Women in Star Wars

Yeah, but then when he talks about ruling the galaxy with her, she gets it.

 

But even after he says that she says, "Stop now and come back. I love you." She still isn't ready to let go of Anakin. Then he chokes her and the first thing Padme does when she wakes up is ask if Anakin is all right.

 

It's a circle.

Leia becomes what Padme should have been.

Luke becomes what Anakin should have been.

It's not a "plot hole"; it's deliberate.

 

When I saw for the first time Anakin and Padme getting married at the end of AOTC, I thought, "It's going to end in tears, but at least the kids will turn out okay!"

 

I think Minela makes some very excellent ponts regarding the portrayal of women in the saga, especially Padme. I think that her assessment is spot-on, whether Lucas actually intended it that way is another matter, though personally I think he did. I remember reading somewhere that he rejected the idea of a sith witch becasue he believed that women should represent good or life in the saga. On a side note, personally I'm peeved whenever I see this; that women are always represented as being the smart ones or the good ones and the men always come out looking bad (not just in SW but in our culture in general). However, I still agree with Minela's assertion as to the representation of women. Good observation

 

Padme is my favorite character in the pt, but i admit she is so weak when it comes to anakin its not even funny..i just want to slap her and tell her to get a backbone and forget about him and live for her twins..gosh what a disappointment to me as a female.

 

I agree that Padme was rather pathetic in ROTS. As you said, anakinandpadmedoomed, it's strange that she would die despite just having had two children and believing that there was still good in Anakin. Also, as I mentioned in another thread, it messed up the continuity with ROTJ, when Leia recalled some vague memories of her mother.

What annoyed me particularly was that there didn't seem to be any serious discussion between Anakin and Padme about their future. One would have thought that this would have happened once they decided to marry. After all, even if Anakin was 19, Padme was 24, a senator, and with 10 years experience as a head of state; so I would have expected her to insist on a serious discussion on the implications of their marrying, in terms of him leaving the Jedi Order and she the Senate.

 

Right i agree, in ATOC(in the begining) she was all against it because of thier careers and didnt want to hide and live like that...and it seems in ROTS(3 years later!) they are sill in the same situation but she's pregnant even..she talks of raising the baby in naboo but that was just her talking anakin didnt say anything in return..it contridicts (sp)her queen and senator life as being responsbible.
and the love part dont have anything to do with it either...anakin had complete control over her thinking in ROTS and that made her weak and thus not being able to live without him.

but i still love my girl...

 

A couple of quick thoughts......First off, I like the fact that even though Anakin goes to the darkside "for Padme", it's not really "FOR Padme". A lot of times in film, the "hero" is shown to go off the right path for love. And a lot of those times, the object of his affection does not resent what he has done. In Padme's case, even though she loved and cared for him (and was willing to forgive his doings if he turned his back on them), she did not approve of his actions. Secondly, I was not completely disappointed with her portrayal in ROTS. Like others, I DO wish she would have either survived or passed due to something other than a broken heart/losing the will to live. However, dismissing my personal feelings on how I would have ended it, it is understandable.

The way I chose to look at it is: 1) She was physically attacked...while pregnant at that AND 2) She was emotionally weak at the moment. Now before any one crushes me for #2, let me explain. Imagine if our better half was always performing dangerous acts (cop, fireman, stunt car driver, armed services, etc...). Imagine the feeling we would have every time they went to "work". Now imagine that they performed this "work" on the road and were gone for days, weeks, and even months at a time. I can't speak for others, but that would drive me insane. Heck, I worry about my wife when she is out of town for the weekend. And she isn't even doing anything dangerous. Now, take all of those various emotions you would have, and factor in a child. Whether you are the mother and you do not want the child to grow up without a father OR you are a father fearing for the welfare of your wife and child. Either way, I would assume both would be stressful situations. I am no doctor, but I would think that when suffering from physical ailments, a person's mental state would have an affect on their ability to recover from physical trauma. But that is merely the opinion of a guy who has ZERO knowledge (outside of the average band-aid applier) of the medical field. Either way, I respect anyone's opinion on this subject matter.

 

the women in Star Wars are about the best female characters in film.they are strong without having to drop kick & they are allowed weaknesses.
they also have the best hair ever.

 

Yes its true they are allowed weakness, everybody has them.. I wasnt bashing, just stating my opinion doesnt mean its right..leia is very strong and so is padme in her way..
and padme has beautiful hair while i thought leia's looked like a wig, but they are both beautiful to me.I love the way they take command in certain scenes.

 

Um..what weakness was Leia shown to have?

 

I said leia is strong..but everyone does have some kind of weakness in general i guess i was trying to say...nothing specific comes to mind...

 

Leia lets her temper get the best of her at some times.

 

Ok, well, when did we ever see her temper get her into trouble?

 

The shouting match with Han in Lukes medical chamber?

And what about murdering poor, defenseless Jabba The Hutt?

 

LOL, GFETT You better quit that before you make my point better then I can

 

LOL! To be fair, Leia did have a bit of a temper.

 

If Padme finally "got it", why did she insist there was still good within Anakin upon her deathbed?

Why do people insist upon viewing Padme and Anakin's relationship in such a black-and-white manner?

 

Because there was.

 

Padme just "got" that anakin was in a bad way..but she still feels there is good in him...thats why she said that on her deathbed..remember its a deathbed..crazy things(and the truth)happen there.

 

Yeah, to the point in which she encouraged Chewbacca to attempt to strangle Lando to death. Personally, I call this "WEAKNESS" on her part.


And I get tired of the complaints about Padme's weakness in ROTS . . . as if she has to be some kind of damn warrior woman to be worthy as an ode to feminism. And I get tired of fans complaining about her, as if Padme isn't allowed to have any weaknessness. It seems to me that they never wanted her to be a rounded and complex character with flaws. Instead they wanted her to be some one-dimensional figure of feminist perfection, which is bad characterization to me.

 

It's not that Padme needed to be running around with a blaster (she WAS preggers, after all), but that she does NOTHING except sit there looking pretty and spouting off bad dialogue.

It's completely inconsistent with the character from TPM & AotC for Padme to be as passive and helpless as she is in RotS. A character with no strengths is just as bad as a character with no flaws.

It seems to me that you never wanted her to be a rounded and complex character with strengths. Instead you wanted her to be some one-dimensional figure of chauvinist perfection, which in my opinion is poor characterization.

Also, Padme gets negative points in RotS for using the word younglings.

 

"Younglings" refers only to Jedi children. She still calls her fetus a "child."

Actually, all of these criticisms are more apt with respect to Leia in ROTJ.

It's a theme!

 

Maybe GL wants to show us in ROTS, that Padme's attachment to Anakin has a bad influence on her, weakens her from inside and changes her character. Maybe her characterization mirrors how the influence of a sith-lord weakens the republic from inside.

Just my stupid thoughts.