I don’t want more women in Star Wars
Let me explain…
When the cast of the new J. J. Abrams’ set of Star Wars films was announced, there was a notable lack of female names on the list. Here’s my radical response to the problem: Maybe there shouldn’t be more women added to the Star Wars cast.
Let me explain.
A long time ago,1 I dressed up as Qui-Gon Jinn for a kid’s Episode 1 birthday party, complete with a beard. I wasn’t going to dress up as Shmi, and Padme was boring.2 When I talk about this topic, remember: I’m a lady who literally preferred wearing a fake beard over going as a female Star Wars film character. I have beard cred!
Continuing the Star Wars film legacy of having too few women is an unnecessary shame. It’s vital we see more women in equally badass roles in movies–roles in which they do not need saving, roles in which they can make the crackerjack comments and be just as much a Han Solo type as Han Solo. Joss Whedon roles, in other words. And roles which pass the Bechdel Test. Girls deserve to see characters on the screen they can connect with in some way without having to try too damn hard by, say, donning fake beards. The expanded universe doesn’t ignore women. In addition to Jaina Solo,3 there are characters like Tenel Ka, Mara Jade, and Winter. They are there if you look for them, which means it’s not asking too much for those roles to appear on screen. Girls deserve to be treated as equal constituents of the franchise.
Would I have preferred to go to a party sans beard? Yes, no doubt. But I didn’t want to be lame.4
But if some extra Strong Female Characters are added in now to appease people, I worry we’re going to end up with Mace Windu women. Remember how everyone was so excited to have THE Samuel L. Jackson cast as the fierce Jedi Master for the prequels? Then remember how Windu was basically stoic the whole time and was, frankly, boring? So much emphasis can be put on bringing diversity to the cast, but the hard work of making these diverse characters awesome can easily be ignored–if they can’t5 make Samuel L. Jackson’s character kick ass, can I have faith in a cocky Mara Jade?
So I don’t want to keep asking for more women in Star Wars. This isn’t fair, you might say. Girls deserve fair treatment. I agree.
But women have historically faced unfairness, whether it’s pay or workload or screentime. It’s nice to see Joss Whedon characters, and it’s nice to see myself reflected in characters on the screen. I appreciate when something passes the Bechdel test. I’m not asking for these things to stop; when these things happen without being forced at PR gunpoint, it’s great. But I don’t want stock Strong Female Characters if they’re going to get the Mace Windu treatment after springing forth out of hangdog duty. I’d rather they not be cast at all.
Perhaps the occasional experience of unequal screen-time is good to have around as a reminder of the inequality women face off-screen. Girls deserve plenty of things beyond more female appearances in Star Wars–things like more female STEM mentors in their lives. I’d rather focus on those things than fight for forced characters who will disappoint me in the end. It’s like fighting for a cake on your birthday after someone’s forgotten your birthday–you can, but it feels a little like fighting for someone to care about you when they already demonstrated they don’t. The cake, if given after all that cajoling, ends up tasting less sweet.
The Star Wars lady-cake just seems less enticing to me at this point.
I love Star Wars. Having more than one female cast member would be great, but I don’t want to have to act grateful for Strong Female Characters on screen after cajoling and begging. And I refuse to beg and plead for these characters any longer. If they aren’t there, that’s OK. I’ll just spend my time and money elsewhere. Like rooting for more Firefly.6
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Hayley DeRoche
Hayley DeRoche is a librarian with a penchant for cardigans and corduroys. Luckily, her professional life revolves more around technology & information than fashion.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
For more strong female characters written awesomely and organically see The Clone Wars, now on Netflix because OH MAH GAWD IT IS GOOD.
So your conclusion is basically, “it’s fine, whatever”?
How do you go from it being “vital we see more women in roles” to “if they aren’t there, that’s OK”?
Your article seems to be complaining about hypothetical problems created by your own dreamt-up hypothetical solution (shoehorned in, badly written female characters) to the *real* problem that people complain about. It’s all very strange.
And in any case, I’m not sure arbitrary shoehorned diversity is necessarily an evil, even if that *were* the actual outcome of complaining about lack of diversity (hint: it’s not).
Mr. Anthony Burch here lays it out a little better than I could:
http://www.heyash.com/in-defense-of-arbitrary-diversity/
I think “Perhaps the occasional experience of unequal screen-time is good to have around as a reminder of the inequality women face off-screen. ” is an unusual statement, because it seems that the experience of unequal screen-time is not occasional – it is ever present. It seems to presuppose that we live in a world where equal screen time is the norm, where it clearly is not. This statement alone is a strange thing to encounter in an article that also mentions the Bechdel Test.
Perhaps I still just have whiplash from the leap we’ve made from “It’s vital we see more women in equally badass roles in movies” to “If they aren’t there, that’s OK.”
If I was more clever, I’d attempt to draw a parallel between your references to cake and those famous statements made by Marie Antoinette. Except it seems in this case, that the cake I should be eating doesn’t even exist.
I do agree that it is vital to see women in more roles – regardless of anything else. Do that first, then let’s chat about the state of things.
The EU gave us some GREAT female characters. But sadly, they didn’t care for that either and through the EU out as garbage on a Monday morning. What a shame!
Lando would be a nice addition too, but no one has love for him either it seems.
It’s not that I’m okay with women being absent. I’m disappointed they’re being underrepresented. But the alternatives I’m envisioning when I think back to the characters we’ve been given previously (Mace Windu or Padme come to mind; they were there, but flat; although I guess one could argue most of the characters were…) …well, I’m not sure I’m too keen on those either. Of course, it’s all hypothetical. Who knows, maybe people rabble-rousing for strong female characters would work, and they’d be fleshed out and shining. But I simply have my doubts, given how long the franchise has chafed at this. (They tried with Padme, but she was just dull. And I don’t think that was Natalie Portman’s fault.) So yes, I’m being hypothetical, but I feel like given the past female characters who’ve been cast, I have some ground to stand on in being leery. Do I want to be all disappointed again? Not really.
And Jennifer, you’re right, unequal screentime certainly isn’t occasional. I meant it more in the “on this occasion, I think throwing in the towel would be okay” way, if that makes sense.
My main thing is that the women I’m okay doing without aren’t the strong female ones! I’d love it if I got to be surprised and JJA added some complex women to the character list. Maybe I’ll be surprised and Jaina will be so kickass and will help make up for there not being many other women in the cast. But if it comes down to it and women get added to the cast and their roles are stoic and boring and flat…I’d just as soon change my fandom gears.
Thank you all for your thoughts!
“But if some extra Strong Female Characters are added in now to appease people, I worry we’re going to end up with Mace Windu women.”
I do agree that we shouldn’t just shove in casting for the sake of it. Hell, my high school choir teacher would create extras for our musical every year because she insisted that everyone should get a part, and with a tiny stage, that led to some crazy crowding and a much longer-than-it-should-be musical.
But, if people aren’t speaking up, then how else are we going to get these strong ladies that would otherwise be found in the SW books? There’s a consensus occurring here that the lack of women (lack of diversity in general, really) is a prevalent issue, so what do we do?
I guess we should point that gun originally aimed for PR at Joss Whedon’s head and make him write faster. ;)