screams in the void said:
As for Leia being a damsel in distress , She turned that trope on it’s head and actually ended up taking charge ,“into the garbage shoot flyboy !” and during the swing across the chasm , she blasted her fair share of stormtroopers.plus, she is the best shot out of all of them …she never misses throughout the OT.

Not denying or playing down any of these things, I’m fully aware of them and am just pointing out the few that I think fit the stereotype and at times feel out of character (such as the kiss) which I was attributing to the type of movie that wouldn’t normally have any lead females in a story (at least outside of stereotyped roles). Star Wars was obviously written from a male perspective of what other males would probably enjoy and want to relate to and in that sense it was a massive success. And from that perspective while discussing this I think it is odd (but great) that we got such an awesome character in Leia.

So I’m basically saying, don’t feel bad because there aren’t more female leads in the OT. Instead relish in the fact that we got Leia in that era of movies and that it paved the way for showing how a great character can be in such a movie when played by a capable actress. That a majority of the mostly male fandom love the character despite being female and many female fans love Luke’s character despite being male which shows that great characters transcend the need to see characters in your own sex and ultimately make for the most compelling and enjoyable story telling experience.

Val

PS. Sorry if it seems like a mega delayed reply. I had it mostly written the other night but had to leave and come back to it.