MOVIE

Princess Leia:

Star Wars’ vision of womanhood

by Dimithri Wijesinghe

With J.J Abraham’s take on the beloved franchise, the geeks of the world have assembled, to break down and rebuild every little bone the studios throw at them. And the Star Warls arousing aptly titled ‘The Force Awakens’ is the cause for an over abundance of nostalgic re-watchings and comparisons of the characters and the story line, and everything in between. The inevitable discussion with regard to the ever so notorious female hero verses feminism takes front and centre. At the very heart of this discussion is of course is our beloved Princess Leia, in all her not-sporting-cleavage glory.

Leia has always been a feminist icon with her modestly dressed self, wrapped in dune-coloured fabric. It’s always been clear that she’s a woman, but it’s not what she’s leading with per se, In short, her sexuality is not the source of her power.

This may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but in the world of female action heroes, cleavage is often a must, consider Wonder Woman, who at her most powerful is basically in a bikini.

This is of course the very familiar Star Wars vision of womanhood: all action, some attitude, practical clothes. Princess Leia’s dress in the first Star Wars film was a lesson in leaving things to the imagination, seriously to the imagination.

A sense of pride

When princess Leia came on screen, girls all over the world felt a sense of pride and comfort, that idolization was firmly rooted in how accessible she was.

Young girls including myself could picture ourselves in those clothes that she wore; I could picture myself taking charge and ordering everyone into the garbage shoot; I could imagine myself racing through the forest moon of Endor and chasing down storm-troopers.

Her chaste relationship with Han Solo was entirely in keeping with my younger selves understanding of romance. The fact that her outfits were almost entirely devoid of sexualisation was in keeping with my own tweenaged sense of fashion.

Female heroes have never been more appealing, What Princess Leia opened up to me and young girls around the world, was an adult version of the childhood we were already living. I can think of very few iconic female characters who can have that effect.

Of course many will harp about the provocative Slave girl Leia get up, but the truth is I don’t recall giving it much thought when I was a kid, beyond the fact that that’s what she was wearing when she singlehandedly killed Jabba the Hut, thereby ridding the universe of an evil villain.

So despite the massive franchising, and Slave girl Leia probably being the most popular item ever to be sold in a star was memorabilia store, and despite the fact Princess Leia was definitely strong with the force, she never got to wield a lightsaber and that’s ok, because a new era is upon us and feminists around the world are hopeful that the new installment of the adored franchise would certainly do right by an iconic heroine.

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