Morgan Bell
Kynaston
Princess Leia: Hero or Damsel in Distress?
June 7th 2008 10:40
Princess Leia may be wilful, but is she still just a damsel in distress waiting for the hero? The portrayal of gender roles in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope deserves a closer look, as the Princess Leia is not the traditional naive girl from Alderon that we often take her for.
To appreciate Princess Leia as a groundbreaking female action hero, it is necessary for a modern day re-examination of the value of her role within this film. And to evaluate Leia in context we must take into to consideration:
a) Leia exists in a male dominated setting where she is one of only two female characters (the other one being a small appearance by Mrs Skywalker) and her actions can only be compared to those men
b) Leia exists also within George Lucas's world of comic strip style clipped dialogue where a feminist monologue may ruin continuity
In George Lucas's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Princess Leia is a reluctant damsel in distress. She is aware of her limitations and willing to play whatever role it takes to defeat the Empire, but it is largely the way the other characters treat Princess Leia that gives her outward appearance of a damsel in distress. By looking at her physicality, her mission, others' presumptions of her, and her as a representative of her world, it can be seen that Leia uses her knowledge of female stereotypes as a way to take advantage of the situation she is in.
It is a misconception by the marketing of Star Wars that Leia is the typical damsel in distress. The back cover blurb reads "Luke Skywalker and Captain Han Solo team together with the lovable droid duo R2-D2 and C-3PO, to rescue the beautiful princess and restore justice in the galaxy." This is not actually representative of the plot of the story. It makes a more romantic sound-byte but fools us into expecting a typical female character. Leia was not kidnapped and held ransom. The story is set in a Civil War where Leia works politically and actively for the Rebels whilst maintaining she is only on diplomatic and mercy missions. It is largely due to her wit and deception that the Rebels make their first victory of stealing the plans of the Empires new weapon, the Death Star.
Leia's rescue team never actually set out to rescue her. The recorded message that Leia leaves in R2-D2 is mostly remembered by audiences as the phrase repeated "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope." This can be easily misinterpreted as a plea for her own rescue, but the message played out in its entirety proves she is acting as a representative for her father, her planet and the Rebels. Her message states that her father requests (and begs for) Obi Wan's assistance. Her original mission was to bring Obi Wan and the stolen plans to Alderon but her ship was intercepted. Her actual instructions to Obi Wan are to deliver the R2-D2 droid to her father as he will know how to retrieve the information inside it. She says, "This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope.", the word "our" being the key to us knowing the mission is not out of self-interest. She is not asking to be saved herself, she is asking for political help.
watch video of the Princess Leia message here:
It is by chance that Han's ship is pulled into the Death Star and only once the "rescuers" are on board do they even discover Leia is even there. When Luke and Han find out Leia is about to be executed, Han is not even interested in saving her at the risk of his own safety until Luke offers to reward him with money. Leia risks her safety by entering into her mission gladly for the good of many, and is selfless in that respect. Han is a mercenary and an opportunist and Luke relishes in the glory of being the hero and getting the girl, both very selfish in contrast. Morally, it is Leia who possesses the quality of a hero.
In Luke's eyes Leia is the victim. When Luke sees Leia's recorded plea he says, "Who is she? She's beautiful" and "Sounds like she's in trouble". The first time Luke sees her in person, he opens the doors of her prison cell and sees her curled up sleeping peacefully. She appears to be passive and helpless, and waiting to be rescued. His first words to her are "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you". It is, in fact, his desire to act in a heroic way that makes him want to see her as a damsel in distress. Many scenes later after she has proved to be active by seizing and shooting weapons, evading the enemy, displaying her ability to plan and think, and much criticism of and backchat towards her "rescuers", Luke still protects her with his body when blasting a lock.
Leia is physically diminutive, the male characters towering over her. She is not physically strong, in the garbage shoot she struggles to climb to the top of the garbage. Han has to help her to get on top by pushing and pulling. But moments before she was barking order to stop shooting and brace the walls. She is strong in her mind, character and position but limited by her physicality. She is smarter than Luke and Han, the only one that realises they did not really escape Darth Vadar. Leia knows and informs Han that they were let go in order to be tracked.
Lucas intends Leia to be surprisingly wilful. The first image of her in the film shows her small feminine hand reaching out to R2-D2, making her mysterious. A quick glimpse of her in flowing natural white, hooded and looking scared, gives us the preconception that she will play the typical victim. We are introduced to the princess through C-3PO declaring "We're doomed! There will be no escape for the princess this time" but this is the droid's own perception of the situation, Leia never appears distressed about her own safety. After much setting the scene of Leia as the victim, we then get to see her reveal her true nature as she complains about Luke and Han's rescue effort, seeing it as disorganised and saying "Someone has to save our skins" and she grabs a weapon out of Lukes hands and provides an alternate escape route. But by this point, first impressions have already been made and the viewer has an expectation to see her saved, not realising she has been all the while saving herself.
Lucas treats violence towards the princess as implied. When she is interrogated about the whereabouts of the Rebels and the hovering spherical robot approaches her in a sinister way with an exposed needle, Lucas chooses to cut away leaving the threat of torture or violation as too indecent to be explicit. But the fact remains that she is treated as a man amongst men, as an equal opponent to Darth Vader. They do not treat her with kid gloves, or any differently because she is female. They are very eager to kill her but only concede to keeping her alive as she is valuable as the only link to the Rebels. She is a player in a high stakes political game regardless of her gender.
Leia stands at the strategy table with the men (the decision-makers) while the fighter ships attack the Death Star. Lucas focuses on Leia here, her reactions, the look of concern in her face and body language. A superficial reading of the scene is she is showing a nurturing concern for the men (including Luke) in battle. But the plot would advise us her concern is really for the success of the mission, as it is a culmination of all her past efforts against the Empire, vengeance against the destruction of Alderon, and the future of good against evil in the universe. As a character with political interests rather than just typical romantic interests she is much more calculating than she first appears.
Lucas portrays the character of Leia as a personification of her home planet Alderon. We are told Alderon is a peaceful planet with no weapons. Having a female typifying the values of a passive world, she must be subversive instead of actively aggressive. The ceremony in the final scene lets Lucas remind us that Leia is a figurehead, a leader and a politician, her role in the film not entirely defined by her gender.
Lucas does his best to present Leia as a damsel in distress but the plot does not allow it to be so. He shows her weakness not so much in her actions but in others reactions towards her. Lucas's Leia appears deceptive in her duality. She hides behind the facade of being a diplomat on mercy missions, whilst all the time working for the Rebels. When in official diplomatic mode she pretends to be feminine and innocent to achieve results, but she is keen to show independence and leadership at any opportunity. Due to gender roles and stereotypes in our culture we find it hard to recognise someone that is small and softly spoken can be powerful, important and even heroic, but that is what Leia is – more than just a pretty face.
This is the first article by Morgan Bell ever published for student magazine Opus in 2004
To appreciate Princess Leia as a groundbreaking female action hero, it is necessary for a modern day re-examination of the value of her role within this film. And to evaluate Leia in context we must take into to consideration:
a) Leia exists in a male dominated setting where she is one of only two female characters (the other one being a small appearance by Mrs Skywalker) and her actions can only be compared to those men
b) Leia exists also within George Lucas's world of comic strip style clipped dialogue where a feminist monologue may ruin continuity
In George Lucas's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Princess Leia is a reluctant damsel in distress. She is aware of her limitations and willing to play whatever role it takes to defeat the Empire, but it is largely the way the other characters treat Princess Leia that gives her outward appearance of a damsel in distress. By looking at her physicality, her mission, others' presumptions of her, and her as a representative of her world, it can be seen that Leia uses her knowledge of female stereotypes as a way to take advantage of the situation she is in.
It is a misconception by the marketing of Star Wars that Leia is the typical damsel in distress. The back cover blurb reads "Luke Skywalker and Captain Han Solo team together with the lovable droid duo R2-D2 and C-3PO, to rescue the beautiful princess and restore justice in the galaxy." This is not actually representative of the plot of the story. It makes a more romantic sound-byte but fools us into expecting a typical female character. Leia was not kidnapped and held ransom. The story is set in a Civil War where Leia works politically and actively for the Rebels whilst maintaining she is only on diplomatic and mercy missions. It is largely due to her wit and deception that the Rebels make their first victory of stealing the plans of the Empires new weapon, the Death Star.
Leia's rescue team never actually set out to rescue her. The recorded message that Leia leaves in R2-D2 is mostly remembered by audiences as the phrase repeated "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope." This can be easily misinterpreted as a plea for her own rescue, but the message played out in its entirety proves she is acting as a representative for her father, her planet and the Rebels. Her message states that her father requests (and begs for) Obi Wan's assistance. Her original mission was to bring Obi Wan and the stolen plans to Alderon but her ship was intercepted. Her actual instructions to Obi Wan are to deliver the R2-D2 droid to her father as he will know how to retrieve the information inside it. She says, "This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope.", the word "our" being the key to us knowing the mission is not out of self-interest. She is not asking to be saved herself, she is asking for political help.
watch video of the Princess Leia message here:
It is by chance that Han's ship is pulled into the Death Star and only once the "rescuers" are on board do they even discover Leia is even there. When Luke and Han find out Leia is about to be executed, Han is not even interested in saving her at the risk of his own safety until Luke offers to reward him with money. Leia risks her safety by entering into her mission gladly for the good of many, and is selfless in that respect. Han is a mercenary and an opportunist and Luke relishes in the glory of being the hero and getting the girl, both very selfish in contrast. Morally, it is Leia who possesses the quality of a hero.
In Luke's eyes Leia is the victim. When Luke sees Leia's recorded plea he says, "Who is she? She's beautiful" and "Sounds like she's in trouble". The first time Luke sees her in person, he opens the doors of her prison cell and sees her curled up sleeping peacefully. She appears to be passive and helpless, and waiting to be rescued. His first words to her are "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you". It is, in fact, his desire to act in a heroic way that makes him want to see her as a damsel in distress. Many scenes later after she has proved to be active by seizing and shooting weapons, evading the enemy, displaying her ability to plan and think, and much criticism of and backchat towards her "rescuers", Luke still protects her with his body when blasting a lock.
Leia is physically diminutive, the male characters towering over her. She is not physically strong, in the garbage shoot she struggles to climb to the top of the garbage. Han has to help her to get on top by pushing and pulling. But moments before she was barking order to stop shooting and brace the walls. She is strong in her mind, character and position but limited by her physicality. She is smarter than Luke and Han, the only one that realises they did not really escape Darth Vadar. Leia knows and informs Han that they were let go in order to be tracked.
Lucas intends Leia to be surprisingly wilful. The first image of her in the film shows her small feminine hand reaching out to R2-D2, making her mysterious. A quick glimpse of her in flowing natural white, hooded and looking scared, gives us the preconception that she will play the typical victim. We are introduced to the princess through C-3PO declaring "We're doomed! There will be no escape for the princess this time" but this is the droid's own perception of the situation, Leia never appears distressed about her own safety. After much setting the scene of Leia as the victim, we then get to see her reveal her true nature as she complains about Luke and Han's rescue effort, seeing it as disorganised and saying "Someone has to save our skins" and she grabs a weapon out of Lukes hands and provides an alternate escape route. But by this point, first impressions have already been made and the viewer has an expectation to see her saved, not realising she has been all the while saving herself.
Lucas treats violence towards the princess as implied. When she is interrogated about the whereabouts of the Rebels and the hovering spherical robot approaches her in a sinister way with an exposed needle, Lucas chooses to cut away leaving the threat of torture or violation as too indecent to be explicit. But the fact remains that she is treated as a man amongst men, as an equal opponent to Darth Vader. They do not treat her with kid gloves, or any differently because she is female. They are very eager to kill her but only concede to keeping her alive as she is valuable as the only link to the Rebels. She is a player in a high stakes political game regardless of her gender.
Leia stands at the strategy table with the men (the decision-makers) while the fighter ships attack the Death Star. Lucas focuses on Leia here, her reactions, the look of concern in her face and body language. A superficial reading of the scene is she is showing a nurturing concern for the men (including Luke) in battle. But the plot would advise us her concern is really for the success of the mission, as it is a culmination of all her past efforts against the Empire, vengeance against the destruction of Alderon, and the future of good against evil in the universe. As a character with political interests rather than just typical romantic interests she is much more calculating than she first appears.
Lucas portrays the character of Leia as a personification of her home planet Alderon. We are told Alderon is a peaceful planet with no weapons. Having a female typifying the values of a passive world, she must be subversive instead of actively aggressive. The ceremony in the final scene lets Lucas remind us that Leia is a figurehead, a leader and a politician, her role in the film not entirely defined by her gender.
Lucas does his best to present Leia as a damsel in distress but the plot does not allow it to be so. He shows her weakness not so much in her actions but in others reactions towards her. Lucas's Leia appears deceptive in her duality. She hides behind the facade of being a diplomat on mercy missions, whilst all the time working for the Rebels. When in official diplomatic mode she pretends to be feminine and innocent to achieve results, but she is keen to show independence and leadership at any opportunity. Due to gender roles and stereotypes in our culture we find it hard to recognise someone that is small and softly spoken can be powerful, important and even heroic, but that is what Leia is – more than just a pretty face.
This is the first article by Morgan Bell ever published for student magazine Opus in 2004
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Comment by Optomistic Opportunism
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Optomystic Opportunism
Carrie Fischer was a turn on when in distress, and a feminist when with a gun - as Princess Leia.
Can feminists be a turn on?
As long as they can do it like Princess Leia.
(and not be a baby boomer)
Comment by Morgan Bell
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im sure alot of people find sassy outspoken women a turn on . . . probably doesnt hurt that princess leia was easy on the eye either! haha
maybe all feminists should get that princess leia hair? or the raunchy "slave" bikini outfit from the later film?
Comment by Optomistic Opportunism
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Optomystic Opportunism
And the bikini, if I could write what i was thinking when I first saw that scene with Jabba the Hut, woo! Move over Marylin...and Jabba...
Comment by Morgan Bell
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who knew star wars could be so exciting?
Comment by Cheryl J
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Funnily enough, I always thought Leia was the hero of the piece. She was the one on the true mission for the greater good. I remember when I first saw it thinking how great it was that she could be feminine and still kick arse!
Comment by Morgan Bell
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thankyou!
it is great that she is feminine and can still kick arse . . . she uses brains aswell as braun and is definately working for the greater good . . . shes a great role model really!
Comment by Cheryl J
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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shes one of those characters you can recognise by silhouette alone!
Comment by Bethany
Leia was always the steady one of the group, she was cautious. She knew the plan and was often right when she suspected trouble. Perhaps her glimmerings of the force coming through. I wish they'd shown that side of her a little more.
We never had a strong female lead with the force, and I thought that was sad. It's different in the books- Leia and Solo have a set of twins Jacen and Jaina who attend Luke's academy for young Jedi- but Leia is the closest thing that comes to it. And although it's true that she was probably almost as strong as Luke, since she's not aware of her powers until the end of the movie (and probably doesn't train on them, if at all, until afterwards chronologically speaking)... I dunno.
And I loved her hair, I always wanted to have long hair as a kid so I could do rockin things to it like that. While holding a blaster.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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yeah why dont we have a girl Jedi? haha
maybe Leias female intuition really was "the force" speaking to her?
i wonder if they are going to make movies out of the stories of Leias children?
i just wanna grab my blaster and do my hair princess leia style right now!
thanks for stopping in and sharing your opinions!
Comment by Priyanka
Mumbai Corner
Also I never thought leia as a damsel in distress!! I was not aware that she was being portrayed that way..... probably the scene with Jabba and she in her flimsy costume might be an attempt at it. But I never looked at Leia as a damsel in distress!!
Comment by Morgan Bell
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thanks so much for the comments
i think the "damsel in distress" tag mostly stems from the fact that the men stage a rescue to free her . . . even though it wasnt necessary and she ends up being the most useful one out of all of them! haha
i think she is a hero too, even though she is pretty and petite!
Comment by Geoff Egan
Noise Fanatic
Leia was a great character. But to say she is the only hero is taking it a bit far. Sure Han is the reluctant mercanary, but Luke isn't trying to rescue her just to be the hero, he feels a moral compulsion to help. He's young and excitable, but he's still the 'hero' of the peice.
Leia is great because she's not just the damsel in distress, or the gun toting fem fatalle. She's the figurehead of the Rebelion, a quality general and handy with a blaster. Much more than Padme was in the new three.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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great descriptions!
Han is the reluctant mercenary and Luke is a young excitable, so true . . . all the "good guys" do heroic things!
its a fantastic trilogy, and i think Leia is definately more gutsy than Padme, but as others have said it may be that streak of Jedi blood?
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
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Check out this photo of Carrie Fisher trying on the robes!
Comment by Morgan Bell
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hey great picture, thanks for the link
from the same site
how fascinating!
thanks for the comment
Comment by Ayda
Phantasmelodia
Star Wars (The Empire Strikes Back) is one of the first films I ever watched in the theaters as a kid (another one is Jaws -- and you were wondering where my twisted choices in music stemmed from?) but Leia never had an impact on me. I didn't want Leia hair or Leia clothes or Leia lasers (hmm maybe the bikini) because I always found her distant, cold, rational, secondary, know-it-all... err, boring? Like mother like daughter, indeed. Sorry Lucas, you just suck with your politician females (perhaps didn't do your homework on Frank Herbert's Dune, hm?).
Great article, Morgan.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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yeah i think all the Star Wars characters are intentionally wooden, it can definately hinder how you relate to them
oh Dune, now that was a dreadful film experience "the tooth, the tooth" haha
thanks for the comment!
Comment by i love leia
Comment by Morgan Bell
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