I have yet to read a post here sexually fantasizing about her, and both Fisher and Portman were beautiful and very strong women. Even more so than this actress. Also, I haven't read people body shaming her, is she fat or disfigured? What's to body shame?
Well, she is sort of like a Mary Sue but how is that a sexist criticism?
Honestly, her character does not do any service to women, why? because she is shown to have all these gifts with little to no effort, more so than messianic figures in the Jedi world. Women characters who contribute more to women's image are women who are relatable, realistic, vulnerable yet strong, women we see in ourselves, our mothers, our sisters, daughters, etc. Women like Ripley from Aliens or Connor in terminator, even the recent Wonder Woman was better handled as a character. I also don't like daenerys for the same reasons, I prefer the flawed and more relatable or at least realistic women in GOT like Catelyn, Cersei, the Red Woman, Arya, Brianne, Margaery, Olenna, etc. Even women can be great villains like the actress who played Nurse Ratched and Kai Winn in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and DS9 respectively. I think these superhero type of women who are devoid of realism or feminism do not help women in any way whatsoever and are a step back because who are they trying to convince? No one buys it, because it is so fake and unrealistic. The problem with rey is she does not have a Heroe's journey, she's already at the finish line with little to no effort which weakens her. And a strong female character would've been in better hands with George Lucas with the help of a decent director and scriptwriter (his weak points). Few men write good female characters and George Lucas is one of them along with GRRM, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron. And I suspect they have this ability because they have had or have a close relationship with a woman in their life that influenced their upbringing.
I'll answer your others posts some other day when I have time.
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ChuckFindlay (392)
7 years ago
Small breasts. She sucked her way into the job etc etc. Imdb had pages and pages of that shit.
As for rey as a character, no she isnt the best. And youve pointed out the reasons why without using the term "pussy pass" or something equally derogatory. Theres far to much insistence that this badly written character is a bad because its a woman. You were able to point out why shes a bad character without once mentioning that shes a woman. And thats the difference. I think your right in everything that you say, I dont beleive that she is a very well written character but it has nothing to do with gender or the actress, and everything to do with the writing. Its like says 80s arnold movies were bad because his arms were too big.
What follows after that is conspiracy that rey was written that way because "girl power" or whatever its called these days. Kathleen kennedy is being called all sorts for pushing women in lead roles like its a problem. Write them well and who cares.
Oh and I could not agree with you more about lousie fletcher. I love to hate that woman. She really plays evil so well. She is without doubt one of the greatest understated villains Ive ever seen. I saw cuckoo when I was about 12 or so and I absolutely hated her. Which in my mind is the greatest compliment I could give to her performance.
Women do need to be seen as more than just sex symbols. Seems very hard to be able to get a female action star that isnt showing off skin. Ripley, conner, both james cameron creations are what should have been the template going forward, but instead we got 20 years of women killing men between their thighs.
So for alls reys faults as a character, Im just glad that she hasnt been over sexualised as most female leads find themselves.
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vicky_lc2001 (1907)
7 years ago
QUOTE:
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"Small breasts. She sucked her way into the job etc etc. Imdb had pages and pages of that shit"
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^^^I haven't come across such posts and both Fisher and Portman are small breasted as well. But I imagine those posters are trolls purposely trying to rile you up.
I think some people feel that she's written as a "token' superhero woman because she is presented to be even much better than either Anakin/Luke (who are messianic figures) with little to no effort, no training, and no depth whatsoever. It also doesn't help that the actress is rather limited.
If you liked Fletcher in OFOTCN, then you'll love her in Deep Space 9, she is deliciously hateful and channels Nurse Ratched there.
The problem with women being seen as Sex Symbols is that women mistakenly thought that being seen as such would be liberating in the 60s. Have you tried watching films from the 20s-40s? It is surprisingly more modern and enlightened in how they treat women characters. Women in those eras were treated right, be they flawed devils or pure angels, they had shades to them. They could be sexy and villains without being portrayed as mere sex objects. The 1950s Hollywood however changed that, women became boring side characters again with a few exceptions. But it was the 60s that did the most damage to women in cinema, instead of being offered diverse intense roles, they became one thing only: sex and objects to possess. It wouldn't have happened if women didn't openly embrace it however but they did in a misconstrued view that it was liberating. It wasn't. So now, the West has this PC inundated culture of being devoid of reality. And you know what I also don't like? Apparently now, being feminist or pro-feminine means being masculine and no longer feminine. What does this say and how does this damage women's psyche?
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vicky_lc2001 (1907)
7 years ago
Because this gives out the message that feminine characteristics or gender sexual roles are inferior and beneath masculine characteristics or gender sexual roles. It encourages women themselves to look down at traditional feminism and to applaud only traditional masculine roles. And this is what GRRM, Lucas, and Scott are different - their female characters portray strength in being women, with being feminine, not with being masculine. And yes, there is a lot of strength in being feminine, in traditional female roles like motherhood that many women in the West unfortunately look down upon.
Also, Ripley was created by Ridley Scott and the first Alien film was the most enriching and realistic to her character. FYI, Ripley was initially written as a man but Weaver was best suited for the role so Scott gave it to her instead.
The problem with applauding any female character that 'seemingly' portray strength is that it weakens one's credibility. Women need to applaud great women roles for being great and criticize bad females roles for being bad. There needs to be a spectrum of what is good and what is bad, because if they're all great, then our voice does not matter because we are blind. Blind to the truth, to reality, and objectivity. Our voice becomes weak and simply noise with no importance behind it because we fail to speak and see the truth.
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