This week, the first trailer for the new "Star Wars" movie was released. It looks very much like the other "Star Wars" films fans across the world have come to know and love. There is a corrupt government, lovable rebels who fight back, spaceship, and death stars. Basically, it looks like it's going to be a really awesome "Star Wars" film. That is, it looks like a really awesome "Star Wars" film unless you are one of the many whiney, mopey dudes who are upset that this new film admits that women exist and are people too. When the second the trailer was released, loads of men got their panties in a twist because "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" has a female lead. Of all of the criticism, the thing that I find most infuriating is that most of the criticism was accusing the studio of being "pandering" or "gimmicky" just to get girls to watch their movies.
First things first, there is nothing "gimmicky" about a woman leading her own story. Women make up half the population and each of those women has their own story. What about showing women leading their own stories in movies just as they do in real life is gimmicky? The women of the world don't live their lives to pander to niche audiences so why would anyone assume that women in fiction do? There is nothing edgy or niche about acknowledging that half the world's population exists and may have something interesting to say. In fact, "Star Wars" has used plenty of pandering gimmicks in the past to appeal to specific audiences, but none of those had anything to do with gender. Jar Jar Binks, for example, was clearly pandering to children so that they would bug their parents for toys. George Lucas knew that kids would like a funny-looking, dopey sidekick who spends an entire film on slapstick gags so he put one in to boost sales by appealing to kids. Hell, the only reason for that stupid Ewok battle was to sell toys. That is gimmicky and pandering.
More believable than a woman with a story, apparently
When the new movie comes out, you probably won't even be able to find merchandise featuring the female lead. There is still a severe shortage of Rey merch so it's pretty obvious that this isn't some gimmicky move to appeal to a different market or sell toys. If it was we would be swimming in Rey and Leia products. Instead, we got an over-saturation of shirts, lunch boxes and toys featuring the whiney male villain who everyone makes fun of.
It's not even a matter of getting women to join the ranks of fans, they're already there. Trust me, no woman spends hours running around a con in an uncomfortable metal bikini, dodging creepy guys that refuse to shower unless she likes "Star Wars" enough. If cons have taught me anything, there are plenty of women in the fandom. Nothing needs to be done to pander to them, they're already there.
So if it's not a matter of selling more products to make the company more money or to widen the audience to encourage more ticket sales, why are so many guys threatened by the thought of two movies (out of eight, mind you) with female leads? In the end, it comes down to the fact that men are not used to being asked to identify with non-male characters. A vast majority of movies have male leads regardless of the fact that men do not make up a majority of the population. If a man, especially a cis white man, decides to watch a movie or TV show, he is pretty much guaranteed to see a character that looks like him that he can identify with. Women, you know, the people that make up half the population, rarely have that luxury. Whenever a woman watches a movie or TV show, she has to identify with the male characters because women have such little representation. On the odd chance there is a female character, she is usually relegated to a small role with little depth. A movie with a female lead is just asking men to do what women have had to do all their lives. Probably even less than that as she will be surrounded by plenty of well-developed male characters.
Clearly it's all about erasing men from the Star Wars universe.
Unfortunately, the backlash that "Rogue One" is facing for having the chutzpah to acknowledge that women are contributing members of society too is all too common. Any time a film has a female lead or, god forbid, an all female team, it gets the same accusations. We constantly accept movies with all male teams like "The Expendables," "The A-Team," and "Reservoir Dogs" as the norm. For some reason, we don't see "Inglorious Basterds" as pandering to men, but an all female "Ghostbuster" team is somehow a gimmicky abomination. There is literally no difference in the general structure between these types of team films, but an all female version is somehow terrible. Our society has managed to erase female presence in our media so much that any time someone points out that women are people that exist, crazy wars break out over the internet.
Help, I can feel my penis shriveling and falling off because there are too many women!
The good news is that Hollywood seems to be moving in the right direction by giving us more movies that acknowledge women as people. We are very gradually starting to get more movies with female leads. Eventually, the trolls will have to learn to accept the presence of half the world's population. Maybe 100 years from now, children will be able to grow up seeing themselves well-represented in the media and people will understand that women are not gimmicks or objects, but living breathing people with compelling stories to tell. We are not there yet, but we can get there. "Star Wars" is just the beginning.
