In the 1990s the Spice Girls were crowned pop queens with hit after hit, their rallying cry was “Girl Power”. In practice I am not sure questionable talent bolstered with sex appeal, hardly unusual for performers of any gender in the pop world, but definitely a confusing message to the girls out there. In 2017 Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi was released gaining praise, online, for being progressive, bringing in new female characters and ‘better’ roles for women. However was this a real crash through the Alderaan ceiling, or superficial lip service embraced by the Twitter generation?

1 Becomes 2

One of the most disappointing story points of the Last Jedi was the sidelining of General Leia, especially given that this was Carrie Fisher’s final performance, obviously not counting the footage repurposed for The Rose of Skywalker. Early in the film there is conflict between Leia and Poe because she blames him for the loss of lives when he recklessly attacked a First Order dreadnaught (lets forget that she surely knew about and authorised the launch of the bombers). However shortly after that scene Leia is ‘killed’ by an explosion on the bridge that also serves as the unceremonious death scene of fan favourite and “it’s a trap” meme Admiral Ackbar. However despite the explosion and the vacuum of space Leia survives, by way of her flying through space and back into the damaged resistance space ship in what many have called the Leia Poppins scene (more to come on that). After the scene Leia is hospitalised until shortly before the film’s conclusion. Her role as resistance leader is taken by a new character, Vice Admiral Holdo. Holdo is used to continue the conflict with Poe Dameron, the new trilogy’s answer to Han Solo. Holdo is at odds with established character Poe the conflict being that Poe wants to know Holdo’s plan, and Holdo won’t tell him, which is a little less compelling than the conflict established with Leia, both because the conflict itself is less compelling, casualties we witnessed vs a plan we have no knowledge of, and because the audience has an established relationship with Poe whilst Holdo is introduced only to propagate the conflict. Add to that that Holdo’s unreasonable or unexplained lack of rationale for her decisions make her an unsympathetic character, not least because we the audience are in the same position of ignorance as Poe and as such share his point of view. Had Leia remained conscious, her conflict with Poe one of attack vs protect would have made much more sense, and tied into the theme articulated by Rose (protecting what you love vs fighting what you hate). Grieving the loss of Han Solo and seeing much of her former love in Poe, Leia was in pole position for meaningful and dramatic conflict with Poe, a conflict where the viewer can appreciate both sides. Instead General Leia spending the bulk of the film in the hospital was an affront to both the character and actress Carrie Fisher, because whilst Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill were given starring roles in a film, Fisher was denied the same opportunity playing a smaller role in all three movies. Fisher and Leia’s swansong falls short of giving the character a meaty role and giving the actress a challenging swansong. What makes it worse is that in the story’s final scenes Leia and Holdo confess that they both like Poe because, well I guess its because he is hot enough to erase the deaths they hold him responsible for.

Mama

With the exception of sensing Luke’s safety at the end of Return of the Jedi Leia has never shown an affinity with the Force. Throughout the original Trilogy Leia is shown to be a stronger character than Luke, her twin. Leia is a diplomat and rebel leader when we meet her, Luke on the other hand is a farm boy who dreams of joining the rebellion. While Luke is getting coshed by Tusken Raiders Leia stands face to face with Vader and Tarken saying she recognises his “foul stench”. In Return of the Jedi she kills Jabba the Hutt, freeing herself when Han Solo could not. Leia is the stronger twin, Luke even says this at the end of return of the Jedi “You’ve always been strong”. Leia does not need the force she is self-actualised before we even meet her, she is a leader and in many ways the Force is a crutch for Luke throughout the trilogy, it is an inherited power that he only truly masters at the end of Return of the Jedi. Leia’s use of the force in The Last Jedi is both narratively problematic and thematically confusing. If Leia can survive the harshness of an explosion followed by exposure to space then the Force becomes a superpower, I’d argue that it opens the door to all Jedi/Sith/Stable-boys surviving any and all attacks and injuries. What is jarring is that for all Leia’s bravery and guile it was a random inherited power that saved her. The Leia Poppins scene is so bizarre I believe it may have been misread. I believe there is an argument that it was Kylo Ren who saved her with the force. Kylo had the power to stop a Laser bolt mid-flight in the Force Awakens, Kylo was hesitant to kill Leia himself, and witnessed the tie fighters doing it in his place. Later on the film Kylo betrays and kills his master Snoke. Kylo’s story arc is his temptation by the light side of the Force. It makes more narrative sense that Kylo saved Leia. However in doing so this makes Leia the one thing that she has never been in Star Wars – the princess who needed saving.     

Diva Forever

The excerpt below is from an interview in which Laura Dern discusses her character Vice Admiral Holdo

It was incredible to have the privilege of collaborating on who [Holdo] is and how to present a powerful woman. And the longing which I really appreciated of Rian, Kathy Kennedy and all of our Producers, to allow [her to be] a powerful female character [but] to also, her physicality to be feminine, as opposed, to ‘She’s a strong female. Let’s put her in the guys’ clothes.’ I thought that was wonderful. I feel excited to join this amazing legacy of strong females in space starting with our magnificent icon of Princess Leia. 

The quote from Laura Dern is riddled with mixed messages, Dern is privileged to be portraying a strong woman, and its “incredible” to collaborate with a man who will “allow” her to express her creativity. Fisher, who Dern effectively replaced was renowned as a script polisher, a powerful actress in Hollywood who had a fierce reputation. Whilst Dern celebrates being allowed to contribute, Fisher called Johnson a “Bastard” on stage at Star Wars Celebration 2018.

Its also interesting to me that both Holdo and Leia are wearing dresses throughout the film despite being military leaders, not least because Leia was wearing military uniform in the Force awakens. Again there are mixed messages here, Leia was in a gown during the Yavin attack because she had been wearing that costume during her diplomatic mission. In Empire and Jedi Leia wears utilitarian military clothes, like the bulk of the resistance. Its curious that Dern chooses to characterise military garb as “Guys clothes”, good luck telling all the female police, soldiers, firefighters, mechanics that they are all dressed up as men and should be going to work in a ball gown like a real “powerful” woman? In the world of non-binary gender identities, Grayson Perry on Graham Norton with no eyelids batted and women pulling down gender stereotypes in the workplace it seems Dern’s politics seems to have more in common with the Carry On films than an entry in the “amazing legacy” of sci-fi female empowerment. Admiral Holdo, her grey dress, purple rinse and command and control leadership style do nothing to advance the cause of Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, Kira Nerys and… Princess Leia. Dern’s comments that uniforms are for boys, and dresses are for girls seems to betray both hers and Johnson’s old fashioned politics, that have somehow become championed as progressive?   

Stop, no really

The Last Jedi introduces the controversial character Rose Tico, a character Laura Dern would describe as a powerful woman in “guy’s clothes”. Rose acts as the roll your sleeves up, say it as it is character, like a Star Wars version of Carla Lane’s Ma Boswell. In Rose’s first scene she meets Finn as he tries to leave with the tracking beacon so Rey doesn’t return to a hopeless battle with the First Order. Rose responds by shooting him as a deserter, continuing Finns worst week ever. Rose and Finn embark on a pointless mission to a casino planet, get hoodwinked by a villain, are taken prisoner, escape and then take part in a hopeless battle in which Finn is prepared to sacrifice himself to destroy the enemy’s super weapon. Finn’s sacrifice is halted by Rose who crashes into him like an insurance scammer in the name of teaching him a lesson, wise old sage that Rose is she says “we need to save what we love, not fight what we hate”. Johnson clearly thinks he is a genius with this but he has forgotten two things, firstly that when Finn was trying to leave the resistance/First Order battle he was trying to save his friend Rey whom he loves, rather than fight the First Order, an organisation he hates – Rose’s response was to shoot him. The second thing Johnson has forgotten is that quite often fighting what you hate is exactly the method by which you protect what you love. “I’m not going to fight Voldemort, I’m just going to stay here and protect Ginny” would not have made for a great conclusion to the Harry Potter series. Never mind that Luke, refusing to fight Vader in order to protect his sister is a significantly more convincing example of this behaviour. It also somewhat downplays the sacrifice of Holdo minutes earlier, and the sacrifice of Paige Tico (Rose’s sister) at the start of the film. The conclusion of the Rose/Finn story arc is an incredibly awkward kiss between the two. In 1968 in the Star Trek episode Plato’s Stepchildren featured the first interracial kiss between Uhura and Kirk, 50 years later in 2018 both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi has passed up on the chance for a kiss between Finn and Rey. A kiss between Rose and Finn is not controversial as they are both minorities. The separation of Rey and Finn was unpopular with the actors, didn’t fit with the Force wakens and and it definitely feels like Finn is reduced from co lead to side character in this film. Where Rose could have provided a unique bottom up view of the Star Wars universe she instead provided a condescending mouthpiece for director Rian Johnson.  

If you Wanna Be my Lover

One of the biggest issues in the Sequel Trilogy is the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey. Kylo Ren is a mass murderer both by long distance superweapon and 1-1 in hand to hand combat. Kylo first meets Rey when he abducts her on the orders of his master. He interrogates her and later murders Rey’s friend and his own father Han Solo right in front of her. Despite this the Last Jedi gives us Reylo, where Rey, via invasive Force Skype, is groomed to feel sorry for Kylo Ren despite the crimes she has witnessed first-hand. Like a Trisha episode titled “I have a nice friend who likes me, but I prefer the genocidal abuser who killed his dad” Rey is soon swooning over Kylo’s pecs, and racing to turn him to the good side. Snoke taunts Kylo about being “bested by a girl” and Rey is rescued from her confrontation by Kylo, who is having a temporary wobble. Rey, the hero of the sequel trilogy is dismissed by previous hero Luke Skywalker, she is seduced by Snoke, via Kylo Ren and, like the victims of all abusive relationships, she is separated from her friends and family. Luke Skywalker is forever physically and emotionally transformed following his confrontation with Darth Vader on Bespin, meanwhile Rey is smiling and joking following her showdown with Kylo Ren. Rey forgives mass murder the following day because she fancies Kylo. It’s a shallow motive for our hero and a stark contrast to Luke Skywalker who seeks to redeem Darth Vader after years of soul searching.

Goodbye

In conclusion this demonstrates that The Last Jedi is hardly a feminist masterpiece, a female Hollywood icon is sidelined for a younger actress when the poster girl for powerful female characters is put in a coma. We learn from Laura Dern and Holdo that overalls and rank insignia are for boys and that powerful women learn their trade from Ronan Keating’s self help management book You Say It Best When You Say Nothing At All. We have non-character Rose who seems to be full of fortune cookie wisdom that doesn’t apply to her own actions good job she’s not played by an Asian actress or we might have grounds for a racism accusation… And Rey, who is meeting and greeting little girls (and boys) in theme parks fancies space Hitler. Maybe if The Last Jedi had been written and/or directed by a woman the female characters and storylines might have some credibility to them?