I grew up loving Disney princesses, but more than any Disney princess, I loved Princess Leia. She didn’t wear a tiara. She wasn’t always in a dress. She kicked some serious butt. She was my kind of princess.
As much as Princess Leia was a strong character in the "Star Wars" trilogy, one of the biggest frustrations for me was the rarity of Princess Leia action figures. Unless they were “cute” or cartoon-y looking (for example, the Galactic Heroes action figures pictured below), it was hard to find action figures of women characters in "Star Wars."
The lack of "Star Wars’" female leads made into action figures seems to be a problem that persists to this day, as seen in recent action figure sets missing Rey, "The Force Awaken’s" main character, like the one you'll see below. People took to the internet with the hashtag WheresRey calling out the missing main character in "Star Wars" monopoly and action figure sets. Soon after Hasbro made an effort to correct the absence of Rey in their toys and released a statement Rey was not included not wanting to “give away” the importance Rey played in the story line, despite the prominence of Rey featured front and center of most promotional posters.
It’s not just action figures that don’t depict a strong presence of women in them, it’s the costumes too. In junior high one year, I wanted to find a Princess Leia costume to wear for Halloween. To my disappointment, it took at least five stores before I was able to find a costume that was not a Slave Leia costume. I was in the eighth grade and couldn’t seem to find one Princess Leia costume that wouldn’t involve me being four-fifths naked. If my brother wanted to go as Darth Vader or a Jedi, there was never a short supply of costumes for him, but if I wanted to go as a female character from "Star Wars," whether it was Princes Leia or Padmé, my options usually consisted of one or two costumes in the corner of a massive Halloween store, if any.
(Be warned, this next part of the article does go over a spoiler!)
"The Force Awakens" has brought to the screen some of the most empowering women the series has seen, from Rey to Captain Phasma. Princess Leia has even upgraded her princess title to General Organa. While this is great steps from the slave outfit Leia wore in Episode VI, there was one part of the movie that really bugged me: the credits. Growing up I always noticed Carrie Fisher was always listed last in the credits, right behind Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. In Episode VII, she is yet again listed last out of the three. She is listed after Mark Hamill, who had about a minute of screen time the entire movie. He doesn’t even have any lines. The internet seems to be exploding with #wheresrey, but just as importantly, the fact that Carrie Fisher is still listed last, over someone who had so much less screen time and 100 percent fewer lines than she did.
Again in "The Force Awakens," Carrie Fisher was asked to lose weight, just as she was asked to do before she was dressed in her slave outfit in Episode VI, back in 1983. Even 33 years later, films are still telling women their worth as an actor is somehow tied to their weight.
"Star Wars" will always be one of my favorite movie series of all time. It will always have given me one of the strongest women heroines to look up to in film. The female leads themselves are strong-willed and often break-down female stereotypes in action/sci-fi movies. However, the older I get, the more I realize how much is wrong with the expectations the production and marketing surrounding the movie reinforce the stereotypes of women society has.
I grew up when it was hard to find action figures of female characters from my favorite movie. I grew up in a time when I couldn’t find a costume of my favorite character to dress up as for Halloween without it being of the one time she was dressed in a bikini as a slave. I grew up consistently seeing my favorite main character’s name listed last in the credits, even to this day when they make a new movie. What does it say to a girl when she is growing up and seeing all of this? That action figures are for boys, her perceived attractiveness is somehow tied to her worth, and that she doesn’t deserve the same level of recognition as the opposite gender, often times when she could be doing more work than they are.
Everyone is so concerned that Rey wasn’t included in the latest action figure sets, but this is not the only time the "Star Wars: franchise has failed to recognize some of their most prominent female characters. The movies are on their way to improving this but still have a ways to go.
