

 

Hmmmm...no. That's NOT 'just how it is'. What a ridiculous statement.

Men TYPICALLY grow up getting into fist fights? Cuz I didn't. I know many guys that didn't. Plenty of guys avoid getting into fist fights growing up.

And female fight scenes come off looking heavily choreographed? Unlike, say, the elaborate saber-dance by Ewan, Liam, and Ray in EpI?