1.27.2022

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I enjoyed this lesson because we got to look at how politics and individual views affect modern cinema. Star Wars has long been an infamous sega garnering hundreds of fans worldwide. As someone who seldom watches science-fiction, I have always loved the world of Star Wars and its vastness. Watching the older films, I never was unsatisfied with the character development and the dynamic of the protagonist being a male. However, not everyone thought so otherwise. When Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, they appointed Kathleen Kennedy, an assistant to Steven Spielberg. Since she was an assistant, she had no director, producer, film-making experience prior to being assigned the next series to Star Wars. For her, she felt the old movies were male-dominant, and felt there was a lack of leadership roles in women. So, for her production, she cast an all-female crew to work on the final 3 movies. This ended up being the last 3 movies of the franchise and the ones that I watched. Mr. Paterson pointed out the many similarities in the message, plot, and character dynamics of Kennedy's movies and Lucas Film's movies. Upon hearing that, I felt the same too, because when I first saw the enemy, I thought it was a reincarnation of Darth Vador's death star. It was that similar-looking. 

Something that I was unprepared for was how they handled Luke Skywalker. When I watched the final movie, I didn't expect him to disappear out of nowhere. Because I hadn't watched all of the prequels, I wasn't sure if there was a deeper connotation in Luke's attitude. However, according to Mr. Paterson, Luke was represented badly because he was meant to be the galaxy's most powerful Jedis. and so abandoning him to a faraway island was thought to be a timid move. I understand that presently misogyny is unacceptable and that women should be empowered. But it doesn't make sense to create gender dominance as well. In the old movies, Leia was related to Luke and so she wielded as much force like him. Yes, she may have been made a slave at one point, but she also was the one who saved Han when he got captured and literally froze. I appreciate the powerful representation of Rey in the final trilogy, but I also wanted to see the original cast shine as well. 

I bet there are examples of film series that have maintained the original cast but have portrayed both powerful female and male figures. Mr. Paterson may not agree with me, but when I watched the whole of Harry Potter, I was inspired by the growth of Hermoine. From starting off as an intelligence-driven girl to a valiant, outspoken wizard, having as much courage as her wit. Although the main protagonist was a white boy with blue (in the book, green) eyes, there never was a cease in its fandom. In this sense, I don't think Star Wars was extremely sexist because we were able to see Leia as a strong leader. A great example of how Luke was a prominent figure for the fans was during the Mandalorian. This was a show given to producers of Marvel and in one of the episodes, a CG Luke Skywalker emerged out of nowhere in an epic scene. Seeing the over-the-top elated reactions of Mandalorian fans signifies the immense love and support for Luke. As such, nowhere did the protagonist's stereotypical look impact how fans viewed the franchise. Kennedy should have known that with a great story comes great responsibility, and listened to what the fans valued in Star Wars.

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