Today we are looking at Star Wars Episode IV a New Hope. This movie is a classic to many in the cinema world, and plays a major part in pop culture. Star Wars was written and directed by George Lucas and released into theaters in 1977. It included a cast of new actors at the time. Actors such as: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford. The plot was fresh with a science fiction theme. Science fiction was not popular at the time, but this movie is credited with advancing the science fiction genre. This movie had many rough patches during the development period. Star Wars was almost never released, but became a smash hit, and became the highest grossing film during the 70's. Star Wars was critically acclaimed by critics and fans. It received 10 academy award nominations, including best picture. Star Wars won 6 out of 10 academy awards. Star Wars expanded everyone's imagination, and opened a new world for young minds.
The main question I am asking is, does this cult classic pass the Bechdel Test? In order to analyze the movie we will first go over the plot. (Note: This is my interpretation of the plot.) Then we will analyze the female character/s. Finally, we will focus on how other characters act around the female character/s. (Also, note that this is going to have spoilers about the movie in the blog.) So without further ado, lets see if Star Wars episode IV can pass the Bechdel Test.
Plot:
Star Wars begins in a galaxy far far away in the midst of a war between the Empire forces and the Rebel Alliance. During this war, one of the Rebel ships have been attacked by the Empire. One of the members of the ship is the diplomat Princess Leia. Who is holding top secret information for the Rebel forces and a message for a man named Obi-Wan Kanobi. She gives this information to a droid named R2-D2, and he and his friend C-3P0 barely escape the ship with their lives. The droids instructions were to locate Obi-Wan Kanobi and find a way to Alderaan to deliver the information. Leia is then captured by soldiers of the Empire, (otherwise known as Stormtroopers.) She is planned to be sent to the Empire's headquarters, the Death Star.So Star Wars episode 4 is all about how the droids get to their destination, and the rest of the films are what happens after that.
Female Characters:
Princess Leia:
Princess Leia is a diplomat for the rebel alliance. She is first seen early in the movie and is portrayed as a very confident woman. She is strong, a leader, and is loyal to the rebel alliance. It is also shown that Princess Leia would rather die than give up important information about the alliance. She is an important female figure in her galaxy and is well respected to most.
Aunt Beru Lars:
Sadly this character is the only reason why Star Wars gets a 1 out of 4 stars instead of a 0 out of 4 in the Bechdel Test. This is because it passes the quantity of female character standard. She only has a few lines and every single one is about Luke Skywalker or her husband Owen Lars. The majority of her lines are: "Oh Luke is just a kid." She is on scene maybe 3 or 4 times before she dies and that's pretty sad.
The Aliens: (Jawas, Aliens in the Cantina, Sand People etc., etc.)
These aliens display no female or male gender. We also can't understand a lot of their conversations. So there is no way to analyze if they are male or female.
The Countless Stormtroopers in the Death Star:
Here is my argument about the gender of the Stormtroopers. They can be aliens or humans of different genders. However the only ones that talk are the male humans, so that simple debate wouldn't change if the movie passed the Bechdel test or not.*Also there were numerous female mechanics in the background during the end of the movie. I thought this was really cool!
How the Female Characters Were Treated by Other Characters in the Movies:
Aunt Beru Lars:
Aunt Beru wasn't really treated poorly. She would occasionally say something and then it seemed like people would disregard her comment. This was disappointing to me because some of the things she was saying would be worthwhile. Sadly, after talking to Uncle Owen about how he should give Luke a chance at going to this academy thing, she and her husband die a few minutes later into the movie.
Princess Leia:
Now there is something I would like to point out about Princess Leia. She starts off as an amazing female character who seems like the main protagonist of the movie until she gets captured. She is seen lurking in the shadows and even is shown shooting a Stormtrooper, and killing him/her/it. When she is captured, Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin actually treat her like a threatening enemy with a lot of power. Though yes they may treat her poorly, but that is because she is a prisoner. They are threatening her because they are intimidated by her and know of her high rank in the rebel alliance. I noted that I was deeply disturbed during the entire scene of the blowing up of Alderaan. The way that Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader acted in it was very creepy. There was too much of them trying to get up close and personal to her and uncomfortable shoulder grabbing. They seemed more menacing than needed.
Now you may be thinking, Leia seems like a strong woman, everyone must treat her with respect. I would agree with you for the most part. But there are two characters that objectify her SO MUCH. Their names are Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. They make me so mad whenever they make a stupid comment about her looks or how they should date her. In order for me to fully describe my anger I will analyze by character about each rude thing they do to Leia.
Luke Skywalker:
Luke Skywalker is basically just a creepy pubescent kid who has never seen a young woman. I swear, he takes one one look at Princess Leia from R2-D2's message and he's all like "OMG she's so pretty!!!" And he looks starstruck. He has this dumb look on his face while staring at her. C'mon Luke!! Have you never seen a person before? Get a grip! The worst part is when he rescues her from the Death Star. When he opens the prison cell, he just stares at her. This obviously creeps Leia out and she asks him what he wants. At what point was director George Lucas thinking: "Oh and in this shot Luke should just stare at her for 3 whole seconds. This is totally not creepy." Though Luke isn't the worst of the sexist duo. That award goes to a space criminal by the name of Han Solo.
Han Solo:
This guy, this guy!!! Han Solo is sooooo misogynistic and creepy! If I were Leia, I would not even try to talk to him. Han Solo only saved Leia for her money. But as soon as he meets her he begins objectifying her and giving nicknames. He makes numerous comments about the possibility of being in a relationship with her. His snarky one liners to her pisses off Leia many times, and yet he actually thinks he might have a chance at dating her. Han Solo has NO right to disrespect her. She is an important figure in the rebel alliance and he calls her sweetheart! Also during the Death Star trash scene, he is trying to help Leia climb something. While he is trying to help her he isn't really helping, he is just touching her in places like her thighs, butt, hips, and torso. At some point Leia should have known that he wasn't actually helping her up, he was trying to make and excuse to touch her.
To show how unacceptable his behavior was to Princess Leia, I am going to give a real world example to you. Imagine going to meet the President of the United States, Barack Obama, with your friend. This is an amazing experience and you want to make a good first impression on the president. When you go to meet him, your friend decides that he wants to make rude comments about Obama and call him sweetheart. When the President makes a comment about how rude your friend is being, that friend makes another comment about the presidents sass. Then a few more hours later President Obama wants to go play basketball. After playing basketball for a while, your friend is trying to help the President slam dunk. While "helping" the president he keeps touching his butt. After playing basketball, President Obama decides to have lunch with you and your friend. During lunch your friend made a comment about possibly being in a relationship with the President. After leaving the white house, you then feel ashamed of how your friend behaved around the President and ruined your chances of ever re-meeting with the President.
Now you can understand my anger at Han Solo. If he wanted money, he should have treated Princess Leia with respect instead of making rude comments and touching her in unacceptable places.
The Verdict:
Overall this movie has got 1 out of 4 Bechdel stars for having at least 2 female characters. Star Wars has a strong female character named Princess Leia who is treated rudely by other main characters. Overall the movie failed the Bechdel test, even with the strong female diplomat Princess Leia.
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