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Entertainment May 4, 2020
May the 4th be with you, and these badass women!
Image via Lucas FilmsIt’s once again May the 4th, which has taken on a far more nerdy meaning in recent years. One of the famous lines from “Star Wars” is, “May the force be with you” which die-hard fans have shortened to “May the 4th be with you.” Today is now considered, “International ‘Star Wars’ Day” by dedicated fans.
While the number of female characters is much smaller than the number of males, the women of “Star Wars” are nevertheless straight-up awesome. In honor of the franchise’s day of honor, here are some unforgettable moments (in no particular order) where these ladies kick ass all over a galaxy far, far away. Warning: there are spoilers!
Princess Leia is the original bad bitch of the “Star Wars” series. She’s iconic enough that even if you’ve never seen any of the movies, you still know who she is. She’s not a “damsel-in-distress” princess, she’s sassy, a powerful politician, and can hold her own in a fight. This makes it hard to pin down just one moment that encapsulates just how awesome she is.
Leia’s skimpy slave outfit from the third film in the original “Star Wars” trilogy has become known as the pinnacle of nerdiness and sexuality.
However, the scene is so much more than just fan service. When Leia jumps into action she wraps her chains around Jabba the Hut’s gross alien throat and strangled him to death, women everywhere were yelling, “You go, girl!”
This scene gives a kind of satisfying catharsis to any woman who has been physically or verbally silenced. Doing so in a sexy outfit adds to the scene as if sticking a middle finger up to anyone who sees her as merely an object to be looked at. Seeing the Princess get revenge on her abuser gives a New Hope to women everywhere.
“Rogue One” is certainly not one of the most well-liked films of the “Star Wars” franchise. Many critics thought that it was hard to get attached to the film’s characters because it was a one-shot story and not a full trilogy.
Nevertheless, many fans fell in love with Felicity Jones’s lead character, Jyn Erso.
In a behind-the-scenes preview of the film on Star Wars’s official YouTube Channel, Jones explains:
“With Jyn, Gareth [Edwards] and I both felt that it was very important that we found her humanity and her vulnerability and everyone should relate to her.”
At the climax of the film, as Jyn is trying to transfer the Death Star plans to her allies, she is confronted by one of the main villains of the film, who demands to know who she is. This is when she utters one of the coolest lines:
“You know who I am. I’m Jyn Erso. Daughter of Galen and Lyra. You’ve lost.”
She goes on to say:
“My father’s revenge. He built a flaw in the Death Star. He put a fuse in the middle of your machine and I’ve just told the entire galaxy how to light it.”
Chills. Just, chills, up and down my spine.
She’s not only a great fighter, but she is a young person who has lost both her parents and feels this intense pressure to save the galaxy. Through her efforts and sacrifice, the Death Star plans are able to make it to Princess Leia. Jyn and her team are, “the new hope” that the rebel alliance needed.
“The Mandalorian” brought us Baby Yoda, one of the cutest critters in “Star Wars” history, and it brought us a handful of new female characters.
In episode three of the show, the titular Mandalorian and his adopted baby come to a village that is under attack. Here, they meet Omera. We chose her because her badassery is a little different than some of the other women on this list.
Omera lost her husband and is now a single mom raising a daughter on her own in dangerous times. That by itself is all too familiar, as there are a ton of badass single moms out there. She proves that strength and resilience can come from acts of love.
We later learn that she is a killer shot with a blaster and can hold her own in a fight. Even before this though, she shows a lot of strength and deserves to be counted as one of the most impactful women in, “Star Wars.”
When Senator Padme Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi are about to be put to death in the Petranski arena, it’s Padme that gets them out of this sticky situation.
Before they are walked out into the arena, we see Padme put something in her mouth. While all of the attention is on the monsters in the arena, she picks the locks on her handcuffs, gets out of them, and climbs to safety. She then helps Anakin and Obi-Wan out of their restraints.
The best part of this scene is when Anakin and Obi-Wan are trying to figure out how they will escape, and Anakin says, “What about Padme?”
To which Obi-Wan responds, “She seems to be on top of things.”
Anakin then realizes that his future wife is a grade-A badass. They fight together side-by-side once the Jedi reinforcements arrive to save them.
Before “Rogue One” or the new trilogy, the “Star Wars” franchise did have another female protagonist, Ashoka Tano, who is considered the first female Jedi. She is to this day, the only female Jedi to wield two lightsabers at the same time. She is unfortunately often overlooked, due to the fact that “Clone Wars” was never on the big screen.
“Clone Wars” takes place between the events of “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith.” Ashoka was Anakin Skywalker’s student before his eventual descent into becoming the evil Darth Vader.
Other than her fighting ability, Ashoka showed her badassery in another way. In season five, she was accusesd of terrorism and was removed from the Jedi Order. She was able to to prove her innocence by finding the real culprit and the Order welcomed her back.
However, Ashoka denied them. She could see that the system that she had trusted and fought for throughout the years was broken. She no longer wanted to be associated with them. This is a powerful move, since there are plenty of people who would kill to be in the Order. Ashoka’s story tells us that there is strength in simply saying, “No.”
This would prove to be to her advantage, seeing as everyone in the Jedi Order was eventually killed off in “Revenge of the Sith.”
Of course, this May the 4th list would not be complete if we didn’t talk about the newest Jedi in the franchise.
We chose this scene to show off what a badass Rey is because really, it’s the start of her Jedi journey. Right after Han Solo’s death, Rey fights with his killer, Kylo Ren to save her friend Finn.
In this battle, she finds out that she has the ability to wield a lightsaber, which is something that only Jedi warriors are capable of doing. What’s more, she is able to summon it using the telekinetic ability of, “the force” which is even rarer still. This infuriates Kylo Ren, who had worked for years to harness this ability.
Even though she is inexperienced with this weapon and the powers, she follows her instincts and holds her own against the antagonist, and even gets him with one good slash to the face, leaving him with a nasty scar.
It’s a pretty straightforward metaphor – the power of good is always going to win against evil, no matter what level of skill they are at.
This fight was a pivotal turning point for Rey’s journey as the hero of the new trilogy.
From all of us here at ENTITY Mag, May the 4th be With You!
