Leia, as a character, is not the sort of person who would ever wear this on her own. The filmmakers had to find an excuse for it, and were fine with that excuse being a deplorable one. Leia had to be softened and sexualized for the final film because too many fans thought she was a “space bitch.” It’s a fascinating example that highlights exactly how sexism has altered for women in the media. And it eloquently explains why so many female fans take issue with the metal swimsuit, despite the fact that it is sexy and fabulous-looking on Fisher. Return of the Jedi suddenly reads differently under this scrutiny. In A New Hope, Leia is the master of get-it-done, driving the plot forward as soon as she’s picked up. There’s lust and some romance for her in Empire Strikes Back, but her reactions to Han’s advances are mostly hostile, retort-heavy, self-protective. But then we get to Jedi, and Leia’s first line in her own voice is “Someone who loves you.” She does time in a sexy space bikini, she’s allowed to be more emotional (hence her teary talks with Luke and Han in the Ewok village), and let’s not overlook that this is the only film where she gets to let her hair down. Literally. At first glance, all of this (minus her Jabba’s palace ensemble) seems like logical character progression—her relationships have advanced and the fight is moving toward its finale. She can afford to be more frank about her feelings, she’s had some time to heal from the destruction of Alderaan. She is ready to kick the Empire’s behind and move on to the next exciting stage of her life. At 22 years old, she already has the life experience of someone twice her age—it’s hardly surprising that she’s ready for a change. But all of this might have ultimately been due to fans perceiving her as an ice queen. Which is beyond depressing, because it is all of Princess Leia that makes her great.
Carrie Fisher’s Sound Thoughts on Princess Leia in 1983
as if the metal bikini couldn’t get more insidious
(via jaybauman)
And yet, having been put there, she proceeds to use the mechanism of her imprisonment to brutally strangle her captor.
Which was always the moment of Leia that resonated most profoundly with me: yes, it’s crappy Doylistic choices that land her where she is in the film, but fuck that, I can apply “the author is dead” to make things BETTER as well as worse.
And with the author dead, the thing that Leia does that’s so important is that she literally turns her chains into a weapon and strangles Jabba with it. Nobody rescues her: she sees her opportunity and she takes it, with what she has to hand, and then frees herself.
It’s ironic to me that the douchebros are so in love with the gold bikini and chain. Because it’s the thing that gives us Leia at her most violent, her most dangerous, and it’s the thing that condemns the entity that put her there to painful, humiliating death.
You’d think they might want to examine that a bit more.
(via last-snowfall)
