Star Wars on Trial

by David Brin

  DROID JUDGE: Your point is taken under advisement. Shall we proceed to the next charge?

  DAVID BRIN: By all means. The Prosecution now calls Jeanne Cavelos to address the issue of whether women ought to have a beef with Star Wars.

  GAINST A BACKGROUND of stars and X-wing fighters, Luke holds his lightsaber aloft while Leia crouches below him, brandishing a gun: two tough heroes ready to fight the evil Empire. In my love of Star Wars, I spent endless hours longing for "a galaxy far, far away," replaying the movie in my head, studying every detail of the poster on my wall. It seemed to embody the excitement of the movie and its strong heroes, Luke and Leia. But as the Star Wars saga unfolded, I became troubled. While George Lucas brilliantly combined diverse ideas and influences to create something startling and inspiring, one aspect of the movies didn't live up to the rest. I began to notice something new about the poster on my wall. Luke above, superior; Leia below, inferior. It seemed to reflect the treatment of the characters in the movies. The problem is not that the women are supporting characters, though they are. Even a supporting character can be striking and compelling. Han Solo is such a powerful, heroic figure, he nearly eclipses Luke. But the women in Star Wars are not the memorable figures they could be. Compared to their male counterparts, they are inconsistent and underdeveloped. There is a clear lack of focus on these characters on the part of George Lucas and the other writers, a tendency to sacrifice the female characters to make the males look better, and a decided inclination to reduce initially powerful women to inaction and irrelevance. Leia and Amidala, as the two most prominent female figures in the films, exemplify these weaknesses.

  Both Leia and Amidala first appear to be strong, heroic women and striking characters. In Episode IV, Leia is a leader in the struggle against powerful, evil forces, a shrewd woman as fast with a gun as she is with a sharp retort. Leia's commitment is unmatched. When we first see her, she is risking her life for the Rebellion. Even when her entire planet is threatened, she refuses to betray the cause. Leia appears to be a key figure in the Rebellion. She is carrying the plans to the Death Star, the most important intelligence the Rebels could hope to have. Darth Vader, one of the top figures in the Empire, is pursuing her and seems to know her well. Leia is also a strong and intelligent leader. Her goal is to get the plans to her father and the Rebels. To do that, she cleverly hides the data in Artoo, directing him where to go, fights the stormtroopers, defies Vader, lies to Tarkin and resists torture. When Luke and Han rescue her from the Death Star, Leia saves them all by instantly coming up with a plan and leading them into the garbage chute. For Leia is not only a leader but a woman of action. She can shoot a blaster, and she's not hesitant to do so. But perhaps the most striking aspect of Leia's personality is her smart mouth: "When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?" When it comes to insults, Leia can give as good as she gets. She's an energetic and impressive presence, bold, brash, powerful and driven.

  As we look more closely at the trilogy, though, we see hints of weaknesses in the character, weaknesses that increase until eventually they drain all strength, coherence and believability out of her. While a welldeveloped character can withstand some inconsistencies-it's human nature to be inconsistent, after all-the inconsistencies within Leia are so great, they destroy any sense of character cohesion.

  Throughout Episode IV, Leia appears to be a committed freedom fighter with a clear goal: overthrowing the Empire. Yet in Episode V, Leia's personal determination to fight this fight is undermined at Cloud City. She should be desperately trying to re-join the Rebellion, help them reconstitute their crippled forces and find a new base. Yet she makes no attempt to contact the Rebels or to expedite work on the Falcon. She could have ordered Threepio, Chewie or Han to stay with the ship and oversee the repairs. Or she could have made an ally among the mechanics of Cloud City, offering triple pay for overtime. Instead, she leaves it to the men to work things out, while she changes clothes, fixes her hair, frets about the missing Threepio and paces back and forth in her room in the clouds, like an ill-tempered Rapunzel. She seems less interested in rejoining the Rebellion than in nitpicking and proving that Han's decision to bring them to Cloud City was a bad one.

  We again see a lack of commitment to her goals when she encounters the Ewoks. When she wakes up in the forest and finds Wicket, she instantly gives up any hope of rejoining her team. Why doesn't she try to figure out the right direction and start walking? That's what Luke does. A dedicated fighter, in the critical moments before battle, should do anything to get where she needs to be. Instead, she follows Wicket, making no attempt to question him about the location of the Imperial shield generator. When Luke and Han at last find her, she appears to have been hanging out in comfort at the Ewok village, changing her clothes and combing her hair. What soldier lets down her hair before the big battle? What happened to the can-do, determined woman who yelled, "Into the garbage chute, flyboy"? Her actions and attitude are completely at odds with what they ought to be. It would have been simple enough for the writers to change these things, to keep Leia's commitment to her cause strong and consistent, but this clearly was not a priority.

  In addition to her commitment, Leia's importance is also undermined. Leia initially appears to be a powerful figure, a princess and senator and the bearer of key Rebel intelligence. Over the course of the trilogy, though, her importance dwindles and her power evaporates before our eyes.

  Before Episode IV is half over, the Senate is dissolved, making Leia's position as senator irrelevant, and Alderaan is destroyed, making her title of princess meaningless. The power and resources she once commanded are now dramatically reduced.

  She should still have power as a key figure in the Rebellion, but that, too, slips away. She remains on the sidelines during Episode IV's big battle. She is a mere onlooker as males pilot the fighters and males direct the battle. She's the cheerleader, there to witness the glory of the males and pay tribute to it. At the awards ceremony, she is in the position of a commander, but she does not wield the power of one. In addition, though she delivered the plans that led to the victory, she receives no medal herself. She is neither a leader nor a valued participant.

  In Episode V, the crawl informs us that freedom fighters have been "led by Luke Skywalker." Luke is a commander now and Han a general; both have gained in status while Leia has lost hers.

  When it comes time for the Rebellion's evacuation, the order is given by General Rieekan, not Leia. Briefing a small group of pilots, Leia is perhaps the equivalent of a low-level officer.

  By the time the Rebels prepare for their ultimate battle against the Empire's new Death Star, Lando is a general too. He's leading the fighters. Han is in charge of attacking the shield generator. Leia has been given no mission, title or job, and it appears that she's played no part in the planning of this major action. The Rebellion doesn't seem to believe she has any useful skills. Since no one needs her, she volunteers to be part of Han's crew. Her status can't get much lower.

  Leia could have had a compelling subplot in which she found a new role for herself within the Rebellion after the destruction of Alderaan. Luke, Han and Lando all undergo such a process and grow as characters. Leia, on the other hand, after starting out as a key figure in the Rebellion, becomes marginalized and ends up an unneeded hanger-on, present to witness the heroism of the men.

  At least Leia still has her wits and her leadership abilities. Or does she? These, too, are undercut. A shrewd leader must know how to turn any situation to her advantage. After her escape from the Death Star, Leia realizes the Millennium Falcon is being tracked by the Em pire. This is a brilliant insight. Yet what does she do with this huge advantage? Does she search for the tracking beacon and deactivate it? Does she direct Han to land on a decoy planet, transfer Artoo to another ship and send the plans to the Rebellion? No. Although she has no idea whether the plans will reveal a weakness in the Death Star, she heads directly to the hidden Rebel base she has spent the entire movie pr
otecting.

  A strong leader must inspire others to fight for the cause. When it comes time to attack the Death Star, when every ship counts, Leia makes no attempt to convince Han to join the Rebellion. Luke does make an attempt, and Han's change of heart seems to arise out of Luke's comments and Han's affection for Luke. George Lucas chooses to emphasize the bond between the two males and leave Leia on the sidelines.

  During the evacuation of Hoth, Leia again appears a weak leader. Han drags her toward her transport, and when their route is cut off by a cave-in, Han informs the transport that he will take Leia on the Falcon. She is not making the decisions or even influencing them. She is simply a problem to be handled.

  Han continues to make the decisions for the rest of Episode V, with Leia functioning as extra baggage. She has served her story purposes: drawing Luke into the Rebellion, providing the plans that allowed for his heroic victory and falling in love with Han, thus assuring the continuation of the Skywalker line. The vibrant, shrewd, confident woman is no longer necessary, so the story turns her from leader into follower.

  While Leia's power, leadership and intelligence fade, Leia's skills as a woman of action are presented inconsistently, jerking her character schizophrenically between action hero and passive victim. After Leia sends Artoo away with the Death Star plans, she hides while Vader kills her crew. Why hide? If her plan is to claim she is innocent of all wrongdoing, why not march up to Vader and try to save some of her Rebel friends? When she's spotted, she fires one shot at a group of stormtroopers and runs into the open, assuring that she'll be captured. These actions undermine Leia's coherence as a character, because the strengths we see in her elsewhere are MIA here. The story requires Leia to send the plans to Tatooine, then to be captured. But the writers could easily have found a way to fulfill the needs of the story while maintaining the integrity of the character. If only they had taken the time to do so.

  Within minutes of the movie's opening, Leia is captured, transforming from Rebel fighter to damsel in distress. She spends the next hour as a victim waiting to be saved.

  While Leia has some great moments during her escape from the Death Star, most of Episode V is spent building Han up as an action hero by tearing Leia down. When Luke is missing in the subzero temperatures of Hoth, Han goes out to search for him. Leia, who by her own account loves them both, stands around like a helpless wife whose husband has gone off to war. What woman of action, what person who feels loyalty and love would do nothing when she could look for a dying friend? Don't her feelings tell her that Luke is in trouble? If the writers had been concerned with developing Leia's ability with the Force, and the connection between Leia and Luke, this could have turned into an intriguing step in that story line. But instead the friendship between the males and the heroism of Han are stressed, and Leia's character is undermined.

  While on Cloud City, Leia seems unable to act. All she can do is complain and worry. When Leia expresses her concern, Han treats her like a child. He kisses her on the forehead, pats her on the cheek and tells her to "relax," he'll handle it. This is not how a person treats his leader. This is not how a person treats his equal. This is how a person treats a misguided inferior. Han has been built up as a great and admirable hero through this episode. If this is what he thinks of Leia, then it is what we think of Leia. She has plummeted from shrewd leader/action hero to damsel in distress to pouting child.

  In Episode VI, Leia achieves a perfect three-for-three record, getting captured and awaiting rescue by Luke in all three movies. After failing to free Han, Leia is relegated to the role of a minor foot soldier in Luke's elaborate plan, so Luke's heroism can take center stage. Defenders of Leia's character point to her strangling of Jabba as proof that she's a strong action hero. While she does, at last, take some effective action, how heroic is it to kill a defenseless slug? Luke agonizes over the morality of killing a defenseless Palpatine, and when he finally tries, he discovers the Emperor isn't defenseless at all. If George Lucas had cared as much for Leia's character, he would have given Jabba a gun or toxic slime so he could pose more of an immediate threat. Or had Leia feel some internal conflict over her action. Or made Leia more ruthless and vengeful in her love of Han, qualities that could have had dire and fascinating consequences. As is, Leia performs a brutal act, yet we are not supposed to think her brutal, and she shows no further sign of brutality. Ultimately, the act does not even help their cause, because the entire sail barge is blown up by Luke moments later.

  Leia's heroics in Episode VI continue to be second-rate. When they make the assault on the shield generator, Leia is the first to retreat to the bunker door. She stands there with a drooping blaster as Han kills stormtroopers. When she finally does shoot a stormtrooper, the action is so overplayed it's humiliating-Han praises her for doing something he's done a thousand times. Ultimately, Leia is convincing neither as an action hero nor as a passive victim. The coherence of her character has been sacrificed to the story and the male characters.

  Another factor undermining Leia's status as an action hero is George Lucas's tendency to put the "girl" on a pedestal. This is most obvious when it comes to pain. Enduring pain and paying a price for one's actions are a major part of being a hero. Yet Leia's suffering is minimized and kept largely offstage. Leia is tortured by Vader on the Death Star, which must be a harrowing experience. We are shown a needle and are told her resistance is "considerable," but we don't see her resistance. Heaven forbid we see a woman in pain! But "sparing" us from that removes the heroism from Leia's captivity and makes her simply an object to be rescued.

  When Han, Leia and Chewie are tortured in Cloud City, we see both Han and Chewie suffering, but not Leia. Han's pain is further stressed when Leia, Chewie and the whole cast are marched into the carbon-freezing chamber on Cloud City, so they can witness the price Han pays as he is frozen. It elevates him to great hero status.

  Even Leia's psychological pain is minimized. She seems momentarily upset at the destruction of Alderaan, but we never have a sense of the deep, abiding pain she ought to feel at the death of all her people. In contrast, when Luke loses his aunt and uncle, and when Luke loses Obi-Wan, his pain and grieving are given at least a few moments, and both losses have an enduring effect on his goals and feelings. Pain heightens the heroism of the males while undercutting the heroism of the female.

  Perhaps the most striking, defining trait of Leia's character is her smart mouth. Yet Leia's insults, which in Episode IV seem smart, funny and assertive, later turn nagging and pessimistic. As most of usexcept Threepio-know, nagging others and telling them that all is lost are not good ways to inspire and motivate. When the Millennium Falcon is struggling to escape the Imperial forces surrounding Hoth, Leia says, "This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade." This is not only unhelpful, it exemplifies poor leadership. If only one course of action is available, it is better to offer constructive suggestions than to snipe from the sidelines.

  As the struggle to evade the Imperial forces continues, Leia shoots down Han's ideas while offering none of her own. In between her pessimistic pronouncements, Leia questions Han, clearly not understanding his intentions. The writers choose to jettison Leia's intelligence and instead portray her as confused and astonished, to emphasize Han's brilliance and derring-do. The number of questions she asks increases steadily, literally taking her from "smart mouth" to "stupid mouth." She can't keep up with Han's thought process. Further, Han doesn't see fit to answer her questions, treating her with the same respect he gives Threepio.

  After the Falcon has hidden by attaching itself to an Imperial Star Destroyer, Leia asks Han, "What's your next move?" Even when Han asks her where they should go, she offers no ideas. She apparently has no knowledge of the systems neighboring Hoth, even though they would be critical to choosing the location of a Rebel base. Conveniently, Han's old buddy lives nearby, making Han look competent and heroic. When they arrive on Cloud City, Leia again expresses her displeasure. Han replies, "Well,
what would you like?" Leia, of course, has no answer.

  The most serious blow to the coherence of Leia's character comes with the revelation that she is Darth Vader's daughter. From the beginning of the trilogy, we have seen Leia's loyalty to the man she believes is her father, Bail Organa. She goes to Tatooine at her father's bidding, and she shares with her father a love of their home planet and their people, and a hatred of the Empire. Thus the news that Bail Organa is not her father and that Vader is should be a huge blow to her. Yet Leia reacts as if she's on Prozac, saying she's "always known." This is not convincing on any level. The feisty Leia would fight this claim whether she sensed it was true or not, just as she fought her attraction to Han. Being told that Vader-the archenemy who has pursued her through the trilogy, tortured her twice, killed countless Rebels, frozen her love, tormented and cut off the hand of her other love, and repressed countless planets-is her father ought to trigger the biggest outburst from Leia we've ever seen. It ought to be the climax of an internal conflict that's been building in her throughout. But the character hasn't been given the development and care she deserves. There has been no building internal conflict, except for her minor reluctance to admit her affection for Han, which has no real impact on the plot. If we look at the other major characters, we see that Luke's internal conflict between light and dark is strongly developed, and its resolution determines his success against Palpatine. The resolution of Han's internal conflict-help the Rebels or leave with the money-leads to the destruction of the first Death Star and carries the heavy consequence of his being frozen and delivered to Jabba. Leia is again given short shrift.

  Leia's character was clearly not a priority in the original trilogy, where she was shunted aside, undermined and neglected. By the time the last Ewok sang his last "Yub yub," I had accepted this unhappy truth. As I stared at my Star Wars poster and waited the long years for another trilogy, I hoped that the promise Leia had initially shown might be realized in a new character, her mother.