Space babe Leia flaunts a rare feminist flair

Science fiction fans looking for the stereotypical space-babe in Star Wars will probably find themselves looking elsewhere for a voluptuous, scantily clad vixen in stiletto heels.

It was not until the third film in the trilogy that Princess Leia appears in a two-piece. And even then, she was strangling her pig-like captor with shackles not only to save herself, but to rescue her male counterpart.

In other words, Princess Leia was not your run-of-the-mill female sci-fi character, and the Star Wars trilogy did not harbor roles typical for female characters in the genre.

In Star Wars, Leia starts off as a helpless captive damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued by Luke, Han, Obi-Wan and the droids from the clutches of the villain. Once her rescuers arrive, however, Leia completely takes charge of the escape and her companions obey her every command.

And that rescue is balanced by the role reversal in Return of the Jedi, in which Han, now himself the helpless captive, is rescued by Leia.

Going it alone disguised as a bounty hunter, Leia infiltrates the palace of Jabba the Hutt. She threatens Jabba with a detonator and single-handedly saves Han. Not to mention the fact that she kills the enormous Jabba, practically with her bare hands.

"I think Alien and Star Wars are all part of a real shift in terms of looking at the roles women play (in science fiction) . . . roles that had been exclusively played by men," said William Kelly, associate professor of theater and integrative arts. "(Princess Leia) is not like what we expect . . . she can fight toe-to-toe with the guys and frequently better."

Science fiction movies of the past few decades have been among the more liberal media in female character depiction, Kelly said.

"I think the science fiction film, more than any other, really started to elevate women characters," he said.

And because the science-fiction genre has taken these progressive steps toward portraying women in a more independent, domineering light, some women are taking a greater interest in the films.

"From what I have observed, it's pretty much a male-dominated field, but women from our generation are getting more interested," said Karolyn Hicks, Undergraduate Student Government director of women's affairs.

The increasing number of women involved in science careers may contribute to a growing female interest in science fiction, Hicks added.

"There are more women entering the science field in general, and as a result more women are becoming interested in science fiction," she said.

The characters that break the bonds of female stereotypes in science fiction movies, such as Leia and Ellen Ripley of the Alien films, do not abandon all senses of femininity, Kelly said.

"They really didn't have to lose any of their feminine qualities," he said. An example of this is in Return of the Jedi, when Leia deals with the Ewoks in a maternal way and becomes a kind of adoptive mother, all while blasting away Empire biker scouts in camouflage fatigues.

However, some say that Princess Leia's feminist qualities are not significant enough to remove her from the traditional science fiction "heroine," always defined by the men around her.

"My reaction to her as a character is that she was not much of a feminist breakthrough character," said Eve Munson, assistant professor of communications, who teaches a course on women and minorities in the media. "She was obviously a leader, and that's always nice to see for a woman in her role, but ultimately subordinate to the men around her, and sort of by her own choice."

Many of Leia's exploits portrayed her as an independent heroine, Munson said, but it was not consistent enough to qualify her as a feminist.

"There were some positives, but there were some definite stereotypes used in defining her character as well," she said.

Paul Youngquist, associate professor of English, who teaches courses in science fiction literature, said that Leia was a half-hearted feminist character.

"Princess Leia was an attempted heroine, but defines herself through relationships with men," he said. "She was not a well-developed, autonomous heroine. She is too accommodating to be much of an alternative to the babe in space," Youngquist said.

Other fans of the series, however, said Leia's character was simultaneously a liberated role and a conservative one.

"I feel that she is both," said Phil Weston (junior-electrical engineering). "She breaks the mold, she takes charge at some points during the movie, but she is also the typical heroine the way George Lucas dressed her and the way she behaves."

But regardless of the extent of Leia's feminism, and that of other female science-fiction characters, real heroines in science fiction are still a minority. Mon Mothma, the rebel leader in Return of the Jedi, is one of the only female characters in the Star Wars trilogy. Like Leia, she is a leader, but two women, despite their roles, are not a lot for three movies that are each more than two hours long.

"Too few women characters are having to carry too much symbolic weight," Munson said, noting the heavy cross Thelma and Louise had to bear. "There's nothing inherently wrong with the women characters as Hollywood depicts them -- there are simply not enough of them."