Pop Culture #629
Subscribe
X

Subscribe to Forte Magazine

Pop Culture #629

The problem with a massive pop culture event like Star Wars is that it builds up enthusiasm to a level that often can’t be sustained by the event itself. Which is a fancy way of saying that a lot of people got so interested in everything about Star Wars that they’ve run out of actual interesting Star Wars things to be interested in. This is a thing that happens a lot, though it doesn’t get discussed a lot because as far as corporations are concerned having people overly-invested in their franchises is a good thing: you can never sell too many toys, after all.

Even if Star Wars: The Force Awakens was this massively deep and complex movie with loads to say about the human conditions – instead of not much more than a remake of the first Star Wars with the characters swapped around a little bit – we only have the first third of a trilogy to work with here: logically we’re going to have a lot more questions than answers, and without answers questions like, ‘Why didn’t that guy say anything?’ and ‘Why did that robot only wake up right at the end of the movie?’ and ‘Why don’t they have more than one map of the galaxy in the galaxy?’ are kind of pointless. Which means with fans worked up into a frenzy they’re now kind of flailing around a bit, especially as The Force Awakens isn’t really a film that rewards repeat viewing with more insights or revelations – it’s a fun action-adventure ride, not something you can base a life philosophy on (and before you ask what action film does qualify, check out all the iffy philosophy books The Matrix inspired).

For example it seems that Rey, female co-lead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is given a (relatively speaking) smaller supporting role in the Star Wars toy line-up. Is this yet another example of a strong female character being denied her due respect? Is it more that someone in the toy department said ‘These toys are aimed at boys, so make more of the male characters’? If the Star Wars movies are basically just toy commercials – and as the toys make three or four times as much money as the movies, the answer is “yes” – why then put a female lead in there if you’re not going to make toys of her? Is that because Disney plan to be making money from Star Wars: The Force Awakens 40 or 50 years from now and having a female lead is a good way to future-proof things considering the general trends in pop culture (and having Rey revealed to be yet another Disney Princess in the third film of this trilogy wouldn’t hurt marketing-wise either)? Is it then perhaps that film-going audiences are more progressive than the pre-teen toy market (and their parents)? Or is this another case of corporate sexism that needs to be named and shamed if we’re ever going to move forward as a society? Personally speaking, I couldn’t care less. They’re toys based on a movie designed to sell toys. If I want to get excited about that sort of thing I can always rewatch The Lego Movie.

Written by Anthony Morris