I think it’s more that we haven’t had a strong female in Star Wars before other than Leia.
Agreed, but even Leia wasn’t enough. I know some people here will turn this following statement into a ten-page discussion, but Leia was a supporting character, whereas Rey is the main character. My girls like Leia but they LOVE Rey.
I’m a Friend of Dorothy, so girl’s things are a bit out of my everyday shopping habits. I just know that when I was middle/high school age the big female heroes were Buffy, the Firefly women, Veronica Mars and even going back a few years to Ivanova. I know there was merch for them available.
It seems like people are really embracing the new characters. In fact, the big question people ask me now about Star Wars is, “Are Finn and Poe gay lovers?” And really how the f*ck would I know? My second husband left me for a man, so my gaydar isn’t exactly what you’d call Death Star level quality. ----Carrie Fisher
I don’t see how would having a female lead be more inclusive than having a male lead.
This is so dumb it’s not even worth explaining to you.
…
My young daughters love Star Wars and Rey has a lot to do with it.
It is not dumb. You just don’t get it, despite being very simple.
If you have a female lead then young females will be able to associate/relate more. If you have a male lead then young males will be able to associate/relate more. Either way you “include” one more than the other.
The point of the thread is that strong female leads have been few and far between, and therefore having one opens up the universe to more people, making it more inclusive.
If you want to pretend that you don’t understand the thread, that’s on you.
Strong female leads have been a staple of Science Fiction/Fantasy for the past 40 years. It might be different in other genres, but not here. It gets me when people say that Rey is something amazing and new.
While this isn’t untrue, sci-fi wasn’t exactly a mainstream genre up until recently because it wasn’t cool to be into those things, even for boys. It’s easy for us to talk about all our favourite sci-fi ladies from back in the day, but shows like BSG, Dr. Who, and Buck Rogers weren’t exactly “cool” (yeah yeah, cool to nerds like us, I know; but I mean to the general public) shows; sure they existed and laid the groundwork for what we have today, but they weren’t exactly popular, and especially not among females. And I’m sure those ladies had plenty of damsel-in-distress, helpless-without-a-man moments. =P
Today, every other show has some sci-fi element, and with things like Star Wars, we actually have cool sci-fi female characters who are just cool characters who happen to be female. Like I said before, that’s what surprised me most about Rey: she wasn’t just a hollow, flag-waving, “LOOK I’M A COOL GIRL but I still need to be rescued by a dude”, girl-power female object character trope. She was just a good character and her being female wasn’t a central aspect or reason of that. That’s what I see as real progress.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Star Wars was very cool in the 70’s. I was there. 😉
Buck did well enough as a theatrical feature in the wake of Star Wars, and ran for two seasons on NBC. (The second season lobotomized the show, but I digress.) And contrary to popular belief, BSG was doing well in the tv ratings. It was the huge cost of the series that made ABC pull the plug, not because only nerds were tuning in.
Just as some female astronauts were inspired by Lt. Uhura, I’ve read that women were inspired to pursue military careers because of characters like Lt. Sheba and Col. Deering, so it wasn’t just guys who liked the characters.
Where were you in '77?
My point is that it was a minority. We have plenty of people here who were bullied for their preferences in film and television.
Characters like Rey in a world that is far more accepting of traditionally nerdy genres are making it much more widespread.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
I don’t doubt that. I took crap for liking Star Trek and Space: 1999, but never Star Wars.
Where were you in '77?
I wasn’t around back then, but wasn’t SW the movie that made scifi cool?
I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.
Yes, and it changed the path the revival of Star Trek ultimately took.
Where were you in '77?
Makes me wish I’d been around back then. It would’ve been nice to have grown up in a social environment where openly liking SW was looked on with approval instead of mockery or scorn.
I don’t see how would having a female lead be more inclusive than having a male lead.
This is so dumb it’s not even worth explaining to you.
…
My young daughters love Star Wars and Rey has a lot to do with it.
It is not dumb. You just don’t get it, despite being very simple.
If you have a female lead then young females will be able to associate/relate more. If you have a male lead then young males will be able to associate/relate more. Either way you “include” one more than the other.
The point of the thread is that strong female leads have been few and far between, and therefore having one opens up the universe to more people, making it more inclusive.
If you want to pretend that you don’t understand the thread, that’s on you.
Strong female leads have been a staple of Science Fiction/Fantasy for the past 40 years. It might be different in other genres, but not here. It gets me when people say that Rey is something amazing and new.
While this isn’t untrue, sci-fi wasn’t exactly a mainstream genre up until recently because it wasn’t cool to be into those things, even for boys. It’s easy for us to talk about all our favourite sci-fi ladies from back in the day, but shows like BSG, Dr. Who, and Buck Rogers weren’t exactly “cool” (yeah yeah, cool to nerds like us, I know; but I mean to the general public) shows; sure they existed and laid the groundwork for what we have today, but they weren’t exactly popular, and especially not among females. And I’m sure those ladies had plenty of damsel-in-distress, helpless-without-a-man moments. =P
Today, every other show has some sci-fi element, and with things like Star Wars, we actually have cool sci-fi female characters who are just cool characters who happen to be female. Like I said before, that’s what surprised me most about Rey: she wasn’t just a hollow, flag-waving, “LOOK I’M A COOL GIRL but I still need to be rescued by a dude”, girl-power female object character trope. She was just a good character and her being female wasn’t a central aspect or reason of that. That’s what I see as real progress.
For example, Alien (and sequels) was “cool” from the day one even for general public. There are many older people I know who considered Star Wars too nerdy but openly liked Alien. And we all know that Rey is nothing compared to Ripley when it comes to female leads. So yeah, it is like lovelikewinter said, this concept is 40 years old and was already well established.
真実
Ripley was not the focal point of Alien until the last couple reels though. She was just part of the Nostromo crew. Her sticking to biohazard protocols by not allowing Kane back into the ship, (before Ash circumvented her) even made her seem like an unsympathetic character at first.
Where were you in '77?
Ripley didn’t become a BAMF until Aliens.
It’s truly a wonderful thing that the most popular film franchise is headlined by more than just white dudes.
Ripley was not the focal point of Alien until the last couple reels though.
Well one way or another she was the film’s lead.
SilverWook said:
She was just part of the Nostromo crew. Her sticking to biohazard protocols by not allowing Kane back into the ship, (before Ash circumvented her) even made her seem like an unsympathetic character at first.
That concept is called interesting character (character development). Something that is missing in TFA.
真実
You never miss an opportunity to rag on the film, do you? 😉
Where were you in '77?
I think there’s a difference between just putting an overly strong female protagonist with a love triangle in a movie because it’s all the rage since twilight and hunger games and just making a well fleshed out, relatable main character who happens to be female, which TFA did very successfully in my mind. What was brilliant about the marketing to me was that they really made you feel from the trailers and tv spots that Finn was going to be the main character, only to surprise you with an amazing female protagonist in Rey.
I don’t remember hearing about a whole lot of little girls interested in Ripley from Alien.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Probably because Alien was R-rated, so they couldn’t watch it 😄
The Original Trilogy’s Timeline Reconstruction: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Implied-starting-date-of-the-Empire-from-OT-dialogue/post/786201/#TopicPost786201
I don’t remember hearing about a whole lot of little girls interested in Ripley from Alien.
Hearing little kids being interested in a character really isn’t much of a measure. Otherwise even Jar Jar would be a great character.
真実
Probably because Alien was R-rated, so they couldn’t watch it 😄
You could if a parent took you to see it.
And an R rating didn’t stop Kenner from making toys. 😉
Where were you in '77?
You mean if your parents would let you watch the movie. My parents probably wouldn’t let me if I were a kid (actually I wasn’t born yet back then 😄 )
Now I wonder how many toys they actually managed to sell kids 😄
The Original Trilogy’s Timeline Reconstruction: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Implied-starting-date-of-the-Empire-from-OT-dialogue/post/786201/#TopicPost786201
My Mom did, it was the first R rated movie I ever saw. I covered my eyes during the scary parts, and didn’t see most of that until the movie aired on HBO.
The “big chap” didn’t sell well at all, and the rest of the planned line was scuttled. Funko recently made figures of Ripley and the rest of the crew, based on Kenner’s old prototypes. I paid three bucks for my Alien figure in 1980, and I’ve regretted not buying every figure the store had ever since. Someone offered me $200 just for the box back in the 90’s.
It’s without a doubt the coolest thing Kenner ever made.
Where were you in '77?
I didn’t know about Kenner and those figures’ story, thank you for your reply 😃
The Original Trilogy’s Timeline Reconstruction: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Implied-starting-date-of-the-Empire-from-OT-dialogue/post/786201/#TopicPost786201
@ImperialScum
The reason that the new movies are more inclusive is that Star Wars is, by nature, a “boy” thing; lasers and spaceships and saving the universe from the bad guy in laser-sword on laser-sword combat. However, by making the main lead of the new movies female Disney is able to attract more girls to the series, without taking away the cool lasers and space-fights for the boys. Its such as simple thing to do and yet it can make the target audience so much broader without having to include many other female characters or sacrifice what made the series great in the first place. Whether or not Rey is a deep character (which so far, she may not be) is irrelevant, so I don’t know why you brought it up anyway. Kids have role models, who should personify positive morals and values. Little girls looking up to Rey is, in my opinion, way better than them looking up to dumb princess cartoon characters and brain-dead celebrities.
So yeah, it is like lovelikewinter said, this concept is 40 years old and was already well established.
“A new generation of fans.”
Also what everyone else said.
There is a big difference between a 30-year-old female in an R-rated film and a 20-something in a family-oriented film. Particularly so with one as globally recognized and popular as Star Wars.
My point wasn’t that there is finally a female lead for girls to admire and emulate. As LoveLike pointed out, there have been some before. My point is that Star Wars is now a much deeper franchise character-wise and the lead is a well-written and realized young woman. I was glad to see that Disney\Lucasfilm took the heat and made one of the main characters (arguably the main character) a strong young woman.
The girl I saw yesterday was engaged in our world. Something that (in Star Wars) was a much bigger stretch for girls with the first six films. I’m unfamiliar with the last two prequels, so I can’t speak to how Padme was portrayed. However, I don’t remember there being near the admiration or appreciation for the character that we’re seeing with Rey.
To me, Rey is far and away the best part of the film. She’s a three dimensional character unlike any in the franchise before, at least that I’m aware of. She’s introspective, she has strengths, she has doubts, she’s sometimes fearless, she’s sometimes afraid, she stands up for her beliefs, and she has a strong moral center. She does the right thing even when not doing it would be considerably easier and safer. She seems to me to be an outstanding role model for young girls.