Putting The Fun Back In Star Wars – And Some Feminism, Too
Like many generation X and Y kids, I grew up with Star Wars. Dazzled by Han Solo, charmed by C-3PO and R2-D2, and thrown into fits of giggles at Yoda’s curious way of speaking, I couldn’t get enough. Princess Leia was cheeky and cool, and Luke was… well, Luke actually kind of annoyed me, but Obi Wan Kenobi was the shiz (or to be more 90s, the bomb) because he was unfazed and all-knowing in a way only the British can pull off. (Spoilers aplenty ahead)
Perhaps the single greatest appeal of the original trilogy is that it’s fun. It had cheeky sarcasm, space pirates, an evil empire, cute fuzzy aliens (and ugly murderous ones), a princess, a bad boy, mystery, and of course, adventure. If you ask me, this fun was the key element (well, along with good acting) that was lacking in the follow up prequel trilogy. But in The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams brings it back. And, along with it, a much-needed injection of feminisim.
Rey, the unwitting Jedi-to-be orphan and scavenger from a desert planet, gives the legions of female Star Wars fans – kids like me who grew up playing Leia in every backyard reenactment of our favorite flick – a well-rounded and pretty badass female hero to identify with and to cheer on. She is not like many female sci-fi leads who are only passively responsible for the destinies of others (I’m looking at you, Fifth Element), but she is one who actively shapes her own destiny and propels the momentum of the plot forward, with the encouragement and support of others. That’s long overdue in this genre, and perhaps in film in general.
On a side note, I don’t mean to say little girls can’t grow up identifying with little Han Solos or Lukes or Landos, but for many of us kids who grew up in toy aisles divided by blue and pink, that thought never even crossed our minds. Ah, gender roles. My favorite social construct.
Yep, that is me and my S.O. (what a babe, amIrite?) on Halloween this year. It only took me 27 years to figure out I can be Han Solo. Take THAT gender roles.
In some ways, maybe the feminist “hoorah” that Rey represents is a bit heavy-handed or cliché. When she first meets Finn, they’re forced to run from stormtroopers to keep BB-8 and his precious cargo out of the Empire’s clutches. Finn grabs her hand more than once as they run, to her protestation: “I know how to run without you holding my hand!”
My three subsequent reactions:
“LOL, gurl power, yaaaas!”
“Playing a little hard to my [read: feminist] crowd there, J.J. She’s an independent woman. We get it.”
But lastly, I remembered being a kid in a crowded movie theater with my dad and my brother, watching the revamped (ahem, side eye to George Lucas) original trilogy. “If I were still a kid, I guess I’d need the heavy-handed-ness to catch on to the whole female empowerment/equality message going on here.”
Final verdict: I can live with the over-done Independent Woman shtick, just for that last point. Plus, then she's all:
(meme: by yours truly, original image source: Therebel.com)
Another issue is that, as others have noted, perhaps Rey’s powers develop too quickly. It took Luke forever to get to her level, after all. Remember Yoda whacking the hell out of him, to no avail, trying to get him to be one with the force enough to get his X-Wing out of a swamp? All it takes is for her to have a weird vision when she grabs onto Luke’s light saber and suddenly she’s reading minds, controlling stormtroopers and defeating a trained evil Jedi in an epic battle.
Maybe the point is that the force is even stronger in Rey than it is in Luke. If that’s true, I’m still on the fence about the quick progression of her skill with the force, but it made for an exciting movie.
Seeing the old gang was also a thrill. And speaking of feminism, having Leia be in charge as a general, moreso than as a princess, was pretty sweet.
Now for the elephant in the blog. A moment of silence for Han Solo, but you had to know it was coming as soon as he stepped into that Death Star-esque endless shaft looking for his son. How “Luke, I am your father,” was that moment? He’s always been my favorite character, as he has for many fans. Perhaps J.J. and the writers were too afraid to mess with a good thing, and decided to kill him off rather than trying to write a new chapter for him. Perhaps it seemed the only way to make us believe Kylo Ren is actually evil and not just a jealous sourpuss. I’m going to go ahead and reserve my judgment on the call to kill off our beloved Solo until I see how the next Episode unfolds.
I was never a Luke fan, but that final scene was pretty badass. Not only was it dramatic as hell, but it may have been the best acting Mark Hamill has done in this series – and he was silent the whole time.
Not to leave anyone out of the discussion, my two cents on Finn and Poe is that they are adorable for their earnestness, and for their presh bromance.