Star Wars ‘Awakens’ new female fans
Jaime Faulkner
Mesa Legend
“Star Wars” has been a cultural phenomenon since 1977, and the hype around “The Force Awakens”, the 7th installment in the space epic, was unbelievable. The film has brought in 1.871 billion USD since its December 18th release date with overwhelmingly positive reviews, and has rallied a new fan base. A surprising number of these new fans are female. Carter Robinson, a 20 year old student, considers herself part of this fan base. She only watched the full series after watching “The Force Awakens”. “I thought it was a good way to begin the new trilogy because I was able to enjoy and understand the movie despite never having seen any of the movies,” she said. Even though she wasn’t a long-term fan, she was excited to see characters from the old movies like Han Solo and Leia Organa.
“I think was important for the original fans and it helped people who went into the movie not knowing what to expect, like me, understand the story and enjoy the movie,” said Robinson.
The film is the most diverse in the franchise by far. There are women everywhere; they are engineers, doctors, mechanics, and soldiers. Carrie Fisher leads the Rebellion as General Organa, and Lupita Nyong’o lends her vocal talents as Maz Kanata, the wise space pirate who helps Rey find her calling to the Force. The most notable appeal is Rey herself, played by Daisy Ridley. While the film has John Boyega and Oscar Isaac in leading roles as well, she is undoubtedly the heart of the film.
Cheyenne Cardell, a blogger with interests in pop culture and feminism, agreed; when asked what was appealing about the film, she immediately answered, “Daisy Ridley. Honestly, I had no interest in seeing Star Wars when it was announced…but I came across a press interview she and John Boyega did about a week before I ended up seeing it. Here was a woman who would allow a girl like me to think Star Wars was cool, and not just a grab-bag of male-driven trivia, made to make women look stupid and men look cool or knowledgeable.” The accessibility of the film is crucial to having more involved female fans. The fan base for science fiction has traditionally been aggressively male, but “The Force Awakens” is beginning to change that. In the past, female charadters have always taken a back seat to their male counterparts in science fiction.
Directors and producers assumed that if women were protagonists, men would not spend money to see their film, but ‘Force Awakens’ profits prove otherwise. And with Rey at the forefront of ‘Force Awakens’, facing evil head on and saving the galaxy, science fiction is becoming a place where anyone can be a hero. Cardell said, “I haven’t had any negative experiences from the fandom. I’ve mostly expressed my love of “Force Awakens” on Tumblr, which is sort of unique, because 90% of the people who are creating this sort of content on Tumblr are female fans.” With two more Star Wars films planned with Ridley in the lead, the future for female fans looks bright.
