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Cooper Alcott
Mr. Phillips
H. Cultural Media Literacy
May 22, 2016
Finding Balance in the Force
The seventh installment in the Star Wars film franchise has been praised by fans
and critics alike. Episodes from this series in the past dont often portray characters with
much complexity but, the series has now taken its first steps towards redefining gender
codes and breaking racial stereotypes. Women, for the first time are making great role
models for girls of all ages to relate to and arent being reduced to sexual entities. While
men, fighting against typical action movie machismo with heroes of new and old are
now showing more genuine traits and morals than the males of other franchises in
Hollywood. The films great leaps towards confronting racial issues is just as admirable
as its handle on gender. One of the main characters and protagonists, Finn, otherwise
known as FN 2187, a black stormtrooper, took fans off guard. Not often in the history of
cinema do African Americans have leading roles in such blockbuster films as this one.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is just as much a progressive film as it is about space
monks blowing up planetary weapons of mass destruction which only makes it all the
better.

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Ever since 1977 when the first Star Wars film came out A New Hope the series
has had very profound place in American culture and has impacted families throughout
the nation. Debatably, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa have had the largest
influence on men and women alike out of the trilogy but, neither of them are the slightest
bit progressive in terms of gender and race. Skywalker is one dimensional character
whos one and only goal after he treks across an entire galaxy is to destroy the empire
and save his father from the dark side. He at times plays shows scare amounts of
complexity like the sympathy for his father but, for the majority of the trilogy Skywalker
fits the aggressive male stereotype like a glove and could very well fit along side other
macho masculine Hollywood big shots like James Bond or John McClane from Die
Hard. His twin sister, Princess Leia Organa is constantly sexualized and disparaged
throughout the trilogy and never really seems to challenge gender codes. For instance
when in Return of the Jedi Leia is chained next to Jabba the Hut in metal bikini clad. Or
how Han Solo is consistently talking down to her and calling her sweetheart. She and
Skywalker throughout the trilogy are both simply portrayed and fall right in line with
gender codes and reinforce them as well.
The much less subtle feminist warrior in the Star Wars franchise is Daisy Ridleys
Rey. Sadly, their is little known about her lineage and her past, but, we do know shes
tough as nails, has survived on her own since she was a young child. While Rey is a

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strong women who provides a great example for women not only in America but,
globally she has one negative trait that she cant seem to shake. Rey is a Mary Sue, a
Mary Sue as a character (male, female, or otherwise) who is given or is expected to be
given unwarranted preferential treatment and unearned respect, thereby compromising
the integrity and believability of the story and/or its characters. (springhole.net). All
while being perfect at everything from mastering the force to getting in dogfights in
stolen spaceships she constantly keeps up with many of the ideologies held by the thirdwave feminism movement. Early in the movie, she informs Finn that she doesnt need to
hold his hand to run from strafing tie fighters, and, later on she takes on Darth Vaders
grandson, Kylo Ren in a lightsaber battle and beats him by using her sudden connection
of the force to take control of her emotions and dish out calculated attacks that his
passional rage couldnt predict or defend against. Despite the portrayal of Kylo Ren as a
man with no control of his emotions Disney managed to not generalize all males that
way.
Han Solo up until this most recent Star Wars episode has never been shown as
anything more than just a typical smart-mouth action hero but, once he and Leia
became aware of their son joining the dark side Han takes action. Against great odds,
he meets his son again for the first time in years on the Starkiller Base. Han shows
himself to be a different character that will further break the mold of action heroes by

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actually caring for his son and not neglecting the trip altogether. While its
understandable that action movies don't care about a fathers relationship with his
children it isnt acceptable to make a fathers lack of relations with his children
something to be longed for and Star Wars does a fantastic job pushing against this
archetypical action hero with The Force Awakens Han Solo.
The second hero of this film is Finn, Reys sidekick although the promotions of
the film would like you to believe otherwise. Finn is mostly there to show that Rey
doesn't really need him, of course, until she finally does. John Boyega is the fourth black
character with a name in the entire history of Star Wars. Although he portrays the
sidekick to the amazing female Jedi, Rey, it is believed by many that hell eventually gain
those skills himself making this the most diverse Jedi couple to ever hit screens and will
hopefully clear the way for many more to occupy all the future roles this series has to
make available within the next decade.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is about to turn a year old this December, and, in
Disneys newly-found annual tradition they will be releasing another film named Rogue
One: A Star Wars Story. This movies release is already showing promise amongst the
audience that enjoyed the progressive elements of The Force Awakens and will be
starring Felicity Jones alongside a stellar diverse cast. Hopefully this new trend of

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women and minorities as leading roles will continue on in the series and will inspire of
Hollywood franchises to make the transition as well.

Works Cited

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Dickens, Donna. "7 Most Progressive Moments from 'Star Wars: The Force
Awakens'" HitFix. N.p., 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 19 May 2016. <
"Star Wars Unveils The Look of a New Canonical Female Imperial." The Mary
Sue Star Wars Unveils The Look of a New Canonical Female
Imperial Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2016.
Dickens, Donna. "7 Most Progressive Moments from 'Star Wars: The Force
Awakens'" HitFix. N.p., 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 19 May 2016.
"So What's A Mary Sue, Anyway?" What Is a Mary Sue? N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May
2016. <http://springhole.net>.