So I've been working on my crackpot Star Wars theories a bit in my spare time, and it took me to another viewing of Episode III, or as I've taken to calling it, "The Least Bad of the Prequels."
But watching it again, I found myself heaving the heavy sigh that only a Star Wars fan who's been let down too many times can heave. And the reason why, in two words: Padme Amidala.
I don't know why I didn't see it before. Maybe I didn't want to. Maybe there were just too many other things wrong with the prequels to notice it until now. Likely, it was privilege and the option not to see it. But it's there. And it's glaring.
Here we have one of a precious few major female characters even in Star Wars. And she basically goes through three stages:
1) The duly elected queen of a planet, whose intelligence and compassion for her people lead her across the galaxy and back again, to head an attack force and retake her own government headquarters.
2) A frustrated bureaucrat, still doing some good, still taking some action against weird CGI monsters when backed into a corner, but mostly tasked with the Herculean effort of falling in love with Hayden Christensen, armed only with the dialogue of George Lucas.
3) A barefoot pregnant lady who is in tears over her man for almost the entire film, and does not even leave her home until the end, when she's nearly force-choked to death by her abusive husband, but actually does not die from that--the droid says there's "nothing medically wrong with her"--but rather, we are left to conclude, dies because she just can't go on without her strong, principled Jedi-hunk by her side. Blech.
What's so frustrating is that she starts out so strong, if maybe a little two-dimensional, and ends up so weak-willed and codependent. Now, if I were to rush to the defense of the franchise yet again (which I'm not inclined to do here), I'd say that it's the dark side of the force that is super-sexist: slowly sapping away Padme's power of independent thought just as it seduces Anakin. But the far simpler and more likely conclusion is that the Star Wars prequels prove a larger point: even today, strong (and more importantly compelling) female characters are few and far between in Sci-Fi,
There are notable exceptions of course--Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies, and Charlize Theron's commanding Imperator Furiosa in the newest Mad Max--but they tend to prove the rule. Even Princess Leia, who seemingly pioneered the "strong" female Sci-Fi character, on screen today seems to embody an ancient stereotype: that women who do wield power and authority are rude, abrasive and bossy.
I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but I think the futuristic world of Sci-Fi could actually learn a thing or two from women who've been dead for 2,500 years and more: women of the Old Testament.
I think about Sarah, the wife of Abraham, whose husband is busy serving and sucking up to their angelic guests, while she makes an orgasm joke and basically laughs in an angel's face. I kind of wonder what her reaction would be to an alien ambassador, don't you?
I think about Esther, who uses her wits, and the power and influence she has--admittedly, in a twisted, patriarchal society--to save her people and crush her enemies. Or Deborah, the Judge and head-of-state of Israel, so revered by her generals that they refuse to go to battle without her. I tend to think the Rebel Alliance could use a few more women like these two in the fight against the Empire.
You know, even Eve, whom the Judeo-Christian tradition has unfairly blamed for somehow "causing" humankind's fall, is a pretty compelling character too, when you think about it. Adam is right there beside her the whole time, saying nothing, while Eve does some in-depth Torah-study with the serpent, and eventually makes the choice to eat the fruit, convincing Adam to do the same. You still may not necessarily consider her a perfect moral role model, but at she's least an interesting character: even more so, I'd say, than Adam.
And I think that's what it boils down to: in the Old Testament, for all its flaws and inherent sexism (and there's tons of both), there's still a wealth of female characters who are not just "strong", but multifaceted, flawed, and real in a way that many characters from science fiction are not. (Great article about that concept here). In short, though I love watching my daughter don a Princess Leia costume, I'd be even more thrilled for her to know about and be formed by the stories of Sarah, Deborah, Esther, and her namesake: Mary Magdalene.
