Well, acknowledging the problem is the first step.
Rey in The Force Awakens (Possible Spoilers)
- Thread starter Captain Nebula
- Start date
Well, acknowledging the problem is the first step.
Nobody is saying that, it's just that women would like it if we got more shows with women in the lead.No, I'm drawing on it because a troll came into the thread to call me a name, followed by others telling me that I'm not a real person let alone a new poster. That's where I'm drawing the conclusion from.
Show me where I was welcome in this thread just for stating an opinion and asking a question.The victim complex ("I'm not welcome here.") evident in the post doesn't make things better.
That's funny since nothing in my post was sexist. That would be the other person who thinks women only like shows when women are in the lead.
Judging from people's reactions I'd say most men are on board with that, too. Apparently they're also tired of the lack of diversity in lead roles. 
I like Rey. She is one of my favorite characters from TFA.
Although I do have one question (and I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I'm too tired to sift through the entire thread
):
Although I do have one question (and I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I'm too tired to sift through the entire thread
):Is Rey actually Luke's daughter? I heard, before I saw the film, that she is. But there's nothing in the actual film about it. This may be a plot point they're going to follow up, I'm just curious as to whether there's some obvious thing I'm missing here.
I like Rey. She is one of my favorite characters from TFA.
Although I do have one question (and I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I'm too tired to sift through the entire thread
Is Rey actually Luke's daughter? I heard, before I saw the film, that she is. But there's nothing in the actual film about it. This may be a plot point they're going to follow up, I'm just curious as to whether there's some obvious thing I'm missing here.
I'm pretty sure that this is going to be one of the big reveals in the saga. Though frankly, I'm half expecting them to do a counter-twist a la Avatar the Last Airbender season 2 and do the exact opposite of the twist that everyone's expecting.
I know nothing about using either weapon ( okay any weapon) But another poster, in response to my question, said Rey was using staff techniques when fighting Ren with the lightsaber.
I do love that every time people state an obvious tendency for sexism there's somebody who points out some exceptions that somehow are supposed to disprove the whole original statement. Just like there's no racism anymore now that Obama is president. Right?
I suppose we should get back to discussing Star Wars because this isn't going to lead anywhere pretty.
I would say that they disprove that racism/sexist have any real power on the large scale of business/politics pretty conclusively - and that's something we can all enjoy.
Do this then. List all the Science Fiction/Fantasy properties that have female protagonists (as the primary protagonist) portrayed in non-sexist roles. Then take all those that have male protagonists in non-sexist roles. See which list goes on for pages and page. You could do the same thing for non-white protagonists.
If you want to argue times have changed, do the same exercise for material produced only in the 21st century.
That was me...
But as I said, I read these comments on-line. For the record, my source of that info is Star Trek author and TrekkBBS prodigal son, Keith DeCandido, aka KRAD, in his review of the movie...
The sabers used in this movie did have weight. They used a new prop that had a heavy blade.
I've seen more than enough. Infraction for trolling for this and other posts. Comments to PM, as per the rules here.
This. Also, I do think that with the level of subtlety we got (namely none), it's pretty much a given that she's Luke's daughter.
It would be cool if she were Palpatine's descendant, I think, but ultimately it doesn't matter who her parents are. She is awesome and nothing will change that.
I do love that every time people state an obvious tendency for sexism there's somebody who points out some exceptions that somehow are supposed to disprove the whole original statement. Just like there's no racism anymore now that Obama is president. Right?
I suppose we should get back to discussing Star Wars because this isn't going to lead anywhere pretty.
I would say that they disprove that racism/sexist have any real power on the large scale of business/politics pretty conclusively - and that's something we can all enjoy.
Do this then. List all the Science Fiction/Fantasy properties that have female protagonists (as the primary protagonist) portrayed in non-sexist roles. Then take all those that have male protagonists in non-sexist roles. See which list goes on for pages and page. You could do the same thing for non-white protagonists.
If you want to argue times have changed, do the same exercise for material produced only in the 21st century.
I did not at any point argue that the demand for strong female characters had been satisfied, that's a completely subjective topic that I did not argue. Some people want more strong women in the media, or certain genres. Once again, this is the quota argument, the quota is of course based on your personal desire to have a certain number of movies made for certain minorities/women. Wanting more entertainment aimed at you is not related to my point.
My point is that people who DO want better woman characters in their entertainment can have them, that the system doesn't prevent them from existing, Rey being proof of this fact. This being the case, I again assert that we should be celebrating the fact that the 'sexist powers that be', whatever you want to say they are, do not have a say in allowing characters like Rey to exist. You don't have to dance on the graves of Cancer victims to be happy about the amazing medical progress we made in treatments, you don't have to deny sexism is a thing to celebrate the loss of control over media the old sexist establishment is experiencing.
If you want to discuss sexism, go ahead and whip out your rape, assault, hiring rate, and harassment statistics & I'll be with you 100%. Don't whip out a TV Tropes page and start listing cliches at me.
I can't wait until it TFA is on DVD so I can rewatch the final battle and analyze her technique against Kylo. It definitely felt rough (which I liked) and was impressed but some of the more improvisational moves that had not really been shown in combat before.
On another, more geeky note, the marks of contact were all rather weak. I know Finn got the worst of it, but all limbs were intact-I know, I was as shocked as you were
On topic (moreso), I think Rey is great. However, if one of her parents is Luke, I will be quite upset. I have strong feelings about someone just abandoning their child on a blasted desert planet, so there better be a very good explanation. If Luke is her dad, I will lose a measure of respect for him, as was the case with Obi-Wan after the PT.
Yeah, it's a fictional character relationship. But, that's something that I feel strongly about.
For it to subjective, it would have to be far far less obvious a problem than it presently is. Maybe the extent to which fair portrayal should eventually go is subjective, but the fact that presently it is glaringly absent is not. It will get subjective somewhere around the time we start arguing whether female miners should average 50% in films depicting set in mines (if we get there, be aware that dead female dwarfs in the mines of Moria don't count). But no, we are still at the point where there's a question of whether we should have a strong female lead at all. Yes, the system literally tried to prevent it. It's so blunt there's nothing subjective about it. If you think there is, mentally do what the post you quoted suggested. You will surprise yourself.
I am probably sexist and egoistic enough to care first and foremost by my personal satisfaction when seeing a film, and yet it still manages to bother me. It's so bad it, among other things, decreases the entertainment value of a work – it is fun and exciting to see different people you haven't seen before take on the same old roles. You don't even have to care about fairness in depiction to note that the way it works in most films makes them less fun.
TFA shows that. Given that it is basically a rehash of ANH, I don't think I would like as much if it was just another Luke in it. Since it passes the torch to somebody else, I can re-experience the story excited that another person in the galaxy is now going on the same journey. And changing who that person obscures the fact it is just a rehash. Given that every story told is a rehash of something, diversity helps.
