Allison Balder

02-10-16
English 120
Matthew Irwin

Literary Analysis: Stars Wars: the Force Awakens

Star Wars: the Force Awakens has introduced many non-traditional characters to the Star
Wars universe in the newest movie that came out in 2015. One such character is Rey, the female
lead character played by Daisy Ridley, who is the object of major controversy. The character of
Rey wasnt featured in any of the Star Wars toy collections and is being looked at in a selection
of news articles as a Mary Sue, female characters and Gary Stu, Marty Stu or Larry Stu for
male characters is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character, a young or low-rank
person who saves the day through unrealistic abilities. Often this character is recognized as an
author insert or wish-fulfillment, by some movies critics, like Erik Kain from Forbes. However,
Rey is a strong female character and should be treated as such.
The character of Rey, as well as other female characters in the Star Wars universe, have
not gotten the recognition that the male characters have, nor are the female characters in any of
the movie franchises films seen to be on equal footing with the male characters. Rey wasnt
featured in any of the Star Wars: the Force Awakens toy collections created by Hasbro, the toy
company with merchandising rights. This led to many critical articles. One article from Variety
Magazine talked about how Rey wasnt included in the new Star Wars Monopoly game from
Hasbro. The toy company has a contract that allows them sole merchandising rights for Star
Wars toys for the next 10 years. Many people are lashing out at the toy company for not
including Rey in any of the toy collections, especially the Monopoly board game, which features
two older characters and two new characters from the movies. The game currently features
Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader figures. (Variety) Hasbro said that they
reason Rey wasnt included in any of the collections or the monopoly game was because it would
have spoiled the movie. But fans all over the world are questioning this and going to social
media to get their message across. Since the social media outbreak happened, Hasbro has
announced that Rey will be featured in all product lines later in 2016.
That is not to say that the female character is being ignored completely. Daisy Ridleys
getting credit for her performance, though not actually being included in the toy line, shows that
the character is being respected regardless of gender. With fans fighting for her place in the
merchandise shows that society is ready to be more progressive than Hasbro is. The backlash that
Hasbro got for not including her in the line originally was proof that society is more ready for
strong female characters than the toy company was. The article states that Star Wars fans took
to Twitter to voice concerns about the underrepresentation of Rey, tweeting complaints with the
hashtag #WheresRey. (Variety) Social media has given fans a way to voice their opinions about
Hasbros decision to not include Rey. Overall, Rey is viewed as a strong character and is now
receiving the support she needs to be respected character.

Allison Balder
02-10-16
English 120
Matthew Irwin

Critical response and recognition of the character has been varied. Rey is seen as the
feminist hero weve been waiting for, according to The Verge Magazine. She was compared to
other major female characters like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and Imperator
Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road. But its not new for current movies to come with a kick-ass
woman character who didn't need rescue and wasn't around as a love interest, but the praise was
strong enough to invite backlash, and not just from terrified men's rights activists. (Verge)
However, many fans arent used to this because men have the dominant roles in movies. Also,
because Rey is a woman the article mentions that she is being seen as a tired mother figure.
Star Wars wasnt the only one getting questioned, the female characters in Mad Max and Hunger
Games were seeing controversy as well. Each female character within these films needed to go
through the Mary Sue, examination. When The Verge article did this to Rey they noticed that
she is meant to be a Mary Sue character. Thats how Disney wanted to portray her even though
many might not agree with her being seen in this light. Rey really was the perfect character that
could do anything no matter if she has done it before or not. Even though she can do anything,
has helped Rey reach the peak of Strong Female Characters. Rey is being seen as too good of a
character to be true but its nice way to have a female character viewed. This doesnt mean that
she is a Mary Sue, though.
Rey being viewed as a new face to feminism lets people see her in a different way than
just being a female character. In The Verge article, it states that Rey is the mother figure
throughout the movie. However, she shows no signs of trying to mother anyone. She pretty
much kept to herself and proved that she could fend for herself, like when we see her yell at Finn
to let go of her hand while running away from the Storm Trooper early in the movie. Reys
ability to handle herself, and the ease in which she accomplishes that feat, is the same reason the
article argued that she is being seen as the Mary Sue of the movie. She can do anything, but
makes it happen too perfectly. Rey was able to skillfully use a light saber (which she has never
held before) to beat Kylo Ren and could fly and fix any ship that she saw. Granted, she was a
scavenger that had to find and sell ship parts for a living. But not just anyone would know how to
do everything on a ship. This makes her an awesome character, because most women leads or
characters in general cant do the impossible. This doesnt mean that she is a Mary Sue at all but
it does mean that she is a women character to look up to because she did in the film what no one
would expect.
Sexism is a strong topic when coming to the Star Wars films. Rey was left out of multiple
toy collections like the action figure set and the Monopoly game for the movie in favor of two
new characters and two old, none of which are girls. However, while Hasbro came out with a
book based on the movie, a map was shown of the Millennium Falcon spaceship that gave
Princess Leia a kitchen within the ship. At first glance you cant notice this while looking at the
pictures from the RT Question More article but when looking closer the book says that it was a

Allison Balder
02-10-16
English 120
Matthew Irwin

wedding gift to her. Why didnt she get anything else on the ship, and why did she get a
kitchen are very important questions that Hasbro is now getting for implying this sexist scenario.
The article mentioned this quote for the books author meant as a humorous make-do for
months of terrible food. As is Han Solo said it himself, which was never mentioned in any of
the films, making it more questionable than ever.
Like Rey, Princess Leia has always been seen for less than she is. Throughout the Star
Wars films she has been the brains of the operation while Luke Skywalker and Han Solo got the
credit for being the main characters. But now we see a new side to this sexist act. Not only is Rey
being discriminated against, but Leia is as well. She was given a kitchen in a childrens book and
Rey wasnt featured in any of the action figure sets or the movies Monopoly game. What
message is this giving to girls who look up to these female characters? They are being told that
women should want to be in the kitchen arent good enough to be in a game or a boys play set
because of gender. In this society we see powerful women all over that are truly making a
difference. The Force Awakens does a great job representing this change in women over the years
and they do it in a very respectful manner. The younger generation is being taught the age old
tale that women do housework and men are the ones that do everything else. This a conflicting
message to what these children are being taught by the rest of society that applause young
women for being successful.
Rey isnt the only badass female character in science fiction movies. Even though she
is being devalued due to the new feminist movement in the United States, she isnt the only
character that has stood out in Sci-Fi films. Leia is, in fact, one of the characters that doesnt get
enough credit. Since 1977, the Leia character has made an impact on the Star Wars films. When
characters like the Black Widow in The Avengers and River in Serenity kick as much butt as Rey
does, these characters werent questioned. But Rey is. The National Review says that J. J.
Abrams pulled off the impossible he made almost everyone happy, mainly because the
progressive Left knows so little about the last 40 years of sci-fi that it failed to realize that Rey
isnt remotely revolutionary. Many of the fans that are fighting for Reys rights to be awesome
havent really noticed all the other female characters that helped make her character be so
awesome. Rey couldnt be the character that she is today without all the unrecognized characters
before her.
Rey and so many other female Sci-Fi characters have raised the bar for female characters
in any genre of movie. They have increased the limit that a female character could be pushed,
taking down the movie bad guy or helping save people all over the world. Not until now has a
female character even been mentioned for the role that they play. With 40 years of female leads
to look up to, actresses all over the world have a huge standard that they now need to meet. From
Leia to the Black Widow, the Rey character was built from learning and evaluating these

Allison Balder
02-10-16
English 120
Matthew Irwin

characters habits and strengths to help create one of the biggest female role models of our
generation.
Rey is a strong female character and should be treated as such. She has received very
different views on how her character was portrayed in the Star Wars: the Force Awakens but yet
one thing that you can find in common in almost every article you read is that Rey deserves to be
seen as a strong female lead and did an amazing job. Not only has she set a new bar for female
character in every other movie but has helped other characters get just as much as respect that
she is now receiving.
Bibliography
French, David. "Star Wars Proves Feminists Are Clueless about Science Fiction." National
Review
Online. N.p., 21 Dec. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
Khatchatourian, Maane. "Star Wars Monopoly Game to Add Rey After Controversy." Variety. N.p.,
6 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.
"Star Wars Merch Sexism: Rey Left off Monopoly, Leia given Kitchen." RT Question More. N.p., 5
Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.
Robinson, Trisha. "With Star Wars' Rey, We've Reached Peak Strong Female Character." The
Verge. N.p., 19 Dec. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.