On Monday’s Good Morning America, J.J. Abrams stated that he wants Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be a movie that mothers take their daughters to. He expressed his excitement to abolish the stigma that Star Wars is just a boy thing. Though I admire J.J. Abrams for wanting to revolutionize the way Star Wars is viewed, as a life-long female Star Wars fan, it is difficult to hear anyone say that Star Wars has always been just for boys.
I do understand this point of view. After all, in the early years, Star Wars merchandise was advertised solely to boys. Today, kids on playgrounds still bully girls who are obvious Star Wars fans. In addition, it was reported this past October that 70% of those who pre-purchased tickets for the new movie were men.
What the media and marketers do not understand, however, is that this franchise has always had a strong female following. I am proud to count myself among them.
Below are 5 reasons why I believe Star Wars has always been as much for girls as it is for boys. As a warning, this is not a complete list, nor is it a feminist perspective. Rather, these are just some of my own insights on why I personally think Star Wars is, and always has been, for girls and women alike.
1. Star Wars is a science fiction adventure.
Star Wars is an amazing work of science fiction. To me, science fiction is very gender neutral. This could be because I grew up with a mother who devoured books like the Dune chronicles, Enders Game, and The Stand. As a result, she introduced me to stories of exciting adventures in space and tales of discovery of new civilizations on uncharted planets. The stories were also about the never ending power struggles every life form faces and about the unsung heroes stepping up to change civilization as they knew it.
My mother’s passion for science fiction did not stop at novels; she also loved watching science fiction movies and TV shows, especially Star Trek. Despite her Star Trek love, my mother introduced me to Star Wars. Growing up I never once questioned whether science fiction or Star Wars was a boy or a girl thing. It was just something that I enjoyed, regardless of my gender.
2. Star Wars has romance.
As much as Star Wars is a science fiction adventure, it is also a story about love and romance. Despite the witty exchanges between the characters, I cannot cross the line and call Star Wars a romantic comedy. The first two trilogies, though, have two big love stories — one between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala and another between Leia Organa and Han Solo. The sexual tension is seething in the plots. I, for one, wait in anticipation for Han to kiss Leia only for her to walk away once interrupted. Also, who doesn’t love the sappy exchange between Han and Leia before he gets frozen in carbonite?
Don’t get me wrong, these love stories certainly have their flaws such as the love triangle between Luke Skywalker, Leia, and Han. I understand that George Lucas created this story line to mask the true relationship between Luke and Leia. Every time I see The Empire Strikes Back, though, and watch Leia kiss Luke followed by his smug expression, my stomach turns knowing that she is his sister.
Though these underlying story lines could have been better crafted, they are great love stories none-the-less; love stories that fans like me thoroughly enjoy.
3. Star Wars has eye candy for the ladies.
When you think about sex appeal and the Star Wars saga, most people mentally jump to scenes of Leia in her gold bikini or Padme in the white get-up showing her mid-driff. Perhaps without knowing, Lucas didn’t hold back in giving women who watch his movies some eye candy, too. The Star Wars saga gave us Han, Lando Calrissian, and the young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
There are arguably other men who I left out, but there are two who I purposely neglected to mention: Luke and Anakin. I just cannot bring myself to consider them eye candy when Luke is a whiny little brat and Anakin — who also has his whiny moments — is completely self-absorbed. These traits overpower any attraction either of them had.
Certainly not the most feminist perspective, but this is another reason why Star Wars has always been a movie for girls, too.
4. Star Wars is a saga about family.
I understand that at first glance Star Wars appears to be a soap opera between a father and his son. A closer look, however, reveals that Star Wars tells stories about so many other family dynamics. These relationships range from the love mothers and children share, to the kindness of uncles and aunts who raise their step-nephew, to long lost siblings willing to fight for each other, to the estranged relationship between a father and his daughter.
These relationships may not have the big plot line like that between Darth Vader and Luke, but these relationships are present in these movies. They are all intertwined and are apart of what makes the soap opera between father and son so extraordinary. Regardless of gender, these familial relationships are something that everyone can understand.
5. Finally, Star Wars is full of badass women.
I can write an entire book on the badass women Lucas gave to us because there are so many layers to the roles of the women who he created. There are some out there who believe that Lucas did not do enough. They claim that outside of Leia, the speaking roles for women were limited. This may be true, but there are others — such as myself — who find that Lucas delivered some strong female characters despite their lack of written lines.
Some of the female roles in these movies could have easily been given to men, but Lucas gave them to women. For example, all the Nabu royalty, including Padame, were women. In addition, the Rebel Alliance leader in Return of the Jedi was Mon Mothma, another woman. Lucas also gave us loving mothers in Beru Lars, Shmi Skywalker, and of course Padme. My favorite female roles, besides the leading ladies, were the female Jedi Masters sitting with the Jedi Council in the prequel trilogies.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Lucas is a feminist in creating these female figures. It was Lucas, after all, who made Leia into a sexy slave. Lucas also neglected to make Leia the true Jedi hero, which undoubtedly she should have been. Reasonable minds may differ, but just think about it for a moment: Leia was the one who demonstrated in each of the movies that she is a true leader, a person who takes control, and unlike her brother, a person who would not complain that something is too hard, she would just do it with or without the force.
Overall, Lucas gave us real women and not just pretty faces. He gave us a princess that did not need a man to save her and women who were powerful leaders. The strength he provided in the female roles is what helped make these movies as much for girls as it is for boys.
Hope for the Future
Just as Qui-Gon Jin tells young Anakin, “your focus determines your reality,” if our focus remains on these movies historically being only for men, then we make these movies just for boys. Instead, if we change the conversation, then people will see that these movies are for everyone.
As a fanatical female fan, I have already introduced my 8-year-old daughter to Star Wars. She isn’t concerned with our silly adult notions on whether Star Wars is exclusively a boy thing. Instead, she just enjoys some great movies.
As a mother taking her daughter to see the new movie, I am excited for her to witness the continuing saga and legacy that Lucas originally conceived — a future of hope for boys and girls alike.
Feature image by Timothy Tolle under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
