The truth about "The Force is Female"

i'm happy that we can agree on something sometimes! ^^

 

I just took the shirt as a bit of girl power humor. I liked it.

 

I at first thought she was attacking men which I found out it was not true but on the other hand even if Kathleen Kennedy didn’t wear that shirt and wore another shirt that didn’t imply “The Force is Female” and still posed for the picture with the rest of the girls wearing the t shirts, Kathleen Kennedy would still be facing some harsh criticism about it.

Now that the mandalorian season 2 came out with Ashoka Tano, she said in one of the episodes “The force is an energy Field that binds the galaxy together created by all living things.”

 

I know this topic is kind of old but since you bumped it I want to throw my 2 cents in. I don't have a problem with more female representation; goodness knows they deserve it after all the crap they've put up with over the years. I won't get into my political beliefs as this is not the thread for that, but I've absolutely dug a lot of the most recent female-centered big blockbusters (Wonder Woman, Rogue One, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow come to mind) and tried to be there on Day 1 to see them, and I believe my personal beliefs reflect that tendency.

My issue with this shirt though is it's just stupid. It's way too in-your-face, and no one had ever even bothered thinking about giving the Force of all things a gender identity before, so it's not like it was addressing a controversial topic. It's just unnecessary. Especially from the head of LucasFilm.

 

Yup but at least Ashoka Tano in the mandalorian Season 2 did address that the force is an energy field created by all living things that binds the galaxy and surrounds us.

I understand what Kathleen Kennedy did wearing a shirt saying the force is female caused a lot of havoc among the Star Wars fandom but in my opinion, even if she didn’t wear that shirt, she still would of been facing bullies from online trolls of fans.

 

I agree. It was not meant to be literally about the Force. The Force does not have gender, it is just fictional metaphysical phenomenon / religion. All the T-shirt was trying to do was use a fun, catchy slogan to communicate that in this films the hero was female, which was a first for the saga. Nothing more than that should be read into this in my opinion.

 

Girl power humor is all it is. Nothing to get worked up about, especially as it's not exclusive. It's like the reaction to Black Lives Matter; it's an implied "also" statement for a frequently marginalized group, not a de facto "only" statement. We are well aware that the Force is male, because the vast majority of Force users depicted in the movies up to that point were male. If you're going to interpret that shirt as a statement, it's that the Force is female too, not only. And if you're going to say "oh, well we already knew that, because of X, Y, or Z character from the animated series and comics," the movies are made for a much wider and more casual audience, and it's undeniable that a lot of women felt that female representation was sorely lacking in the movies, so clearly it's a point that needed reiterating and reaffirming. It's also above all else, a freaking T-shirt, and as harmless as the "Your Snoke Theory Sucks" sticker that everyone tore their clothes over Rian Johnson posing with.

 

I don't know if I would compare "The Force is Female" to "Black Lives Matter".

 

The Force is in all things, and that includes females, so the Force is actually Female. It is also Male, and all other genders. Because the Force is Life.

I for one am glad there are strong female leads in Star Wars. It started that way with Leia Organa, then Mara Jade, and has blossomed even more with Jyn Erso and Rey.

 

There is no hate in this comment, please do not take it as such. But you are all wrong. First off, the shirts. These are NOT the Nike version of these shirts. The official ones have the Nike swoosh on them. Look it up for yourself. And even IF these were, which they are not, the speech she gave at the very same event makes it undeniable what she means. Here is her FULL quote. Pay special attention to the ending. “There are literally hundreds of people working in areas throughout production, marketing, visual effects and post production, and still, the majority of those jobs are held by men. These are all jobs that women can do, they just need to be given the chance. That means that unions, studios, producers, directors and other women in positions of power and responsibility need to make the effort. So, do, or do not. There is no try. The force is female.”

Now she is 100% correct that women can do these jobs and should have the same chances to get them! True equality! But to deny her not having some kind of agenda or that she does not mean what she obviously does is disingenuous at best.

If you wish to read the article yourself, here is the link: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...es-star-wars-at-archer-film-festival-998045/#!

 

Wow. A person with a grand total of one post since 2008 bumps a Force is Female thread that hasn't had any messages for almost two years.

What could be going on here.

 

Well, thanks for the bump! Now I've read the OP and know more about this

 

Agenda fluid.

 

I think as time has gone along this theory takes more shape. Have you seen Ahsoka? There are very few men in any position of authority in this show. So when many say it’s not an agenda……..I point to casting on the Ahsoka show and say are sure KK doesn’t prefer much more female representation in Star Wars?

Almost every single new promising character in the past several years has been mostly a female character? Is that simply a coincidence? Rey, Sabine, Reva, most all of the leaders in Ahsoka, Hera, Shin, Fennec, etc.

I don’t think it is even a bad thing, as some of these characters are pretty incredible. However to say it’s completely organic is pretty hard to believe. There certainly appears to be a quota or something being used in this new stuff.

 

Reminds me of this:



(Yeah the quality is awful)

 

Do the math. Ahsoka only introduced one new female character (Shin Hati) whereas it introduced three new men (Baylan Skoll, Marrok, and Enoch).

The women in positions of authority are part of pre-established, pre-Disney lore. The New Republic's Chancellor was always gonna be a coin-toss between Mon Mothma and Leia anyway, whilst the Nightsisters of Dathomir are a literal matriarchy.

And the entire show revolved around two men of apparently greater significance than all of the women who sought them.

 

Also, I just realised, if you analyse all of the interconnected hierarchical relationships and total up the "positions of authority" in Ahsoka, the men actually outnumber the women. Mon Mothma is flanked by four Senators; three are male, one is female. Ryder Azadi appears as the Governor of Lothal, the Great Mothers are shown as subservient to Thrawn, and Baylan is Shin's master. The foreperson of the Corellia breaker's yard is male. We meet two New Republic ship captains, one male and one female, and spend a great deal of time being reminded (and shown) that Anakin was not only Ahsoka's master, but also the greatest, most powerful Jedi ever.

So yeah, when you actually step back and crunch the numbers, it turns out that promoting Hera to General is the least they could do.

 

She was already a general in Rogue One though, so even that isn't new

 

Good shout, so she was! My mistake!

Wow. I guess the show didn't actively promote any women, then. It just maintained the pre-established status quo. Fancy that.

 

There are women??! AT ALL?!?!?!