ask star wars fandom to explain why it’s noble, heroic, and the height of compassion for luke to go to vader and ask for vader to come away with him, but why the common take is that it was pathetic, immoral, and stupid of padme to do the same thing (despite padme knowing anakin better, having a more personal relationship with anakin, and anakin having done just by the numbers a couple less murders) and then watch it shit itself to death as it rapidly tries to explain that No It’s Feminism Actually
luke
has never known anakin to be a good person
has never known anakin at all
has no personal relationship with anakin
space magic and some of the requisite training
psychically received intelligence that he senses good in vader
a weapon
the narrative underpinning of star wars setting him up for absolute victory
padme had
sheer force of will
compassion
has known anakin since he was nine
yet luke is the hero; luke is right, correct, and overflowing with compassion, the pinnacle of a jedi. but fans think of padme as stupid. she wouldn’t let anakin go, there was something wrong with her, she was pathetic, an idiot, immoral - because she failed, right? so now we have to justify why she failed instead of maybe accepting that she didn’t actually deserve what anakin did to her? hey, why is everyone convinced they’re saving padme’s character also so fucking dedicated to justifying why padme as presented in the movies secretly deserved what she got because she was weak? despite padme’s decisions being designed to literally reflect the culminating victory of the series, the fact that she is actually fairly successful until obi-wan reveals himself, the fact that her dying words echo the actual lived reality three films later, is tossed aside in favor of padme being weak-willed, fucked up, traumatized, stupid, selfish and self-serving. the entire story relies on padme being actually fucking right. you have 47 seconds to explain why No It’s Feminism Actually if it’s a character flaw for padme to be fucking right.
padme has more to lose than anyone else by facing anakin - she’s pregnant, she has no martial training, she has no space magic, she has no weapon, she has nothing but compassion. and she is the only person who was deescalating, in a series of anti-war films where luke’s heroic journey ends with him throwing away his weapon, padme is the only person who almost successfully cut out three fucking films of horror by being this ultimate figure fighting for peace….. and then obi-wan saunters in. you have 30 seconds to explain why No It’s Feminism Actually for me to call her selfish when that is the most catastrophically brave thing that happens in all of star wars. did you guys get so bogged down in discourse you forgot what the movies actually are
padme should’ve been older; padme was actually only in love with anakin because he mind tricked her; padme was actually Damaged; padme was actually secretly evil; padme should’ve tried to kill anakin; padme shouldn’t have died the way she did; you will see every take in the absolute goddammed universe before you see one person actually engage with the character on the screen. and then everyone pats themselves on the back because We’re So Good At Female Characters when the only way they can interact with padme whatsoever is to write out her narrative importance, cut her out of the legacy she is 50% responsible for creating, demonize any choice she makes when she makes demonstrably the same choices that lead to the galaxy being saved from evil, and pretend that this amalgamation they have left is anything similar to padme. trying to get people to look at padme when she’s onscreen is like trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. you can point to the “come with me” she shares with her son and watch people call ome heroic and the other selfish and no one will ever wake the hell up.
every “fix” fandom has come up with for george lucas’ misogynistic inability to engage with and develop padme’s character…. relies on continuing the misogynistic inability to engage with and develop padme’s character. you have 23 seconds to explain No It’s Feminism Actually
hey what’s next, are people going to believe that leia would secretly make a better sith lord than luke despite the fact that he nearly falls to the dark side on the fucking screen - oh, yeah, you guys do actually do that. oh yeah. “we’re making dynamic, relatable female characters,” but you’re actually regurgitating culturally christian misogynistic values all over the place - women are weak, easily corrupted and selfish, and this, in a narrative that has the male members of this family wrestle for the goodness of their souls in one bombastic climax. you guys didn’t watch the movie you read half a wikipedia article and started making stuff up because the only female characters you can tolerate are ones that fit into a narrow definition
no my tags were right. i’m adding them. fuck it
I mean, this is the same fandom that desperately tries to posit that Shmi Skywalker urging Anakin to leave Tatooine in TPM and not look back or return for her is not at all behavior influenced by her years of slavery. No, it’s actually an indication that Shmi shared the Jedi’s values and would have loved the Jedi and taught Anakin detachment from Day 1, and Anakin not being able to learn detachment during his traumatic childhood as a literal slave with zero rights is proof that he’s an inherently selfish bad seed who never should have been a Jedi at all.
And Shmi probably never wanted to leave Tatooine, this planet where she was a literal slave, because it was her home. Where she was forced to work as a labor slave day in and day out. It’s fine, guys, it was her home! And it’s also where she was bought by a dude so she could be his wife, which is a situation described to the audience entirely by three male characters and mostly glossed over, with zero input from Shmi or any hint about her agency in any of this.
So Shmi probably didn’t have want to be free, anyway, so it’s super okay that she was never given the choice! It’s definitely not sexist that the two main female characters of the Prequels exist only to die to motivate the main male character! George Lucas was such a progressive and feminist creator for putting three whole female aliens on the Jedi Council so they could, uh, sit silently and do nothing as the male characters argue! Feminism!
I hate that we’re treading over the same shit with the attachment rule without actually seeing it rehashed or reinterpreted. Wouldn’t Grogu’s decision feel more meaningful if it was about his healing than fear of his potential to fall to the dark side? If Luke’s underlying meaning was more “do you still want to be a Jedi after all that trauma and pain? I can help you find some peace in the Force, but to return to safety and love of Mando, that’s okay, if you wish to. You have not obligation to become a Jedi.” vs. “Grogu, you are powerful in the force, and you need to decide to either give into your attachment and forsake the Jedi, or stay and become powerful and wise.” The whole attachment doctrine, which I thought was not going to be resurrected by Luke, really sours Grogu’s own emotional journey.
now i’m not din djarin, but if i WAS din djarin, and i used sacred beskar to make a gift for my foundling, something i considered it fundamentally his right to have, and i entrusted it to my foundling’s current caretakers to give to him because i trusted their judgement enough to not visit him myself, and they withheld it from him unless he gave up his jedi identity, effectively using my gift, this sacred gift, to emotionally blackmail my baby into choosing between us, i would fucking kill them. but that’s just me personally
