Much of the Criticism of the State of the Star Wars Franchise Is Sexist

Let's get this out of the way.  Yes, the final Star Wars trilogy was pretty bad.  It started off promisingly enough.  I liked "The Force Awakens."  No, it wasn't the most original or creative of the saga's movies.  But it was entertaining, and coherent enough to allow Lucasfilm to build an extended story line from it.  Things went bad with "The Last Jedi."

What became clear with "The Last Jedi" was that there was no unified vision of the last film trilogy.  While people like to complain about J.J. Abrams, he set up a number of interesting questions for subsequent films to explore.  They included Rey's parentage, the origin of Snoke and the First Order and could Kylo Ren be redeemed.  Rian Johnson decided to throw all of that away, and gave us a cynical story where the Resistance survived in spite of the saga's overarching hero, Luke Skywalker.  "The Rise of Skywalker" suffered, in large part, because Abrams had to undo much of what Johnson had done.

But much of the fan criticism of the Star Wars franchise focuses on Lucasfilm President, Kathleen Kennedy and her supposed gender politics.  That is, critics blame Kennedy for insisting that the franchise highlight female characters.  It is a line of criticism that is outright sexist and bigoted.  Moreover, the critics subscribing to this line seem to forget how poorly the direction of Star Wars under George Lucas depicted female characters.

Let's start with the most popular of female Star Wars characters, Princess Leia.  Leia was a strong character.  From an early age, she helped lead the rebellion against the Empire.  She used her position as a member of the Imperial Senate to engage in important missions to help bring down the Emperor and his militaristic regime.  She stared the fate of almost certain execution in the face, and never backed down either to Grand Moff Tarkin, or Darth Vader.

Yet, Lucas just couldn't help himself.  He had to feature Princess Leia is a bikini-like outfit as Jabba's slavegirl in "Return of the Jedi."  That is, he had to place his young star's body on display for the gratification of those adolescent and pre-adolescent fanboys.

This over-sexualization of female characters plagued the Star Wars universe for decades.  Fan favorite bounty hunter, Aurra Sing was always depicted in the expanded universe in a manner that highlighted her curvy hips and well-endowed breasts.  Twi'lek women, such as Jabba's original dancing slave girl Oola, have always been depicted in the Star Wars universe as sexually desirable.  Not even Ahsoka, Anakin's Padawan, could escape this sexism, having been portrayed in much of "The Clone Wars" wearing a midriff baring outfit, even in battle where such clothing could never be practical.  Indeed, examples of sexist portrayals of women, including droids with inexplicably well-endowed breasts and hips, abound in "The Clone Wars."

Not even Padme Amidala could escape the objectification rampant in the Star Wars universe.  Padme is the epitome of the strong female character in Star Wars.  She was the elected leader of a planet, who later served in the Galactic Senate as the leader of the opposition to Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine.  Padme proved to be as competent with a blaster in battle, as she was with rhetoric in the political arena.  Yet, despite the fact that Padme was portrayed by modestly endowed Natalie Portman, she just had to be depicted with an enhanced bustline both in toys, and in the cartoon series, "The Clone Wars."

Moreover, this intelligent and strong female character just had to be shown as a ditz when it came to love.  Consider, Anakin Skywalker confessed to Padme, and Padme alone, that he was a mass murderer.  He killed an entire clan of sand people, women and children included, in revenge for the kidnapping and death of his mother.  Yet, with this knowledge, Padme married Anakin.  Because, well, you know, when it comes to love, women are motivated by their hormones, not their brains.

Star Wars' record concerning women needed to be changed.

Along comes Rey, the main protagonist in the final Star Wars trilogy.  She is a strong character gifted with Force abilities.  But she is not overly sexualized.  She is not depicted in costumes that emphasize her body.  Rather, after being shown what the Force could do by Kylo Ren, she, in a very clunky manner in "The Force Awakens," begins to experiment with her newfound abilities.  For this, she is labeled a "Mary Sue," a sexist criticism often levied on lead female characters written by female writers.  The term was coined in criticism of female written fan fiction where nearly perfect female leads, seemingly adored by all, were injected into well-known franchises such as Star Trek.  Interestingly. this criticism is rarely heaped upon overly strong male characters, such as, oh, I don't know, Superman, Captain America, Luke Skywalker.  Heaven forbid that in a male-dominated universe, you have one strong female character that isn't in the movies to titillate the fanboy audience.

Likewise, even before the movie was released, Jyn Erso of "Rogue One" was labeled by some as a "Mary Sue."  Having two strong female leads, who were not objectified for their appearance, in back-to-back Star Wars movies was just a little too much to handle for some fanboys.  Never mind that "Rogue One" presented Jyn Erso as a wonderfully flawed tragic figure who had to become tough, having lost her father at a young age when he was forced to work on the Imperial project that became the feared Death Star.  Her competency in combat was clearly explained by her years of training under Saw Gerrera, the leader of guerrilla forces aiming to take down the Empire.

Now that Lucasfilm has announced the development of a female-centric Disney+ series, to be created by Lesly Headland, many male fans and critics can't help but let their bigotry poison their reaction.  Fanboys are reveling in reporting that Kathleen Kennedy, who is in her last year in her contract as head of Lucasfilm, went around Disney Chairman, Bob Iger, to announce the series.  Iger is livid, they claim, because Kennedy announced this series, which promotes her political agenda, in such a way that it would cause extreme embarrassment for Iger if he pulled the plug on it.

Moreover, male critics are falling all over themselves spreading innuendos about the sources of Headland's success.  Headland, who acted as the co-creator and show runner for the critically acclaimed Netflix series "Russian Dolls," at one point worked as a personal assistant to Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein, of course, is currently serving twenty-three years in prison for rape and sexual assault convictions.  Allegations abounded that Weinstein used his powerful position in Hollywood to solicit sexual favors from rising star women in exchange for promoting their career.  The implication of raising Headland's connection to Weinstein is clear.  The critics are essentially hinting that Headland must have slept her way to the top.  It is a criticism often leveraged against successful women as a way to question their ability and talent.  Never mind that the Harvey Weinstein scandal only highlighted the rampant sexism that exists in Hollywood, which reflects poorly on Weinstein and his male counterparts who let the situation fester.

Other critics emphasize Headland's homosexuality, as if her sexual orientation has any bearing on her writing ability.  Such critics assert that the traditional Star Wars fan base has been male, and trying to expand the fan base beyond that has been a mistake that has endangered the brand.  Heaven forbid Star Wars threaten their masculinity by trying to depict realistic female characters not meant to arouse their sexual desires.

The latest Star Wars trilogy deserves criticism.  As do the Lucas created prequels and cartoon series "The Clone Wars."  But this fanboy glee that Kennedy's supposed political correctness agenda has been defeated is simply shameful.  Star Wars needed to change how it depicted female characters.  Jon Favreau's "The Mandalorian," certainly continued the trend, as started by Kennedy, of depicting female characters in a favorable light, strong and not overly sexual.  Fanboys may not be thrilled with the idea, but the days of presenting female Star Wars figures in revealing costumes for fanboys' visual enjoyment, and at times in contradiction to the female characters' depiction as strong, self-sufficient individuals, should not be revisited.

By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.


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References

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