Wookies And Princesses: Race A Essay, Research Paper

WOOKIES AND PRINCESSES: RACE AND GENDER IN

THE STAR WARS FILMS

In this essay I am going to discuss many different aspects of race and gender in Star Wars films that have occurred between female characters, which were involved against the dominant male species and robots. There are many questions we can ask ourselves, for example: What were relationships between men and women in general? In other words was the general stereotype of men and women carried out in Star Wars? All of these questions are going to raise different issues for discussions and arguments, including many others.

First of all I would like to introduce some of the female characters in Star Wars. They are all going to be relevant to the argument, due to the fact that, even though they are not all princesses, they still play an important role in our discussion. From then onwards we can progress studying the relationships and other issues within the Star Wars Films.

Aereena is a young woman and a daughter of Alarik X and Careese, the King and Queen of Lazerian IV. Her outward appearance was that of the spoiled princess, but her actual role on Lazerian IV was much more than that. Despite her parent s Imperial loyalties, Aereena was the leader of the New Republic resistance on the planet following the Battle of Endor.

Arguably there was a competitor, very famous Princess Leia. Another important storytelling device, which Lucas developed gradually, was the foregrounding of Princess Leia. A comparatively minor character in the early outlines and drafts, she becomes quite central in later screenplay versions and serves as an important point of identification especially for young female viewers. She is the only character mentioned in the film s opening scroll and is thus introduced as a central figure in the war against the Evil Empire: Pursued by the Empire s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy Apart from the robots, Leia is also the first central character to appear on the screen. Lucas commented later: I felt that I needed to have a woman in the script. The interesting thing is she does get in jeopardy, but she is very capable of taking care of herself I wanted a woman to be at the centre of the story She is a leader. *

Princesses Aereena and Leia were very similar to Satal Keto s cousin Aleema. She and Satal Keto learned much from their tutors, but became curios about Sith magic during a trip to Coruscant. After stealing a book of Sith lore from a museum on the planet, they returned to the Empress Teta System.

* It s aimed at kids the kid in everybody : George Lucas, Star Wars and Children s Entertainment by Peter Kramer

Here we can see a very powerful moment between Satal Keto and Aleema, especially after a close encounter with the Dark Side of the Force through the Sith incantations. Satal Keto was very close to his cousin and did not try to overpower her in any way, as normally other characters in Star Wars.

For example Shann Childsen, the Imperial Lieutenant, who served on the first Death Star, known as a bully and very dominant towards his fellow officers. He was soon to be demoted after a superior blamed him for a clerical error. This is a strong comparison to Aleema s relationship with her cousin Satal Keto. In other words Shann Childsen was mean and dominant towards others where Aleema was of much softer and very loving towards her cousin Satal Keto.

On the other hand we can see Aleema being very dominant and overpowering when she soon discovers that she was adept at the creation of illusions. Aleema later puts her powers to a grander scale, creating illusions of space grazers to fool the combined Jedi-Republic forces during their battle to recover the Tetan system. From this outcome we can conclude that Princess Aleema can be very powerful as well as sensitive towards her cousin. She eventually becomes the mistress of Ulic Qel-Droma and using her seduction powers, so she can consolidate with him as the Dark Side Force seduced Ulic. All of this evidence suggests that not only males were powerful and dominant in Star Wars but the weaker sex too.

As it turned out Ulic s desire for power and glory overshadowed Aleema s attentions and unfortunately he scorned her when Ulic launched his attack on Coruscant. Aleema then turned the ancient Mandalore warriors to the Krath, but they too left her to fight along side Ulic. In this case we can identify with Aleema as she is deceived and betrayed by the person she had trusted and the people she could rely on. Although Aleema succeeded in destroying most of the star ships, she failed to control the power she wielded and once had. So therefore we can come to a conclusion that race and gender do play a very important part in Star Wars, in other words perhaps members of the weaker sex do get defeated in many different situations and such as this one.

As to the male protagonists of his story, Lucas early outlines and were focussed on Jedi knights and their sons; in later scripts, the central male character, Luke Skywalker, became progressively younger and also turned into an orphaned boy living and working on a farm with his aunt and uncle, wishing to escape from this dreary life and to embark on space adventures like his dead father. This transformation brought Luke much closer to the children in the audience, and also to many poor orphaned fairytale heroes. * Moving on to other male characters of Star Wars, for example Deredith Arden the employee of Bakur Corporation, who was also holding the rank of Captain.

Deredith once had a romantic relationship with princess Kalieva K ntarr. This was a loving relationship with passion and excitement but unfortunately he could not take Kalieva with him, leaving the political and commercial intrigues for the stars.

* It s aimed at kids the kid in everybody : George Lucas, Star Wars and Children s Entertainment by Peter Kramer

Kalieva was also misguided when she mistook Sienn Sconn for Arden, as Sconn tried to infiltrate Rythani Products and steal a weapon prototype. Therefore we can come to a conclusion that perhaps romantic relationships are also overpowered not only by men or women, but by circumstances too. In this case we can identify with Kalieva being deceived by another man [Sienn Sconn] and once again we can see men overpowering women, plotting deception and trying to get their way.

In connection to deceit and violence, Boba Fett who was known at one time as the Journeyman Protector Jaster Mereel and was also rumoured as an extremely dedicated Imperial stormtrooper who, for reasons known only to him, attacked and killed his superior officer. In this case we see violence and aggression on behalf of Fett and therefore can identify that one man can easily overpower another. One can say that gender is not important and therefore one can kill of the same sex. Here we can come to a conclusion that race and gender do not play an important part in this case, but it states that men are powerful not only against women but also against men. On the other side another may argue that gender does matter and that in most cases women are the victims.

The murder of Boba Fett s superior officer seems to be just a rumour in Star Wars but this rumour has never been substantiated. What is known is that Jaster Mereel killed a corrupt Protector but was imprisoned for the murder anyway. Therefore this creates a new argument and raises an important question: Do superior men in charge imprison Boba Fett on such little evidence fairly? One can answer and completely agree with their decision, but on the other hand, surely that is another case of power domination against a weaker one?

The last but not the least dominating creature of Star Wars is Reist.

Altin Wuho controlled this nightmare demon, via a lead-lined helmet and a force field bubble. Reist resented Wuho for holding him captive, but knew that Wuho would kill him if he did not do his bidding. This shows that Reist was still unable to be powerful even though he was a dominating creature. This raises an important question: Perhaps all the dominating species/things still can be dominated by a stronger one of the same specie/thing, similar to this scenario?

When Wuho was sent to capture Luke Skywalker in the Lapez System, he had sent Reist ahead in a traceable capsule, leading him to Lapez III. There, Reist tried to trap Luke by projecting images of the deaths of Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke himself. Luke was able to resist, and wounded Reist in a battle. Luke removed the lead helmet, freeing Reist from his captivity. This was the time Wuho discovered them, but Reist died before he could exact revenge on him. However, Reist was able to tell Luke that Wuho was a droid, and that Luke could escape the planet with parts from his body. Luke dismantled Wuho and fled the planet. This seems to be a fair deal considering my latest theory on dominating species. This incident seems to prove that a weaker one can beat a stronger one.

In conclusion to my essay I would like to strongly emphasise that race and gender does not matter in the Star Wars films, wookies, princesses and robots can all defend themselves against a weaker or a stronger one. I think Star Wars proved that being of the weaker sex does not automatically make you weaker – the opposite, like in Aleema s case – it makes you stronger!