❝❝Just going to point this out. Princess Leia was a badass.

When we first see her, her ship has been captured by the much larger star destroyer. What does she do? She hides the secret plans where nobody will find them and records a message. After that she grabs a blaster and holds off stormtroopers. When she's finally captured, she faces down Tarkin and Vader telling them both off and giving a "the reason you suck" speech. When Luke and Han break her out of her cell, she grabs a gun and breaks all of them out of the detention level.

All while never using her sexuality to get what she wants or letting anyone forget she is a woman.

Leia turned the whole damsel in distress thing on it's head. And arguably has the least character development of any of the "face" characters in the first trilogy.

But she's the one who impacts the heroes. The formula isn't damsel in distress. It's catalyst for change.

Going back to Casablanca, Ilsa wouldn't be Ilsa if she didn't have to choose between two men she loved. Yes, part of it was the cause and the circumstances, but it is Ilsa's struggle that defines the film, even as it changes Rick because he can't have her.

Back to the original Terminator, Sarah Connor started as a wimp defined by her victimhood. By the end of the film, she's gone beyond mere survival to drawing a line in the sand and dedicating herself to a higher cause.

Scarlett O'Hara is perpetual victim who ends the story hoping that another man will come along and rescue her.

There's a way to do a strong woman character, and they don't have to be over sexualized or a kick-ass commando. If they start as a victim, they don't end up as a victim. And their impact on the people around them is all out of proportion to their ability.

---

*nods*

The problem with Rey isn't that she is a strong character. The problem is that she is not a hero because she doesn't change. Other than having magic force powers literally given to her, how is she different in at the end of her second movie than she was in the beginning of the first? We don't know anything about her other than she breaks all the rules for force manipulation and Jedi training.

Why the blazes are we supposed to care about her?

The story is not about Rey's journey to be a hero, it's about establishing that women as a class can be heroes too. It's a collective benchmark instead of an individual achievement. It's not Rey that is successful, it's about all women through Rey.

And it's as boring as stale nachos and flat beer.

---

The thing is, we saw the roots of change in Luke. We saw him "trust his feelings" to blow up the Death Star. The scenes where he met Yoda, he and the audience learned not to take things at face value. The bit where he saw under Vader's mask in the tree. And the climax of the second film when he discovered just how outclassed he was.

When have we seen Rey struggle?

I agree that Finn and Poe have changed. But they aren't the viewpoint characters. Part of me can't help but wonder if the films would be better if Finn was the viewpoint and Rey was just the catalyst like Leia was.❞❞

Tags: Princess Leia ∙ badass ∙ sexuality ∙ woman ∙ damsel in distress ∙ hero ∙ Casablanca ∙ Ilsa Lund ∙ Terminator ∙ Sarah Connor ∙ Scarlett O'Hara ∙ perpetual victim ∙ Rey ∙ Star Wars ∙ Luke Skywalker ∙ Finn ∙ Poe ∙ struggle ∙ Yoda ∙ Jedi

““The solution to this problem isn’t increasing the censorship powers of the already-bloated police state as carceral feminists are demanding; it’s fighting the idea that a woman’s body is something to be ashamed of.””

— Maggie McNeill

Tags: Maggie McNeill ∙ censorship ∙ police state ∙ carceral ∙ feminist ∙ woman ∙ body ∙ shame

I'd argue that the writing was on the wall when marriage was legally defined and moved away from being a religious rite to being a secular right.

Tags: marriage ∙ religion ∙ secular ∙ Bookworm ∙ permissible ∙ mala in se ∙ mala prohibita ∙ damage ∙ undesirables ∙ interracial marriages ∙ force of law ∙ Constitution ∙ man ∙ woman ∙ English common law ∙ Bible ∙ 20th Century ∙ Emperor Nero ∙ Mesopotamia ∙ China ∙ John Boswell ∙ Orthodox Church ∙ Native Americas ∙ third gender ∙ two-spirit ∙ mating ∙ pairbond ∙ raising a family ∙ Divine ∙ Old Testament ∙ biological ∙ monogamy ∙ permissible ∙ choice ∙ privilege ∙ right to vote ∙ Christian

❝❝You can't trust what the politicos and historians tell you. They each have their separate agendas. They need you to believe the Great Man on a White Horse myth. If ever there was a time when the ordinary person made a profound, undeniable, and fundamental change in society, it was in the 20^th Century civil rights movement. It didn't happen in the Capital building. It happened when a woman refused to give up her seat on a bus. It happened when a group of well dressed and well disciplined men faced down a mob and armed police officers. It took place at the Lincoln Memorial in front of a huge crowd. It happened when one man stood in front of a police squad and said "No." Congress and the Federal government had nothing to do with these acts. These actions and thousands more along with the faith of all those people, that's what changed the world.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ civil rights ∙ Great Man on a White Horse myth ∙ ordinary people ∙ change ∙ society ∙ Capital building ∙ Lincoln Memorial ∙ man ∙ woman ∙ Congress ∙ Federal government

❝❝I look for the Divine in every woman I meet. I don't always find it. Sometimes that's my fault, sometimes not.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ Divine ∙ woman ∙ fault

❝❝I'm not responsible for a woman's sexual behavior any more than I am responsible for the color of her shoes. It's her choice and her responsibility. It's not her neighbor's responsibility. It's not society's responsibility.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: responsibility ∙ sex ∙ woman ∙ maxims

❝❝I've seen the arguments in enough other contexts to distrust anyone who claims rationality prevents any opposing view. Even more so when they dismiss any other possibility unheard because they have the Ultimate Truth That Must Not Be Questioned.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ humor ∙ Crux Files ∙ Christianity ∙ Christians ∙ climate change ∙ global warming ∙ distrust ∙ rationality prevents any opposing view ∙ Ultimate Truth That Must Not Be Questioned ∙ government approved line ∙ anthropogenic climate change ∙ The Science Is Settled ∙ criticism ∙ obedience ∙ dogma ∙ government ∙ science ∙ condemn ∙ Science as a Higher Authority ∙ Must Not Be Questioned ∙ advocate ∙ scientific ∙ human rights ∙ gay ∙ woman ∙ Navajo ∙ disabled ∙ politicos ∙ religious freedom ∙ Jewish ∙ Catholic ∙ Muslim ∙ Protestant ∙ Buddhist ∙ atheist ∙ moral relativity ∙ conservative ∙ liberal ∙ homosexuality ∙ religion ∙ guns ∙ virtues ∙ Pagan ∙ thou shalt not dissent ∙ Truth Out ∙ criminal corporations ∙ Republican ∙ no virtue or vice in the label ∙ That's the excuse, not the reason. ∙ race ∙ pedophilia ∙ religious oppression ∙ racist ∙ choice ∙ threat ∙ moral morass ∙ Satanists ∙ totalitarianism ∙ purged ∙ moral superiority ∙ Bible ∙ Pharisee ∙ scripture ∙ Divine

Older journalists are being laid off and they aren't entitled to run their crusades

Tags: Steve Guest ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Daily Caller ∙ token ∙ woman ∙ victimhood ∙ short

❝❝Speaking only for myself, I want the U.S. armed forces to be the toughest, most capable sons of a gun on the face of the planet. Especially the elite units. I want them to make other national leaders nervous, even if they are half way across the globe. I want whispers in the darkest shadows of just what happens when someone dares threaten freedom if an American serviceman can do something about it.

Any female who can fill the physical and mental requirements without any allowances for their sex has my respect. All the more so if they show the warrior virtues. But by all the warrior gods they'd better damn well hold their own and more.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: political correctness ∙ maxims ∙ commenting ∙ woman ∙ military ∙ combat ∙ Lady Freedom ∙ prey ∙ The Other McCain

With one move, the Imperious Leader’s administration tokenizes half the human race.

Tags: token ∙ woman ∙ Alexander Hamilton ∙ qualification ∙ Warren Meyer