Star Wars: The Force Awakens logo. Photo from Wikimedia.
On March 31st, 2017, the Maldenism Club at Malden High will be hosting a Movie Night. The movie screened will be Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first instalment of the newest Star Wars trilogy.
The club meets weekly to discuss feminism, its place in society, student life, and the media and choosing a film posed the challenge of balancing one that would be on message but also appeal to a larger audience. As a member of the club, striking that balance was difficult, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens appealed to us as the best option. Kerry Veritas, the club advisor, sums it up in saying that ¨although it is not overtly a feminist movie, it represents so much of what feminism has tried to accomplish.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens tells the story of Finn and Rey who are faced with a reincarnation of the Old Empire which exploded with the Death Star thirty years prior. They face new villains like Ky-Lo Ren with help from the protagonists from previous trilogies like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia.
Star Wars is not an explicitly feminist movie series and has never been but through its portrayal of heroism as a quality attributable to female characters, it brings much needed normalcy to the feminist movement.
Veritas explains that, Rey, the main character, not only defies traditional roles in action movies but “the whole time, the fact that she’s a woman is not relevant to the story. Ultimately, the goal of feminism is not to need to fight for equality, but for it to be something we can assume as the norm.”
Daisy Ridley, who portrays Rey in the film is also outspoken about women’s issues. While she’s gotten slack for being too thin, Ridley uses social media to encourage embracing all women saying “‘Real women’ are all shapes and sizes, all ethnicities, and all levels of brave.”
Beyond the feminist aspect, Star Wars is of course a well known franchise that appeals to students in various grade levels. Independent of whether you identify with the feminist movement, are looking to slowly immerse yourself, or are simply a Star Wars fan, Maldenism Movie Night will begin at 3 on Friday, March 31st, and we hope to see you there. After all, according to Veritas, “it’s Star Wars, so it’s just awesome.”
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