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Zach Helfant

Dr. Tabitha Clark

ENGW1111

29 March 2021

Gender and Race in the Star Wars Franchise

The Death Star. The Force. Lightsaber and spaceship battles. These terms ring a bell in

almost everybody’s mind as representative of the widely loved Star Wars trilogies that have

cumulatively grossed just under four billion dollars (“Franchise: Star Wars”). George Lucas, the

creator and director of the Star Wars franchise, released A New Hope in 1977. This film

introduced the franchise during a time in which sci-fi media was not nearly as popular as it is in

the modern day, demonstrated by the nearly 250-million-dollar difference between opening

weekend grosses with the 2015 released The Force Awakens (“Franchise: Star Wars”). Within

each trilogy there are varying plot lines and character arcs that transform as the series progresses,

but two themes are also evidently transposed throughout the franchise: gender and race. These

adaptations are transparent in The Force Awakens which was described by Variety as a

“heightened reboot” of A New Hope (DeBruge). Kathleen Ellis of Australian Screen Education

critiques that while A New Hope “depicts a new world, it is one permeated with the ideology of

an old one,” (Ellis). Many of the basic aspects of the movie are “very similar to the norms and

values of twentieth century earth,” (Ellis). These two movies are extremely similar by way of

plot, but major differences in gender roles and diverse representation in the cast portray the vast

social transformations that society as a whole has undergone since the initial release of A New

Hope.
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In A New Hope and The Force Awakens, gender stereotypes are both enforced and

broken, as the films attempt to infuse character dynamism within both the female and male

characters by breaking cultural norms from both the 1970s and the 2010s. In A New Hope,

gender roles are clearly defined as the men are the ones in charge of the Princess Leia rescue

mission and the Death Star attack. There is very little female representation but the central

female character, Leia Organa, is portrayed as a multidimensional woman who will not tolerate

being spoken down to by men, but also is shown as a damsel in distress, crying “Help me, Obi-

Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” as she needed the aide of a man to free her from the Death

Star of the Empire (A New Hope). In particular, Han Solo is quite derogatory towards Leia,

treating her more as a sex object by commenting on her appearance multiple times, and then

during the rescue mission he nonchalantly says, “Now if we just avoid any more female advice

we should be able to get out of here,” (A New Hope). This is deeply sexist because of the display

of toxic masculinity, as Han believes that male minds are superior, which is not true. The

arrogance of believing that Leia’s female brain being the reason they are struggling to escape the

Death Star is misogynistic. The men in this movie are represented as the leaders of the

Resistance, and while Leia is technically at the top of the hierarchical structure, she is not seen in

any of the battle preparation. In contrast, in The Force Awakens, Rey is portrayed as a powerful

young girl who does not need anyone to save her, evidenced in a scene where she and Finn are

running from oncoming fire and Finn grabs her hand as they attempt to escape. Rey yells “I

know how to run without you holding my hand,” making it clear that she is capable of defending

herself and is not a weak, helpless women that needs a man to save her (The Force Awakens).

Rey is always shown as in complete control of her actions and is never bossed around in the

entire film. Star Wars has always been a forward-looking movie franchise in regard to female
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representation, as while there were some previously mentioned toxic comments made by

characters like Han Solo in early films like A New Hope, Leia was almost always shown as a

powerful woman who would not allow men to be condescending to her, and Rey shares those

same personality traits in The Force Awakens. Not only does Rey play the most prominent role,

but there is also much more female representation in the film as women are now seen on the

control decks of starships during battle scenes and Leia is the leader of the Resistance. These

progressive portrayals of women provide an added importance to their characters that help define

each respective film.

Progressive representation in the Star Wars franchise is not just reserved gender roles, but

also for racial diversity. To begin the discussion on race in these films, it is important to know

that both of these films had mostly white casts and film/production crews, meaning that diversity

of thought was not largely present in the creation of both of these movies. Race is evident but is

something that the audience must seek to understand in terms of how different races are

portrayed. In A New Hope, there are many different races represented, but not through humans;

there are many alien species that are portrayed and interact with the main human characters, and

the Mos Eisley Cantina scene succinctly depicts all these different alien races and their

interactions at once. Ben Kenobi, who is supposed to be a wise, accepting Jedi refers to the

spaceport in less than endearing terms, saying, “You will never find a more wretched hive of

scum and villainy,” (A New Hope). This quote is problematic due to the generalization of the

alien races that inhabit the area, and paints them with a broad, unforgiving stereotype that closely

mirrors those that Black people experienced around that time in real life (and still experience).

Vilifying these aliens with libelous slander is then coupled with a bar fight that is quickly ended

by Ben Kenobi – a white man. In A New Hope, there are no attempts to display any sort of
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human diversity as any non-white characters are extras and offer no dialogue in the film. The

Force Awakens differs in this aspect as there is more diverse representation among the cast,

along with people of color being given voice acting roles. One of the main characters in this film

is Finn, played by John Boyega, who is Black and is openly questioned by Rey on why he looks

different than other Resistance fighters, to which Finn responds, “Well this is what we look like,

some of us. Others look different,” (The Force Awakens). Human racial diversity becomes

placed at the forefront during this scene; Now that it is impossible for the audience to ignore that

Finn is black, Finn becomes a symbol in the film to embody his race. Finn’s personality is

described through his actions, which are heroic and differ from the white savior that is present in

all Star Wars films up to The Force Awakens. In contrast to A New Hope, aliens are no longer the

main source of diverse representation, but they still play a key role in the film. They mostly

speak English in the film and are actually voiced by actors of many different ethnicities, mainly

Asian and Black. Racial diversity has become a more important aspect to films in the 21st century

as society’s values have changed, and the differences in representation from A New Hope to The

Force Awakens is indicative of that cultural adaptation.

The family sci-fi franchise Star Wars remains one of the most popular in the United

States with the latest trilogy being released over the course of the last six years. The entire

franchise has spanned from the 1970s to the modern day, and over this period of time where

there has been immense cultural change in society, Star Wars has been an example medium to

understand what that change has looked like. This transformation has mainly been seen through

the themes of gender and race as these have been central issues in society that are still being

tackled today. In A New Hope, which was released in 1977, gender representation of women is

minimal, with Leia Organa being the only central female figure in the film, and racial diversity is
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severely lacking with alien races being the main form of diverse representation. In contrast, The

Force Awakens puts female characters at the forefront, having a female as the last hope of the

Jedi Order, and racial diversity is far more present with the addition of a prominent black

character in Finn, and a more ethnically heterogenous cast. Since the genesis of the franchise,

changes in portrayals of gender and race have been crucial to the identity of each film, and

closely mirror general attitudes in society at the times of film creation.

Works Cited

A New Hope. Directed by George Lucas, performances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and

Carrie Fisher, Lucasfilm Ltd., 1977.

DeBruge, Peter. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Variety, 2017, Star_Wars_The_Last_Jedi.pdf.

Ellis, Kathleen. “New_world_old_habits_patriarch.” Australian Screen Education,

New_world_old_habits_patriarch.PDF.

“Franchise: Star Wars.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr3125251845/?

ref_=bo_frs_table_2.

“Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 25 May 1977,

www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt.

“Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 16 Dec. 2015,

www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/.

The Force Awakens. Directed by J.J. Abrams, performances by Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford,

John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, Disney, 2015.