Caroline Made an Interesting Comment about "Return of the Jedi"

We just completed a long-overdue aspect of nine-year-old Caroline's education by finishing up showing her the only three "Star Wars" films that really matter: Eps 4, 5 and 6. She actually sobbed copiously when Vader died. You know, we spend so much time bitching about Lucas doing this, that and the other think that sometimes we forget the power these films can pack, especially for younger viewers.

Then we asked her the obvious question. Which of the three was her favorite?



Without hesitation she said, "Return of the Jedi." I said, "Because of the Ewoks?" She said, "No, because of Leia. This is the first movie she kicked ass." And I thought about that and realized she was right.

In "A New Hope," Leia is captured, tortured, waits for rescue. Yes, granted, she immediately takes charge while castigating the guys, shooting Stormtroopers, and leading them into the dumpster. But once they escape the Death Star, she basically allows the Millennium Falcon to lead the bad guys right to the rebel HQ (remember, she says the Empire let them escape; it should have been obvious why) and then stands there silently hoping they don't get blown up while a slew of men take care of business; she doesn't have a word of dialogue for the last fifteen minutes except to welcome Luke and Han back.

In "Empire," generally lauded as the best of the films, she fights with Han, sucks face with her brother, tells the rebels it's time to run away, gets hauled around the galaxy like so much baggage by Han, bickers, bickers some more, screams when she sees a harmless flying sucking animal, falls in love with Han, gets captured, hides behind a Wookie, tells Han she loves him and gets a non-committal response in front of Vader, Boba Fett and the Stormtroopers, all of whom were probably snickering under their helmets. Han winds up frigid, hermetically sealed on Funk and Wagnall's porch, she's helpless to escape until Lando springs her, and she's she's too late to save her ingrate boyfriend. The only pro-active thing she does the whole film is pick up Luke's mental email and go back to pick him up before he destroys the entire cloud city's TV reception.

But in "Return," well, first she manages to strong-arm her way into Jabba's hut and frees Han. Then for the next ten minutes she's stuck in the outfit that launched a million fanboy fantasies. But after that, as if spurred on by the humiliating ensemble, she goes on an absolute tear of payback. Anyone and everyone who screws with her gets his head handed to him. She strangles Jabba and helps blow up the barge; joins a raiding party on the moon of Endor, eludes stormtroopers in a high speed chase, and even after she gets knocked off the bike, the trooper who did it gets blown up. She forges an immediate alliance with the Ewoks (while her boyfriend and brother wind up getting hogtied by midget teddy bears). She joins in another raiding party, gets captured for maybe thirty seconds (the shortest capture stint of the three films), gets in a firefight, gets blasted but in no time not only shoots down her assailants (with a wound in her shoulder, no less, which never even gets bandaged–her arm isn't even in a sling–because she's just that bad ass) and tosses Han's snark from "Empire" right back at him.

I just find it interesting that the film that fans consider the strongest is when Leia is the weakest, and when women dress as Leia from "Jedi," they invariably favor the costume that's the most degrading. It takes a modern nine year old to zero in on what she appreciates most: a film where the lead female kicks ass.

PAD