‘Star Wars’ Needs A New Approach To Female Characters

Star Wars doesn’t just need more women, the movie series needs a new approach to women.

After Disney announced buying the Star Wars franchise, fans have speculated and even condemned the new movies being made. The trend has also been brought to light that for every woman in the series, there are around a thousand men.

There have been only two noticeably prominent women in the Star Wars mythos. Princess Leia and Queen Amidala dominate the field in the midst of lesser-known characters. Of course there was that Rebel commander who helped plan the first attack on the Death Star. Let’s not forget the character who didn’t even become important until after the books were released, Mara Jade.

Laura Hudson, entertainment editor for Wired, points out that the lack of women in the Star Wars universe isn’t exactly a bad thing, as Star Wars is basically a Western by nature. It’s a storyline made for men. This doesn’t mean, of course, that women aren’t supposed to enjoy it, as many women do.

According to The Atlantic, if Star Wars can boost the number of women characters from the extended series, it might help even out the gender roles. Of course, this may not have any effect on the genre of Science Fiction that Star Wars is practically a title series for.

Still, if they can just make Mara Jade a more prominent character than she was in Return of the Jedi, it might help even out the playing field more.

How do you feel about the role of women in Star Wars?

#StarWars has a gender problem, but will simply adding more women solve it? theatln.tc/Y3JtKL

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) February 19, 2013