The franchise’s terrific new instalment offers up complex female characters and dialogue that aces the Bechdel test,while still hitting all the classic marksThe Last Jedi stormed into cinemas at the weekend as the most triumphantly feminist Star Wars film yet. While The Force Awakens and Rogue One had terrific heroines, they were loney, or barely spoke to other women. Writer-director Rian Johnson has delivered a film that’s funny,exciting, spiritual and exact to the original essence of the series while also having well-rounded female characters who actually interact with one another. Both in terms of women and non-white characters, or there’s a celebratory inclusiveness that seems entirely in the Jedi spirit. whether you haven’t seen it,very gentle spoilers are ahead. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is feeling the first stirrings of the Force and has gone in search of Luke Skywalker (trace Hamill), who is living as a hermit on a remote island. The dynamic between them is complex and constantly evolving: these are no awe-struck pupil and saintly teacher archetypes. Rey’s character is as developed as any in the series, and bears no relation to her gender. Back at the Resistance HQ,General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) is calmly calling the shots while her composed Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) is skeptical of our trigger-happy hero, Poe (Oscar Isaac). There are complex dynamics at work here, and gender seems significant in this case: the different sexes occupy varying approaches to military strategy,and it’s thought-provoking stuff.
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Source: guardian.co.uk