Welcome back to Star Wars Thursday, a celebration of the wonderful and often wacky world of a galaxy far, far away. A fandom that is richly diverse. A fandom that includes men and women of all races, classes, and creeds.
The internet received a delightful surprise on Tuesday, with the arrival of our first glimpse at the official cast for Episode VII. I grinned, and then did a quick double take. Yes, I’m thrilled with many of the casting choices. I’m firmly on board, and eagerly grasping for every scrap of information I can glean about the story. When I stopped feeling jazzed about the idea that the Star Wars cast was all together and started counting, though, I had a distinct moment of disappointment.
For the record, I’m pretty good at math. I’m no statistician, but I understand percentages. You see, women make up approximately 50% of humanity. There are seven new members of the cast shown. They were announced as “the cast of Episode VII”, not part of the cast. One is a woman. ONE. For anyone who wants the numbers on that; 1/7 is about 14%.
The uproar began. Many of the eloquent fans I follow began to tweet and write opinion posts about the situation. I joined in the Twitter debate, and even had one of my tweets quoted in Bonnie Burton’s post for Cnet.
I enjoyed my discussion with like-minded souls on Twitter, and read each post as it entered my feed. I nodded and commented and wondered if I would have anything new to add. Then the defensive voices began to push back.
“Maybe there will be more women announced..”
I certainly hope so! If and when Star Wars announces more women, and gives us information about their importance to the story, I’ll be somewhat happier. An article from April 29th on the Hollywood Reporter strongly suggests that we’ll get at least one more major woman in the cast. Why didn’t that get mentioned when the first photo went out into the wild? I will still always wonder why they felt the need to leave us hanging. Are female fans second class citizens? Just like when the Rebels crew was introduced… one by one… and even the droid was given his video before either of the women. You’d think the disturbance that caused in the Force would have encouraged them to not pull the same thing this time.
“It’s not about the numbers. Aren’t you satisfied to have one strong woman in a movie? Leia’s great, right? And Padme. And Ahsoka…”
No, it’s not a numbers game. No, I’m not saying that we need to “make Han Solo a woman” for it to be fair. (Honestly, someone on a Facebook page actually thought that’s what “those crazy feminists” were after.) Let’s turn that around. Is there some compelling story reason we can ONLY have one strong woman per movie? Is there some genetic disorder or social oppression in the Star Wars universe that prevents those identifying as women from stepping into the light? This is just a ridiculous argument.
“But Star Wars only ever has one or two ladies per movie. Do you want to ruin the franchise by changing things now?”
Seriously? I’m thankful that the suffragettes didn’t subscribe to this notion, or I still wouldn’t be allowed to participate in my government. “We never had the vote, so why should we want it?” I thought the goal was to make the world a better place, not be bound to old traditions.Isn’t that kind of the point of science fiction in the first place?
“No real fan would complain about such a little thing”
Star Wars is important to me. I want it to continue to be important to this next generation of potential fanboys AND fangirls. I think that entitles me – and other fans who are speaking out – to a spot at the table.
“Maybe Ridley will be the main character. She’s the perfect age for a hero’s journey..”
This would be a thrilling turn of events. We’ve had a hero’s arc from the male perspective with Luke. We watched his father’s descent into the Dark Side. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a storyline from a young woman’s perspective? Even if this is the case, I’d still like to know that Ridley’s character received more than just a single woman (Leia)’s mentorship. Perhaps she could encounter a female villain? Why can we only have a woman in one or two spots per movie? Wouldn’t it be lovely to let little girls today have more than just one role to play when they get together to act out the movie?
It’s entirely possible to be vibrating with excitement over the prospect of the new stories that will be told and still point out ways that our beloved universe could better reflect the rich diversity of its fandom.
Until next week – may the Force be with you.
