Rogue One [Official Info] Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso) in Rogue One

Well, as a middle-aged white male Star Wars fan, i've always lamented the lack of a badass female co-lead in the first six movies. Padme and Leia were little more than supporting players. I always wanted to see a cool female Jedi or X-Wing fighter ace. Episodes IV - VI were a product of their time, although it's still a little jarring that in the GFFA there were litterally NO female pilots during the attacks on the Death Stars, and even in the Prequels the female Jedi were little more than background characters. TCW series began to address some of these issues with Ahsoka Tano and Assaj Ventress having prominent roles, but it's the films which need to correct the problem, so i'm glad to hear that Rey in TFA and now Felicity Jones could be about to, FINALLY, give us some kick-ass females in the SW universe that aren't EU characters.

 

The whole "lack of female characters in SW films" is so notorious by this point that making fun of it has become a cliché in and of itself.

 

Apollo12

I agree. I also wish Lucas would've left that Rebel pilot extra in VI female. I'm excited for Rey, Felicity and the other women in the upcoming Star Wars films. I wonder how they'll be portrayed. I hope an iconic female character like Leia won't be thrown under the bus simply to create drama and advance the plot, like I had heard a number of fans express interest in last year.

 

Yeah, Lucas dropped the ball there, another sign of the times i suppose. How many badass female characters were there in the 1970s/80s? Even in Sci-Fi? As for throwing Rey or Felicity's character under the bus, i'm optimistic JJ won't go that route. I'm hoping Rey's journey is similar to that of my favourite badass female in the EU, Nomi Sunrider, who went on to become one of the greatest Jedi in the Old Republic, rising to Grand Master. It would be even better if the ST trilogy could introduce a female Dark Sider, just the idea of an epic four-way duel involving Rey, Finn, Kylo Renn and a cool female Sith has me salivating!

 

I don't know if anyone has said this, but I'm thinking that this might be about Luke's wife — and maybe she dies or disappears, but not before having a child with Luke.

 

Is it worth the effort though? Such people shouldn't be ignored, by any means, but engaging with them on the internet only feeds their desire for attention gives them a platform from which to spout their hate - because like yo said, the Web gives people anonymity.

It's protects these people from truly being confronted and hides them from the shame that would come from being seen talk like this in public.

Anyways, I'd looking forward to seeing how this project will pan out.

 

Apollo12 Thrawn082 Luminous Beings Are We

How are Leia and Padmé "only supporting characters"?

Leia is a ""bad ass" as they come.

 

Well both of them seem to get less important as the films go on. Padme is a strong, relatively interesting, and independent character for the first two films (atrocious AOTC romance aside). But in ROTS, she's basically just a prop for Anakin. Her ONLY function in that movie seems to be talking to Anakin, or talking about Anakin, or worrying about Anakin, or being sad about Anakin, or getting killed by Anakin. Then they REALLY threw her under the bus with the whole "she's lost the will to live" crap. It was an extremely disappointing regression of her character.

Leia suffered this somewhat in ROTJ, although not to the same degree. People like to complain about Han, just kind of being there in that movie but not doing much, and I can definitely understand those complaints. But AT LEAST with him, you can make the argument that his big character arc had been completed by the end of ESB, so the writers just didn't really have anything truly interesting left for him to do (which is probably why Ford wanted Han to be killed off). With Leia, it's far less excusable since there still WAS interesting stuff left to do with her. She's underused in that movie, which is even more annoying because that's when they spring the "family reveal." She's Luke's sister, and then they don't do much with that. She's Vader's daughter, and they do absolutely NOTHING with that. So disappointing looking back. Actually when people ask me to list things that I want to see in the ST, near the top of the list is AT LEAST one scene between Force Ghost Anakin and Leia. DO SOMETHING with that, it's too juicy not to.

 

Thrawn082

I agree that Padmé has much less to do in the RotS - pretty much just a prop for Anakin as you say - but not about Leia.

Leia is important to the movie.

What more do you think should have been with her finding out Luke is her brother?

She is a vital component in Luke confrontation with Vader - the threat to her is what makes him fight on. Actually being in the throne room with Vader and Luke? No, there is nowhere to go with that and gets in the way of the showdown that has been coming since ANH began. Even the "original" sister was never going to meet Vader.

 

Which is a problem imo. Their mother has ZERO relevance in the OT, and neither does Luke having a sister/Vader having a daughter. Honestly the way that it all played out, the "reveal" was actually pretty pointless. You could have had Leia not be family at all, and nothing really changes. When people complain about treatment of female characters in SW, this is part of the reason why.

And no, she's not all that important in ROTJ. Nothing that she does in that movie couldn't have been done by someone else, or removed entirely. She's "along for the ride" just like Han is.

 

I never thought Leia was underused in ROTJ. She was pretty vital in the rescue of Han Solo, she kills Jabba and she forms a first contact to the Ewoks. She's every bit as instrumental as she ever was in TESB, if not actually more, as in TESB it is mostly Han calling the shots.

 

What about the fact that Luke's only motivation to fight Vader is because he has to protect her?

That is very important.

Very true. I was overlooking her part in the fight with Jabba and meeting the Ewoks.

 

Although I agree that Leia shouldn't be dismissed as a "supporting character" - in spite of her underutilization and objectification in RotJ, she is one of pop culture's most iconic warrior women - the above quote doesn't really help your argument. Needing to be protected or fought for is very much a traditional role for a female character (read: damsel in distress).

My hope is that Disney might be willing to take greater risks with the spin-off movies than they would with the numbered episodes because the spin-offs won't invoke as much direct comparison with the OT. So, perhaps Rogue One will actually feature a female lead and add another iconic warrior woman to our collective unconscious, not just follow the two male/one female formula.

 

Actually it does because we were discussing her importance in the story.

However, what was a better argument was what @Darth_Perva - "I never thought Leia was underused in ROTJ. She was pretty vital in the rescue of Han Solo, she kills Jabba and she forms a first contact to the Ewoks. She's every bit as instrumental as she ever was in TESB, if not actually more, as in TESB it is mostly Han calling the shots."

And how is putting Princess Leia in a bikini degrading her?

 

Leia wasn't underused in ROTJ.

 

I think it is, at least for me. I'm amazed how many race-related news stories there have been in the last few months. Me, too. I'm very interested to see how TFA will pan out, both for Disney/Lucasfilm and fans in general.

If I had said or implied that Leia and Padme were supporting characters, it's only in relation to the male protagonist of each trilogy. I agree that Leia is bad ass. I just wish her sex slave costume wasn't sexualized. It sends the wrong message to women and our culture in general, IMHO.

I know this question wasn't meant for me, but I'll give my opinion anyway. I don't think the bikini degrades her as a character because it serves a purpose in the story. Leia had been captured by Jabba and forced to be one of his sex slaves. She didn't choose to present herself like this for no good reason, like how Alice Eve's character Carol changed behind Kirk's back in STID just so the guys in the audience could check out her rack.

I loved the symbolic message of Leia using the very means of her enslavement (the chains) and her own human strength to get revenge on her vile abuser. I don't like the idea of this message being drowned out by all those women who wear the sex slave costume because it's iconic and they look sexy in it.

 

Well, what I meant was is there any point in getting into in the anonymity of the Internet where you are just "feeding the troll". Showing them up in the cold light of day is the only place to deal with them.

In this instance, I believe you agreed with another poster's comment, not that you said it yourself - that was why I included you

The use of the word "sexualised" implies Leia is a victim - nothing could be further from the truth. She is acting like a victim but she is not.

I'm not denying that the costume was mainly conceived to capitalise on Fisher's beauty, but it is the only costume that does so. Nome of Fisher's other costumes are revealing in any way. They even taped her breasts down ANH. Tghar is kind of the opposite of sexualising a woman, isn't it?

The was for directed at two specific posters, but is of course open to any all who wish to throw in their two cents.

Very well put - and I agree. Leia plays the victim but uses it to her advantage.

As to Alice Eve - I knew that was coming - yes that scenes is there for anyone (not just "guys") who want to check out her "rack", just like Chris Pine is presented twice in nothing but his jocks for anyone who wants to see that

 

All of the Big Three were damsels in distress at various points.

Han Solo after his Carbonite bath
Leia in ANH and later at Jabba's
Luke when lightning blitzed by Palpatine and after getting his hand cut off by Vader

One can complain about the gold bikini, but imo she hardly needed more rescue than the male characters.

 

Apparently, Felicity Jones was once interested in dating me, but I didn't catch the hint and she thought I wasn't interested. Sort of like the Kidman-Fallon situation.



True story.

 

DarthLightlyBruise

 

Care to elaborate?

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cc68...ty-jones-says-stars-wars-role-really-exciting

 

Just once I want one of these people to say, "I can't say anything, but you know what...you're not missing much. I really couldn't care less about SW..."

 

I need to finally watch Theory of Everything!

 

BOYCOTT THIS FILM!!! The writer blatantly disrespected George Lucas is the most terrible way! The fact that he is writing this film is just plain wrong!