In the movie universe it was a creepy evil guy who made her wear the slave outfit, and doesn’t make sense to get mad at a fictional character. In real life the people making the movie decide what outfits people wear, and we’re allowed to have opinions about that.
If we carry this to the meta level: The same people also decided that Leia kills Jabba in that very outfit and generally break a ton of damsel in distress tropes. Now you could say “But Ellen Ripley is just as if not even more badass, why not do that”, well, then you wouldn’t be messaging that getting demeaned by your captors doesn’t change anything about your capacity to badass, that the outfit, or Jabba’s general grossness, does not need to have power over your mind, just as horror doesn’t have power over Ripley’s mind. And you can’t just turn Star Wars into body horror so it has to have different hero characteristics.
I see nothing wrong with that message.
The same thing gender-swapped, though? Wouldn’t have the same impact as men typically get sexualised differently. It’s certainly been done in a sense, though, e.g. in Pulp Fiction.
You’re overthinking it. I don’t generally have a problem with the plot of the movie or even these scenes, but I don’t think Leia specifically in a bikini outfit is a commentary on how we can overcome sexual stereotyping. It’s because people like seeing a sexy lady, including George Lucas.
Didn’t Carrie Fisher say in an interview that Lucas said she couldn’t wear a bra because they don’t have bras in space?
Also think about that scene in the prequels where they’re captive in the bug stadium and Natalie Portman is showing a lot of skin I guess because one of the monsters ripped her clothes. Why not make Anakin shirtless?
Didn’t Carrie Fisher say in an interview that Lucas said she couldn’t wear a bra because they don’t have bras in space?
She didn’t seem to be particularly pissed about it. I assume he had cinematographic reasons and made the comment in jest. Heck if it weren’t for people talking about it I would never have noticed, certainly didn’t notice as a teenage horndog which is saying something.
Why not make Anakin shirtless?
I’ll just leave this here. I only googled the scene the internet did the rest, don’t shoot the messenger.
In the movie universe it was a creepy evil guy who made her wear the slave outfit, and doesn’t make sense to get mad at a fictional character. In real life the people making the movie decide what outfits people wear, and we’re allowed to have opinions about that.
If we carry this to the meta level: The same people also decided that Leia kills Jabba in that very outfit and generally break a ton of damsel in distress tropes. Now you could say “But Ellen Ripley is just as if not even more badass, why not do that”, well, then you wouldn’t be messaging that getting demeaned by your captors doesn’t change anything about your capacity to badass, that the outfit, or Jabba’s general grossness, does not need to have power over your mind, just as horror doesn’t have power over Ripley’s mind. And you can’t just turn Star Wars into body horror so it has to have different hero characteristics.
I see nothing wrong with that message.
The same thing gender-swapped, though? Wouldn’t have the same impact as men typically get sexualised differently. It’s certainly been done in a sense, though, e.g. in Pulp Fiction.
You’re overthinking it. I don’t generally have a problem with the plot of the movie or even these scenes, but I don’t think Leia specifically in a bikini outfit is a commentary on how we can overcome sexual stereotyping. It’s because people like seeing a sexy lady, including George Lucas.
Didn’t Carrie Fisher say in an interview that Lucas said she couldn’t wear a bra because they don’t have bras in space?
Also think about that scene in the prequels where they’re captive in the bug stadium and Natalie Portman is showing a lot of skin I guess because one of the monsters ripped her clothes. Why not make Anakin shirtless?
She didn’t seem to be particularly pissed about it. I assume he had cinematographic reasons and made the comment in jest. Heck if it weren’t for people talking about it I would never have noticed, certainly didn’t notice as a teenage horndog which is saying something.
I’ll just leave this here. I only googled the scene the internet did the rest, don’t shoot the messenger.
James Kirk had his shirt ripped in similar scenarios so many times it was something they made fun of in Galaxy Quest.
And in the last movie I saw with Natalie Portman in it, Chris Hemsworth had his clothes completely removed.
As a general rule, I think if the actor’s ok with it, then I’m ok with it.