Star Wars: The Role Of Female Characters In Films

A very short time ago, in a world very well known, the famous Star Wars movies were brought to creation. George Lucas originally exposed the original Star Wars in 1977, and it has continued to up to present day. The ideas Lucas created through these movies helped evolve other films. One of the things that the prior Star Wars didn’t evolve though was female representation in movies. The representation of women in past Star Wars films compared to the most recent Star Wars film has substantially evolved in the characterization of females. Through watching all Star Wars films, I can personally say that there was a dramatic change in how females were perceived in past Star Wars films compared to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

In contemporary film women's roles in films have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and between

The film industry has created the conventional gender roles of society into their movies; A majority of films have supported some of the male and female stereotypes. In the history of the film industry, the role of men is primarilythat of the stereotypical working class man or hero, while the roles of women are primarily portrayed as being somewhat inferior to men. In the 1930s through the 1970s, men held the leading roles in films while women played smaller roles. Men were typically employed, successful gentlemen, while the woman’s only job was a housewife. The film industry was mostly dominated by men. In terms of jobs, women were given mostly family roles and rarely were shown outside of their homes, while men had

Gender stereotyping is used in media to build up and magnify character traits and bring humor to situations. Keeping that in mind stereotypical characters portrayed in popular movies and television shows allow viewers to internalize those messages of gender thus making it difficult to argue stereotype behaviors in the real world.

For two reasons: Women are often to talk amongst each other to “voice concerns about others to their peers” (Rawi) and they are also known for talking “about what they are thinking and feeling” (TheHopeLine). From my own experience and based on proven fact that women are more emotional, I understood Miner’s point because in movies, plays or books women can be depended on for an emotional scene because they are capable of displaying such human

According to an article called, “How Horror Films Are Bringing More Gender Equality to Hollywood” it states that, “University of Southern California communications professor Stacy Smith, who researches depictions of gender and race in film and TV, found that of the 5,839 characters in the 129 top-grossing films released between 2006 and 2011, fewer than 30 percent were girls or women.” This explains that males still have a dominating place in movie character roles in this generation. In general male figures in the movie industry could be seen as the more ruling characters as they are more

Typically before feminism rose in America, girls grow up wanting to be a royal princess and one day hope prince charming comes and sweeps her off her feet and save her from her troubles. In early Disney films, the traditional fairy tale has been shown in most predictable endings. Typically the princess needs to be saved by a prince and sometimes gives something up just to be in love with a man she barely knows. This is where the saying love at first sight may come into play. Young girls who idolize these early Disney princesses are convinced the first guy who comes along will be their prince charming.

Women and women of color play specific roles in movies and films. It is a little more obvious when it comes to women of color to the roles they play in movies and films. We see women and women of color play a couple of roles. Does not matter the movie they will always find a way to play one of the few roles that are “meant” for women to play. Movies such as Southside With You, The Color Purple, and Queen of Katwe show women having these kinds of roles. Today’s movies and films show specific roles for women and women of color to play.

The only identity that Disney has established with their Star Wars universe is one thing…diversity. Disney love waving the big bright flag of diversity when talking about their movies. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was sold as a new direction featuring strong female characters and an array of non-white characters within their cast. This is fine and dandy but in the process of celebrating films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The issue of gender in cinema is one with a long history of debate and disagreement, and it’s (thankfully) not going away any time soon. It’s hard to read about any film these days, from Nymphomaniac to Tammy, without coming across considerations about how women are depicted onscreen. For every film that seems to push or challenge traditional gender norms, there’s a handful that reinforce them. Are we making genuine progress, or is it a losing battle?

“A dream is a wish your heart makes” says Cinderella in her famous fairytale. (Cinderella). Cinderella is an animated children’s film released in 1950 about a young girl, Cinderella, who lives under her cruel stepmother’s house with two of her stepsisters who constantly belittle her. She receives an invitation to attend a ball and with the help of a fairy godmother, she is able to reunite with her prince charming in the end. The Little Mermaid is also a Disney children’s animated film and it was released in 1989.

Although, I do not agree with this. I feel that there are many films today in which women play the biggest roles and are the main character. For example, Julia Roberts plays a huge role in all of her movies, being a very strong, independent women. Many people may agree that all 'chick-flicks' are women film based as well. Not only 'chick-flicks' have women that play important roles though. Angelina Jolie plays in plenty action packed, adrenaline rushing movies. For examples; Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Tomb-Raider, Wanted, and Changeling are all movies Jolie has played major roles in and been successful. She represents a very strong and independent women in each role she plays in all her movies, showing that she doesn't need a man to accompany her in her films to make them better.

Stokes indeed proposed a very important point of view which is the rule women are playing in famous movies such as Star Wars. I watched the movies, and I have to agree that all the main characters were males (until recently when they started to add more females). Stokes explained, the main point of the movie is that the hero (male) is trying to save the princess, which he does and then he gets his reward that is the princess. Stokes showed that such examples in movies might give wrong impressions to our kids about women being secondary characters, helpless, and cannot defend themselves. Also, kids could end getting the idea that everything can be solved with violence. He believes that these little details eventually might lead to a greater

Filmmakers use traditional gender stereotypes to produce characters audiences can easily identify with by portraying conventional images of a person with identifiable characteristics. In previous years, the dominant representation of a women in film has been the passive, subjugated protagonist. However, through the development of female empowerment and added feminist representations of film, the female heroine transformed to become strong and independent women in her own right, as an individual character.

on society and culture. But since the beginning, there has been trend of male dominance in entertainment. This has contributed to gender inequality by not giving young girls strong role models in movies. It has also created ideal gender images that young children and adults feel obligated to follow. In more recent years, with the rise of feminism and gender equality, many have begun to push for changes in movies and Hollywood. Gender inequality in film can be reduced by creating more roles for women, avoiding gender stereotypes such as the damsel in distress, and avoiding oversexualizing women.