Girls in Space: Female Representation in Star Wars
Sometimes we write things and realise a little while later that it doesn’t match up to how you currently think or feel. This piece is interesting to me in that respect because I wrote this a good few months ago when I was in a vastly different mental health situation and my life was on a different trajectory. Fast forward to now and the changes are subtle but it has lead me miles away from where I thought I was going. And that’s ok!
So here’s me from the past and the present, muddling through some patriarchal feelings and thoughts, while also appreciating that each perspective and emotion is valid. Let me keep what was written then, and I’ll interrupt where necessary…
Disney’s Star Wars creators did something unforgivable when they presented us with Rey. Aside from the fact that they copied and pasted Luke's narrative onto Rey's storyboard (foreshadowing, echoing, harking back, it can be cute when it isn’t so blatant), they actually had the opportunity to create the universe's most badass of female characters… And instead we got something distinctly vanilla flavoured.
I like to make this point quite often, and when I'm forcing my boyfriend to listen to this argument for the twentieth time, he will also like to point out that Luke was also vanilla.
Awkward, and I never saw myself saying this, but he’s now my ex-boyfriend. It still causes me pain to think about it, but within that healing process I’ve also been able to witness some of this article for what it was: A cry for help. I’ll explain more later.
But I object! Luke avoids the vanilla kingdom with one very important fact. He gets a boner for his sister.
If you are reading this then it is fair to assume that you've watched at least one of the films from the new trilogy. I love that they went for a female lead. Carrie Fisher’s Leia still dominates in a male-centric environment. But Leia wasn’t the main character, she was the Star Wars side-chick everyone wanted on their team. Rey is what the franchise truly needed. However, I hate that Disney did not fully commit to it.
Rey, slender, brown haired, looking reminiscent of Leia and Luke in her white muslin mummification wraps (echoes, echoes, echoes). She knows how to take care of herself, she's scrappy and intelligent. It's clear we're supposed to be rooting for this tomboy angle (and I was).
She is an orphan, sort of, and this is part of the problem, I think. There are big gaps in her backstory that even she doesn't know and this creates a void in character development. Sure, Luke lived with an aunt and uncle, but they gave him a stable, loving environment. One with structure. One that was a bit boring for a young, inquisitive lad. Of course he was going to help that droid find old Ben Kenobi. But also, this meant that in the act of taking away the people who loved him like a son, you've given him a motive.
Rey starts from nothing. She is nothing. And this is a motif that is repeated again and again. Really, even by the end *spoiler alert* she's still only “self-made”. She doesn't embrace who she truly is or to rebrand her Palpatine image as something universally tolerable. She just ditches it and becomes a Skywalker. If bland-as-bollocks Rey can call herself a Skywalker, then so can I.
So there she is at the beginning, and maybe I am a little harsh because her opening scenes are fun and have much potential for character development. And then Finn comes along and one thing becomes startlingly clear:
Finn was meant to be the central protagonist.
Not Rey. If you want any further evidence that a female lead wasn't fully backed, just look at the early playsets and toys Disney produced. Rey seldom featured. It was all the boys. Badduns and goodduns. But no Rey, because she was a girl and this was a boy's film and boys don't play with girl toys. (I kept the link to where I saw this but I’ve since lost it, so if you know where that might be, please do point me back in the right direction. Credit is due).
I really wanted to like Rey. I wanted to feel like I could be her, and with her renaming stunt at the end I guess she did gift me that, just not how I was expecting.
Huh. Ok. Here’s where it gets really interesting for me. When I say “I wanted to feel like I could be her” I think it was because I was feeling so inadequate and lost and hopeless as a woman, as a woman who has often felt alienated by the patriarchy, who was being manipulated by someone I loved to feel a certain way about my self… And I unfairly projected my emotions onto a fictional character. I needed her to be the hero for herself, when I couldn’t do that for me. Does that make sense? I think that’s where my strong sense of disappointment comes from, really. It’s not Rey. It’s me.
What Disney could have done was this… Well, the possibilities are abundant. But this is my favourite…
This is Sarah Connor in Terminator 2:
Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in ‘Terminator 2’
She has one heck of a glow up from the first film. In 'Terminator’ she's soft and vulnerable, but still manages to save the day. By the time the sequel comes around, however, Sarah Connor is ever last bit the badass you know she has to be. And the actor playing her went method. She's an absolute unit.
But if you were readying for the inevitable A.I. apocalypse, wouldn't you just drop all gender conventions and expectations and just get the job done?
The interesting thing with Sarah Connor is that she is still hot. I want to be her. Disney won't go there though. Only when hell freezes over will Disney create a female character fully committed to her cause rather than her perception (either of the audience or of the other on screen play mates).
As far as animated films go, sure, there are characters like Merida, who rebel against expectation. And arguably characters like Jasmine fully lean into their femininity and weaponize it. I haven't seen the live action Mulan yet (because as I'm writing this Disney+ want me to pay 19.99 on top of my subscription to see it before December 4th. And that's a whole different kind of exploitation) but I will be interested to see how they explore gender with it. Especially as they were hoping for it to be a hit in China. Communist, oppressive, gender normative, tow-the-line China. Eh, we’ll see.
Instead, what we were given was a poor attempt at a tomboy character. Unwilling to allow her to go full "macho", even though fighting a galactic war is no time to worry whether you look insta-ready swinging that lightsaber or not, they tried to pull it back enough that she still screamed and grunted in a way that was “pretty”.
I have a lot more empathy for Rey now. Having watched the films since then, more times than is probably healthy because Kylo Ren is my balm, I still feel like Rey’s character could have been pushed further in terms of aesthetics. But I am more accepting of her character overall. She still lacks a certain amount of depth that we are treated to with other characters, but like many of the Star Wars jedi-types, they just want to do what is right. Above all. They’re almost challenged to have no depth in character because that would mean inner conflict and all that fun stuff that might lead to temptation to go over to the dark side. (see: Obi-Wan. Vanilla Daddy).
So yeah, I was harsh on our girl Rey. And while I’m at it, I do want to be clear that I don’t think that anyone fictional or real should have to express themselves (including their gender) in any way other than how they are comfortable, I think I was again projecting my frustration at a patriarchal society that had failed me, yet again, and how I feel both confident and conflicted about being more of a “bruh” girl but also enjoy wearing pretty shoes and dresses; but if I do that am I just part of the problem? Can we ever feel truly free to express ourselves? How much of our sense of self is being formed by that same patriarchy? And ugh. Existential crisis, much? 2020 was rough. To recap: The male gaze is doing us dirty.
And sure, they did give her a moral dilemma. They did have her question her loyalties just as Luke did in his quest for answers. Hold on though, those glimpses of "dark" Rey… she's beautiful, in an otherworldly and slightly terrifying "uncanny valley" way. But that's a snapshot of who she could be if she committed to a certain path.
Which shows us Rey's biggest problem. Disney refuse to choose a path for Rey. Admittedly that IS the whole point of the story, she could inevitably go down either (although we knew she’d be good in the end). But arguably she never reconciles or reunites with her actual self in the storyline, and from a character creation point of view she is never fully realised one way or the other.
Did Disney accidentally create an androgynous Jedi in doing this?
I would totally stan this if it were intentional. It is, however, the result of fear of criticism and an outdated world view. So what do they do? We already learned that Disney won't commit to anything when it comes to Rey, therefore the only option is to now try and reel it back in.
It's the Elizabeth Swan effect. In ‘Pirates’ they gave us a very proper, vulnerable, albeit obviously trapped and desperate for adventure, feminine character. They then went wanted us to see that actually she can break the chains of femininity through piracy. Behold! Pirate Liz! Isn't she dirty and rough and taboo? (The answer to all these questions is no, but Pirate Liz is a lot more fun). I feel like they can achieve some sense of female empowerment through characters like Tia Dalma (however, addressing the problems surrounding POCs as the “savage unknown” whose only power lies in black magic or voodoo is another problem we really can’t ignore, can we? No, we really can't. But I simp for Tia Dalma all day, every day) but with Elizabeth Swan, guess what? They just did not commit.
We see Elizabeth Swan, right at the end of the current series of films, running across the damn cliffs like something out of a Regency romance, ready to embrace her long-lost adventuring husband. And that just is not it, sis. There were attempts to rectify this with Carina but her character is a hot mess and worthy of a whole other essay. Needless to say, at least Lizzie owns her femininity while Carina tries (and fails) to even rattle the chains.
With all this preceding Rey, I should have known better. Disney doesn't learn, instead it tries to mirror current affairs and social justice movements by shoe-horning "acceptable" characters into the storyline.
Let's be clear. Rey should have been a total machine. A sweaty, muscular, couldn't give a damn thank you ma'am, polyamorous (but also hot for teacher) grey Jedi. She's a Palpatine and not a Skywalker. This isn't girl scouts. You can't just earn your Skywalker Badge because you bonded in some unexplained (literally, it's never properly explained) but incredibly rare and special way with Leia's son.
Poe and Finn should have kissed. Tenderly.
More screen time should be given to D-O. Because that little droid is successfully advocating consent and giving representation to the plight of rescue animals everywhere. A droid is not just for Christmas, it’s for life.
Instead what we get lumped with is serious regression when they decided to backtrack on everything they had already created and have Rey and Ben kiss at the last possible moment. Because just in case we weren't sure, or we had forgotten, Rey IS a girl. And she has girl feelings. And no one is immune to the sexual beast that is Kylo Ren (which is actually a fact) especially not Rey. Who is not androgynous, nor does she have lesbian or polyamorous vibes. A Sapphic Jedi? No, no, no. Not here. It's not that we don't support all genders and sexualities because we did feature two girls kissing for, like, a whole frame. #progressive
Honestly? I am leaning into this argument for the sake of exploring it. I don't hate Rey, I'm just disappointed because I can see the potential in her. Much like old Palpatine, clutched tight by the biggest claw machine in the galaxy, hanging there like a crinkle-cut chip, could see her potential, even if it was to suit his own ends.
Yeah, that and I was just intensely disappointed in myself. Look, it’s not all about me, but when you boil down the psychology of it and look at what’s left in the bottom of the pan… Eugh. It ain’t pretty.
In a way, Palpatine was banking on her shallow depth of character; breaking the fourth wall much? He could see what we were seeing. But unfortunately for him, Rey was being backed up by someone so layered and complex and moody it literally takes my breath away. Kylo Ren saved Rey in more ways than one.
Any scene where Rey conversed with Ren was an immediate level up to her character. I always felt like they were like a mirror for each other, except it showed the parts of them they couldn't, or didn't want to, access or express.
The fact that Rey only begins her journey, independently, as a young adult, once all the patriarchal influences have died, is a discussion for another time (so many discussions, so little time). But for now, let me leave it on this point:
Rey Skywalker is a fraud. She always will be. But at least she reinforces the idiom of "fake it until you make it". Even you can become a Skywalker if you say it enough times in the bathroom mirror. Just be careful about what you might be summoning with that power.
Written by Sarah
