Star Wars Episode 3 (a slight bitch that contains spoilers)

[dalekboy]

I'm going to go into a rant here about the new Star Wars film. Now I want to make something clear - I actually quite liked it. I think it's a reasonable film and definitely the best of Lucas's recent efforts. And my major problem with it is not one that the Star Wars films alone are guilty of.



Lucas has proved to me in this film that he has no idea what to do with female characters, including bit parts, not that it hasn't been obvious before. Leia was the only female character that got to do anything it the original trilogy. But before I get into my full rant, let me start with a taster.

The Jedi are being hunted down. They are being killed by their own troops. We get to see one Jedi Master fight it out valiantly, then another. Both do their best but are overwhelmed. Then we get a female Jedi wandering through a garden area with her troops. They turn on her and she doesn't even get her sabre out! Why is it that she seems to turn to run? Why is it the one female Jedi we see is shot down like a dog, rather than going down fighting? Why is it that we aren't even allowed to see a poor defenseless female killed? They hide the shot!

Now, I wouldn't have minded this so much if he'd done something to make up for it. The ideal point (IMHO) would have been when the senator arrives at the Jedi complex in time to see a young boy desperately fighting against troops. He does a good job, but is killed. Why couldn't this character have been a girl?

Why is it that in all the films, (from memory) no female Jedi even gets a speaking part, let alone a moment of glory?

Then we come to Padme.

In the two previous films, she was a reasonably strong character. A leader, a fighter - very capable and able to handle herself. What's her character arc in this film? Padme is pregnant and happy, then she's pregnant and worried, followed by being pregnant and shocked and finally is pregnant and dying. She has no real point within this film except to be a walking incubator and a reason for Anakin to do things. Nothing she does as a person within this film has any purpose.

And why does she die? The inference is that she just gives up on life, that life without Anakin has no purpose.

What. The. Fuck?

This woman fought for her damned planet, both in the senate and on the battlefields. Her kids aren't enough of a reason to live? To want to try and bring her husband back from the dark side isn't enough of a reason to hang on? It's a sad end for her character, but not in the way that Lucas intended. To me the suggestion was that now she was pregnant, that was it. The be-all and end-all of Padme. She can't do anything. She doesn't fight, isn't strong - she needs to be protected by her big strong hubby because she has a bun in the oven and so obviously can't look after herself.

The boys get to battle it out with their big glowing cocks, but the girls get to die 'cleanly', offscreen or of a broken heart.

I like the film and will buy it eventually, but this aspect of the series will always annoy me.

Cheers,
Danny

Comments

[whochick.livejournal.com]

Gawd I hear you!

It's one of the most frustrating things about being a female SW fan ... that and the dress ups are a tad chilly :p

Give me Leia any day, at least she had some bloody conviction ... stood her ground even when those she loved were at risk, you know: Things We Like To See Heroines Do.

And excuse me, but I'm glad she died in Ep III ... I couldn' t have coped with anymore Dutiful Housewife from her.

[kabooti.livejournal.com]

(Pssst! it's geek girl again!) =3 Paul told me to read this post and it got me thinkin'. I reckon it's not that George is sexist or thinks women -can't- do things for themselves... it's more like he just has an over pronounced sense of chivalry. Men have to charge around and fiercely protect their women in George's world. *shrug* Just a thought. Don't get me wrong though, gimme a sabre-weilding, bad-ass fighting chick anyday =D If it really troubles you, go read some published Star Wars fiction if you haven't already... some of it's really great... -and- features lotsa women doing their thing.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

G'day, finally got to reply.

I can understand the sense of chivalry thing, but I'm not prepared to give him that much credit. A bit like Lando, the only black guy with a speaking part other than James Earl Jones, it feels like the only reason we have female Jedi is tokenism on his part.

There were one or two female Jedi on the Council, but they never got a speaking part. If a female has become a Jedi or Jedi Master, she shouldn't need protecting. And that should be shown. Given the way that the Jedi are portrayed, it wouldn't have mattered if you'd made any of the major Jedi female. There's no reason Ki-Adi Mundi couldn't have been played by a woman.

I'm not saying it's deliberate, it's simply that he just doesn't think of it. But that's what angers me about the decision to have female Jedi, don't do it if you're going to give them nothing to do or show them as less capable than the guys.

Thank God for Clone Wars. Cool Jedi chicks fighting and kicking bottom, yay! And yes, I've heard about a bunch of cool female Jedi in the books.

Sorry I got into a rant there. Just passionately against tokenism or watering down great characters like Padme. I felt sad that young girls couldn't come away from the third film with a strong female character they could admire.

Very much looking forward to meeting you and then we can drive Paul nuts by talking Star Wars.