With the arrival of Disney+ in the UKcame yet more journeys to a galaxy far, far away, and it’s exactly the sort of escapism we need right now. The much-hyped space Western, The Mandalorian, finally showed Brits what all the fuss about baby Yoda was, while also introducing Gina Carano as mercenary Cara Dune, Emily Swallow as The Armorer and, in season 2, Rosario Dawson as beloved former Jedi Ahsoka Tano. Two episodes of the first season were directed by women - Deborah Chow and Bryce Dallas Howard - a first for live-action storytelling in the franchise’s 42-year history. Then, there was the concluding season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
In recent years we’ve seen the Star Wars universe make more space for women through the legacy sequels and solo stories. The 1977 film, A New Hope, featured just two credited female characters out of 25, and they enjoyed just 15% of screen time. It taught me that despite the series introducing Carrie Fisher’s Leia, one of the most iconic and inspiring female heroes of cinematic history, feminism wasn’t much of a consideration back then and an unconscious bias against women went unchecked.
Fast forward 38 years (and skipping the woeful prequels), Lucasfilm had started to learn its feminist lesson. In The Force Awakens, Leia finally got the respect she deserved as a brilliant Rebel fighter by being made General of the Resistance, while Daisy Ridley’s Rey was cast not just as the female lead, but the lead-lead. And, unlike the former Princess, she didn’t have the privilege of royal wealth to support her on this new, heroic Jedi journey. She was the everywoman hero. That film reminded me, and the rest of the world, that female-led movies make big bucks. It was one of 2015’s highest-grossing films and earned over $2.2 billion at the global box office. But Star Wars still had a white feminism problem.
Until 2017, most of the major female characters had been visibly played by Caucasian women: Fisher, Natalie Portman, Ridley and Felicity Jones were the white, brunette, female faces of the franchise while Lupito Nyong’s black body was hidden behind CGI as Maz Kanata. Then The Last Jedi arrived, introducing Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico with Va Veronica Ngo as her heroic sister Paige, with black actors Thandiwe Newton, Erin Kellyman and Naomi Ackie joining in subsequent instalments. The treatment of Rose Tico in the final chapter - she was little more than a cameo - proved controversial. And I’m still waiting to see Arab women represented in the franchise - George Lucas certainly borrowed from MENA culture to make his space opera - and a female screenwriter given the opportunity to pen a script.
Star Wars has a long way to go on its journey towards gender equality, both in front of and behind the camera, but this fan is happy to see that it’s headed in the right feminist direction. I just hope it stays on course.