IS 2017 Webreport
1.1 General Background
The Star Wars movie franchise spans 40 years and currently comprises of 8 movies, split across 3 trilogies, one Anthology and numerous spin-off TV shows. The film saga was started in 1977 with the movie A New Hope (ANH) produced by Lucasfilm. More recently, in October 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, and is currently producing the Sequel Trilogy. Currently, the newest movie in the series is The Force Awakens (TFA) which was released in December 2015 (Excluding Rogue One, which is not part of the chronological series).
Statistically, Fortune Magazine reported that the Star Wars franchise has a value of $41.9 billion USD as of 2015, and as such, is the 2nd largest media franchise in the world. The film saga has won numerous awards, with all 8 films being Academy Award nominees (Oscars, 2016). It has had a major cultural impact on society, as it:
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Transcends generations and global boundaries
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Encapsulates values and beliefs
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Embedded in popular culture
1.2 Rationale
When TFA was released in December 2015, much debate has centered upon Rey’s portrayal as the female hero. Public opinion has embraced Rey as a feminist icon that is long overdue in Star Wars and should be admired and respected. (Karvelas, 2015; Garber, 2015; Howard, 2015). This is juxtaposed with the Original Trilogy, which was derided as being sexist and chauvinistic, to the point where Leia “emerged from the franchise as a sex symbol” (Cohen, 2015). Indeed, Rey’s role as the main hero in TFA is something unprecedented in Star Wars, with her driving the plot. (Cipriani, 2015) However, there are dissenting opinions which contend that Leia in the Original Trilogy was actually fairly empowered and feminist, and that the character development of Rey as a hero in TFA is relatively similar to that of Leia in the Original Trilogy. (Brown, 2015; French, 2015; Anders, 2015)
At this point in time, due to the relatively recent release of TFA, fairly little academic research has been done about TFA despite the significance of having Rey as the series first female hero. (Macnicol, 2015) As such, this paper aims to examine how Rey is portrayed in TFA as compared to women in the Original Trilogy, in particular Leia. This film also aims to analyze whether Rey’s role in TFA as the main hero marks a significant change from Leia’s role as being the female protagonist in the Original Trilogy. As such, the paper hopes to be able to examine the evolution of the role and portrayal of women in the Star Wars series.
1.3 Research Questions
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How are women portrayed in TFA vis-à-vis the Original Trilogy?
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How are heroes portrayed in TFA vis-à-vis Original Trilogy?
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What are the techniques and means by which these impressions are created?
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What do these portrayals reflect upon the evolution of the portrayal and role of women in film?
1.4 Thesis
The passage of time has caused an evolution in the role and portrayal of women in Star Wars; with women becoming more emancipated and empowered; to the extent of being able to portray the traditionally masculine role of the main hero.
1.5 Scope of Research
The research will focus on tracing the evolution of the portrayal of females across the three films. Specifically, this project will focus on analyzing the evolution of women from being the female protagonist, such as Leia in the Original Trilogy, to the feminist hero, Rey in TFA. The research will focus on the Original and Sequel Trilogies. The theories that will be used to analyze the films are the Male Gaze Theory (Mulvey, 1975), the Hero’s Journey (Campbell, 1949), and the concept of Feminist Film Theory. This thematic and stylistic approach to analyzing the films This will allow for a more holistic understanding of the evolution of the portrayal of women between the Original Trilogy and TFA.
1.6 Significance of Research
This research paper tracks the progression of the role of women from the Original Trilogy in the 1970s to the Sequel Trilogy in the 21st Century. An exceedingly common trend in most non-academic opinion editorials and articles is to conduct analysis focusing on the broad concepts and themes in the plot without detailed analysis of the style of the movie. Further, the recent release of TFA precludes much academic examination of TFA or the progression of the portrayal of women in the Star Wars film series, and is compounded by a tendency to dismiss alternative viewpoints arguing that women in the Original Trilogy were already fairly empowered.
Also, due to the disproportionate influence of Star Wars on popular culture, this results from this research may possibly be capable of being extrapolated and representative of many films. By evaluating both the theme and the techniques of the 2 films, the development of the portrayal of women can be examined and a comparison can be made to highlight the changes in from the Original Trilogy to the Sequel Trilogy. There is also the further potential to provide an alternative viewpoint and a contrasting opinion with regard to the 2 film trilogies and serve as a starting point for further research into the evolution of feminism within the Star Wars film series.
1.7 Limitations
Generally, this research paper has a somewhat smaller scope as it has chosen to forsake breath for depth. Firstly, there is only 1 film in the Sequel Trilogy, ignoring the Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One. This was a self-imposed limitation as this project was only intended to compare the Original Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy in order to accurately compare the portrayal and roles of characters within the larger storyline of these 2 trilogies. This thus means that there is a lack of material to analyze, potentially leading to an inability to discover long-term trends or subtle nuances. Moreover, the Prequel Trilogy is not part of this paper as it is more recent, resulting in less time between films for society and culture to change and hence a less drastic change between the films to analyze. Also, for reasons of practicality, this simplifies analysis and study by eliminating another set of data which has to be examined