Too Serious?: Sexual Assault in RotJ

[Dream]

Slave Leia is hot. The look has become iconic. I'm sure all the fanboys loved that Lucas put her in a bikini. We got two movies of her in tons of clothing so this was a nice suprise.

It didn't look to me like Leia was ever hurt. She seemed more annoyed than in fear or anything like that. Jabba probably just put her in the outfit to humiliate her, but she got her revenge with the cool killing scene.

 

[Thestral]

Then they frolick in a field and the effect is somewhat ruined.

Ruined? Or driven home?

Ok, yes, ruined. But I'm not necessarily saying the execution was the best, just that it makes more sense and puts a much more interesting twist on things, as you say.

But that scene where he's like "I KILLED THEM ALL" and Padme slides right on by it like killing women and children is roughly on the same scale of "anger" as punching a wall, only makes sense as a conversation between two humans if one of them is under some kind of mind control.

Exactly. Take the subtext and say "fuck the idiotic text, this is what we're going with."

You know, you got the same shit going on with Star Trek and "Orion women."

I think it's nice that Leia expressed her opinion of Jabba's treatment by throttling him to death with a length of chain and her bare hands when the opportunity came. That did not appear to be done with detachment.

Good points.

You spit on top-notch costume design. You spit on it.

Dude, we're not saying the other outfits were bad. Not at all. But the white outfit is the most athletic one, and the one in which she's most active, if you take my meaning, so...

QFT. There's some gorgeous costuming done overall for Amidala. Shame the writing for her character couldn't be half as good.

 

[DonIago]

Heh. Anakin and the Sandpeople.

Anakin - "I killed them all! Even the women and children!"

Padme - "My god I'm hot for you now!"

And then there's Padme setting the feminist movement back about 2,000 years in RotS, by demonstrating that if you lose your boyfriend you no longer have anything worth living for...even if you've just had two children. How f'ing romantic.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

I'm more disturbed that some guys find a gold plastic bikini attractive.

Especially on an actress strung out on coke.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Especially on an actress strung out on coke.

But she was playing a character who wasn't strung out on coke.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

But she was playing a character who wasn't strung out on coke.

That we know of.

 

[Dream]

And then there's Padme setting the feminist movement back about 2,000 years in RotS, by demonstrating that if you lose your boyfriend you no longer have anything worth living for...even if you've just had two children. How f'ing romantic.

Actually he was her husband at the time.

I'll always think it was the Force Choke that killed her. The lost the will to live thing was silly.

 

[DonIago]

Yeah, I don't feel obligated to recognize someone marrying a psychopath.

I don't really find the force choke an acceptable cause of death either given that she apparently had the wherewithal to deliver twins afterward.

It was a bad case of Trinity Syndrome - there was nothing left for her to do in the context of the story, so write her off.

 

[Dream]

I don't really find the force choke an acceptable cause of death either given that she apparently had the wherewithal to deliver twins afterward.

It's probably the childbirth that ended up killing her. It happens all the time in real life. Though I'm pretty sure being Force Choked really didn't help matters.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

I think it's nice that Leia expressed her opinion of Jabba's treatment by throttling him to death with a length of chain and her bare hands when the opportunity came. That did not appear to be done with detachment.

This scene really stuck out to me because I can't recall another hero in the original trilogy killing someone with such brutality. Yes, in most cases the heroes have blasters or some other weapon that ensures a quick death. Leia was only working with what she had, and the size difference meant she really had to work to strangle him. But I always got the idea that she really hated him from that moment.

My 9-year-old take on it in the theater was that she hated being that close to something that gross. The sexual aspect of it didn't cross my mind.

In retrospect, I think it's a fairly cheap and exploitative way for Lucas to get Leia into an outfit the character would never wear otherwise and give it an in-story explanation. It's weird to start a film off by humiliating your heroine and getting her to show some skin and end it with cuddly bears fighting evil soldiers.

 

[DonIago]

I don't really find the force choke an acceptable cause of death either given that she apparently had the wherewithal to deliver twins afterward.

It's probably the childbirth that ended up killing her. It happens all the time in real life. Though I'm pretty sure being Force Choked really didn't help matters.

I'll give you that, but I really wish the dialog had been almost anything other than what it was.

 

[RoJoHen]

I like to think it was the combination of the Force Choke and the childbirth. I'm sure her body was under a lot of stress.

 

[Dream]

In retrospect, I think it's a fairly cheap and exploitative way for Lucas to get Leia into an outfit the character would never wear otherwise and give it an in-story explanation. It's weird to start a film off by humiliating your heroine and getting her to show some skin and end it with cuddly bears fighting evil soldiers.

It was Carrie Fisher that complained about the lack of interesting costumes for Leia. Fisher stated that one could not tell "she was a woman". So Lucas decided to put her in the bikini.

I don't see what the problem is. She looked great. Fanboys got some nice slave leia eye candy along with space battles and lightsaber fights.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

In retrospect, I think it's a fairly cheap and exploitative way for Lucas to get Leia into an outfit the character would never wear otherwise and give it an in-story explanation. It's weird to start a film off by humiliating your heroine and getting her to show some skin and end it with cuddly bears fighting evil soldiers.

It was Carrie Fisher that complained about the lack of interesting costumes for Leia. Fisher stated that one could not tell "she was a woman". So Lucas decided to put her in the bikini.

I don't see what the problem is. She looked great. Fanboys got some nice slave leia eye candy along with space battles and lightsaber fights.

Well I didn't think the character of Leia would normally appear hanging out in such an outfit based on what we see of her in the rest of the OT. I'm sure Carrie Fisher is a bit different than Leia.

 

[Dream]

Well I didn't think the character of Leia would normally appear hanging out in such an outfit based on what we see of her in the rest of the OT.

I agree.

But I'm sure that many fans didn't think Leia was sexy until she was put in the bikini. I always thought that in the first two movies, Leia did seem like too much of a tomboy at times. She was always hanging around Han and Luke and killing Stormtroopers. Did she even have any female friends?

 

[EnsignRicky]

Han: Um, looks like we're about ready for the jump to hyperspace.

Leia: Well I'm sure you can handle that. So if you'll excuse me Captain (Indicating Effort Of Rising, Prepairing To Leave The Cockpit) I'll go find some cloths that don't require a caberet permit.

Han: Huh? Hey, Leia...

Leia: Well?

Han: You, uh, gonna throw those ones away?

Leia: (Moving Off) We'll see.


Excerpt From Return Of The Jedi: Radio Dramitization

 

[the G-man]

Leia being tied up in her outfit was nothing more than a throwback to the days of old pulp stories and comic books where women would get tossed in a cell, told "here, put this on," and then chained up for the hero to rescue. Basically a Ming the Merciless/Dale Arden thing.

To assume rape in RotJ, you might as well assume that, during the commercials of every third season episode of "Batman", Barbara Gordon was sodomized while the villain tied her up and put her in that week's death trap.

It was a nod to the conventions of the pulp fantasy genre that inspired the films, nothing more.

 

[the G-man]

I'm sure that many fans didn't think Leia was sexy until she was put in the bikini....

I quite liked the way she looked in her white gown in the first film myself. It...bounced...rather nicely as I recall.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

Well I didn't think the character of Leia would normally appear hanging out in such an outfit based on what we see of her in the rest of the OT.

I agree.

But I'm sure that many fans didn't think Leia was sexy until she was put in the bikini. I always thought that in the first two movies, Leia does seem like too much of a tomboy at times. She was always hanging around Han and Luke and killing Stormtroopers. Did she even have any female friends?

That's probably true for a lot of people, but my first crush was Hoth Leia. And you can't blame Leia for hanging around guys. It's not like there were a lot of other women hanging around that she didn't give a chance.

 

[Dream]

Leia being tied up in her outfit was nothing more than a throwback to the days of old pulp stories and comic books where women would get tossed in a cell, told "here, put this on," and then chained up for the hero to rescue. Basically a Ming the Merciless/Dale Arden thing.

Yeah. But Leia saved herself by killing Jabba instead of needing any of the boys to save her.

Han: You, uh, gonna throw those ones away?

Leia: (Moving Off) We'll see.

That should have been in the actual movie.