Leia or Rey: Who’s Your Favorite?

Princess/General Leia and Rey are two of the most important heroines in cinema history. Each character was a groundbreaking development for the portrayal of women in Star Wars and have paved their own legacies through this wonderful franchise. Now as one character’s story continues and another’s has fallen their inspiring paths are all the more brilliant to observe, especially when the two strong women are in the same presence as one another. But of the two who is the greater heroine?

Each of these characters has inspired girls and women around the globe by showing how powerful a woman can be through young and old age. It seems unthinkable to distinguish one above the other but they do have their differences. Their strengths and weaknesses are the things that we individually identify with the most. So, on this segment of Who’s Your Favorite, I am celebrating the heroines that have brought much happiness to so many people around the world. Enjoy!

My Ten Favorite Movie Heroines

I love movies because they’re very fun to watch. I love seeing stories play out onscreen, I love watching actors portray different characters that I will either love or despise, I love action films, but most importantly, I love a movie with an off-the-chain heroine. There are hundreds of great films with male heroes but when a woman can come into the fold and kick butt alongside the men that’s when a movie, for me, gets really awesome and lately that’s become a regular occurrence.

Last year Wonder Woman finally got her own blockbuster film after being around for decades and there have been a bunch of critically acclaimed indie films and television shows led by women in the past year. The last three Star Wars films have been led by women and have made billions of dollars, an idea that at one time would seem preposterous to the Hollywood elite. And last year’s highest grossing films were all female-led, Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman, and The Last Jedi.

So, because women are clearly awesome, I’m going to share with you the ten movie heroines that I have come to love the most, at least, so far. Enjoy!

10. Dorothy

The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies of all time. I remember seeing this film as a child and it was one of the most magical films I have ever seen still to this day. To think that this movie was made in 1939! is beyond incredible and in the center of this epic tale is Dorothy.

Dorothy is a special character. She has those ruby slippers, she sings like an angel, she has the cutest dog ever, Toto, and she’s so sweet. She’s a regular farm girl trying to run away from home because a mean old lady wants her dog to be taken away who just so happened to end up embarking on an incredible journey in a magical world unlike any other. She faces flying monkeys, an evil witch, and many other obstacles but at the end of it all she survives the adventure and helps save the Land of Oz while never refraining from being herself. If you really think about it, Dorothy is a very brave girl. To face all of that strange stuff; a talking scarecrow, a talking lion, a tin man, munchkins, witches, etc. without utterly freaking out is very impressive.

Without Dorothy The Wizard of Oz would not be the same magical movie that it has been for almost a century and that’s why she is one of my favorite heroines.

The Women of ‘Black Panther’

Marvel hasn’t been known for incorporating a lot of female superheroes in their movies (until recently.) For a while Black Widow was the only female superhero in the superhero franchise until 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy introduced assassin sisters Gamora and Nebula into the fold. Since then the female superheroes have appeared at an increasing rate. Avengers: Age of Ultron debuted Scarlet Witch. Doctor Strange had The Ancient One. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 brought forth a new heroine, Mantis. Thor: Ragnarok unleashed the fiery Valkyrie into the MCU as well as the franchise’s first female villain, Hela. And now Black Panther.

Out of all seventeen previous films there have been only eight female superheroes, and four of them appeared in the last two years! This has been a male-dominated franchise for a long time but that’s slowly being cut into and the arrival of Black Panther helps that immensely as it introduced the most women we’ve seen in a Marvel film to date. Not only were their four major heroines in the film but there were plenty of strong, powerful women surrounding them as well and it was a marvel (see what I did there?) to see. And more importantly, they were black!

We, as black women, rarely see ourselves represented in such an epic fashion onscreen and to see so many of us, at one time, portrayed as strong, beautiful, intelligent, and downright awesome was and still is one of the best experiences of my life. So today I’m going to celebrate the arrival of these powerful women and I hope you enjoy. 🙂

The Defining Moments of Rey

For the next nine days I’m writing about the defining moments of nine of Star Wars’ most important characters and today, on this fascinating segment, I’ll talk about my favorite moments from Rey throughout The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi so far.

SPOILER ALERT! This post will contain spoilers from The Last Jedi and so if you haven’t seen the film yet I advise you to discontinue reading now. Thank you for heeding my warning and enjoy!

1. When Rey Refused To Sell BB-8 To Unkar Plutt

When we first meet Rey in The Force Awakens we don’t exactly know if she’s the good guy or not. We figure she is but there is no guarantee. And then when you see her save BB-8 from the clutches of the vile Teedo you get a sense that she is definitely, at least, a kind person. This is explored even further however when she is given a serious choice. She could have sold BB-8 for sixty rations which would’ve been great for herself but she instead chose the selfless act by giving herself only one-half portion of food to keep BB-8 from the grubby hands of Unkar. It immediately relayed her benevolent character to the audience and established her as this trilogy’s seemingly clear-cut new hero.

2. The Jakku Chase

The moment that made me an immediate Rey fan was when she and Finn had to escape the stormtroopers. In the moment when Finn spotted the stormtroopers he took Rey’s hand and pulled her into a run because he felt that he had to protect her but Rey quickly squashed that idea as she wiggled free of his grasp. She established, in that moment, that she wasn’t going to be a damsel in distress. She was going to be the Luke of this trilogy and the men were going to have to follow her lead. Awesome!

3. Discovering Luke’s Lightsaber

Rey had no idea that running into Finn and BB-8 on Jakku would change her life in the way that did but it set in motion the Force awakening within her. The Force led her to Luke’s lightsaber locked away in a chest deep within a castle thousands of lightyears away which, of course, led her eventually to the man himself, Luke Skywalker.

The vision she received as she touched the lightsaber also hinted at her connection to Kylo Ren by showing him a couple of times even though she had never seen him before. At one point it shows him saving her from a mysterious person about to attack her as she lay vulnerable upon the ground (I believe this is referenced to him saving her from Snoke) and at another time poised to fight her in the snowy forest of StarKiller Base which did eventually take place as well.

This is a powerful moment for Rey that sets her on the path of her destiny.

Superhero Women vs. ‘Star Wars’ Women: Who Is Greater?

In the past decade there has been a steady positive increase in the way women are portrayed through movies and television and last year the three highest grossing films were all led by women; Emma Watson’s Beauty and the Beast, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, and Daisy Ridley’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That’s a powerful realization when just a few years ago men still highly dominated the blockbuster realm. Movies, and television shows, today are showing women not as damsels in distress but instead as complicated, strong women who don’t need men to dictate their every action or sway their minds. That’s pretty great. And the trend is only continuing. Next year we’re getting an all-female Ocean’s film (awesome) among many other movies undoubtedly helmed by incredible women.

So today, in honor of all of the powerful ladies of cinema, I’m going to compare five magnificent female superheroes against Star Wars’ five greatest heroines. Enjoy!

Scarlet Witch vs. Jyn Erso

I like Scarlet Witch a lot. I’ve liked her since Avengers: Age of Ultron. She’s extraordianarily powerful, she has a cool outfit, and she is a strong character. Unfortunately she’s surrounded by so many more important characters that her story usually is more of an afterthought than the main focus of the movies and so she hasn’t been given the chance to shine yet. Hopefully, in Avengers: Infinity War, she’ll have an actual story in the movie and won’t be used as only a vessel for romance in the film.

Jyn is feisty, strong, she says whatever is on her mind, and she is not afraid of anything. I would say she’s an impeccable heroine. Her role in Rogue One was also fantastic because it never felt obvious that she was the only woman in the movie, besides Mon Mothma and the Leia cameo, because she was such a leader. She helped orchestrate one of the greatest victories the Rebellion ever had and that’s very impressive. She’s also awesome because she has such a rough look.

She never once tries to make herself look good. Her hair is messily tied, her skin is dirty, and her clothes aren’t worn to flatter. I think that’s my favorite thing about Jyn and it’s important for little girls to see a heroine who’s just as tough, or tougher, than the men she’s around.

I love Scarlet Witch but because she hasn’t really been given a story yet Jyn obviously wins this round.

Star Wars Women: 1 point

My Tribute to Carrie Fisher

Star Wars is a franchise that has lived and transcended generations. The cultural phenomenon began way back in 1977 and now, after 40 years, the excitement for this seemingly unending franchise is even stronger. The question is, what was it that made this science-fiction space opera resonate with so many people? Was it the lore of the story, was it the music, was it the characters? I believe there was a collaboration of all of these different aspects but the characters were a huge part of why A New Hope 40 years ago became such a global hit.

You had Luke, the simple farm boy who wanted to explore the stars and follow in the footsteps of his “dead” father. Then there was Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi, the wise mentor. You had the rascally Han Solo, a scoundrel at first meeting but a hero at heart.

And finally you have Princess Leia, which this post is dedicated to.

At the time when A New Hope came out if you thought about the definition of a princess you would only think about a damsel in distress stuck in a tower. Princess Leia rewrote that narrative. Princess Leia didn’t run screaming from the stormtroopers, she shot at them. Princess Leia didn’t whimper in the face of Darth Vader, she patronized him. This was pretty much unheard of in that day and age of movies.

She was one of the pioneers of all the strong women you have in film today. Throughout A New Hope she never played the role of damsel in distress. And yes, she was rescued, but she didn’t treat her rescuers like they were “her heroes.” She instead told them off for not coming up with a better escape plan.