How the new Star Wars movie has been turned into feminist propaganda. This is a great review!

pnw_diver · 2015-12-25T17:28:34+00:00

Thanks very much for sharing this. I don't necessarily agree with everything Molyneux said however it was engaging.

And quite frankly, I am also nauseated by the ever-present "ACI" character he describes. I am very sick and tired of the cloying, horribly unbelievable cliche 100 lb teenage girl shown beating 200 pound bruisers in combat, solving all technical problems at hand while the dumb idiot boy looks on staring at her boobs and acting horny, effortlessly operating all vehicles of any description, at a high level of skill, demonstrating implausible skill in close quarters fighting that your average Army commando could never muster, all with this crappy in-your-face attitude. It's not just a bad message for girls, nor is it just an obnoxious sneering at men, it's also just plain fucking boring at this point.

The review confirmed my worst suspicions of this new star wars movie - that it would be a very bland, pasteurized, politically correct exercise in Disney's corporate family entertainment business - and I'll just go ahead and miss it.

TheRedThrowAwayPill · 2015-12-25T08:15:56+00:00

Bullshit. The movie was fine.

They didn't go full-retard like Mad Max. The only thing that made it seem a little bit girl-powerish was Rey being able to pick up whatever force stuff is needed to do battle in short order ... like magic.

But of course that could be the writing/editing of the movie. Or better yet a set up for a background story in the Episode VIII?

azazelcrowley · 2015-12-25T12:08:43+00:00

Had we not been in the midst of the gender war, we would not be reading this into the script. Try to view it seperately from the gender politics surrounding us at the moment.

"Hold my hand" shtick wouldn't be some groundbreaking crap about women, it would be someone whos got a chip on their shoulder about doing their own shit.

The diversity point is not really true. It's faux-diverse. All the people waffling about rey being a strong independent woman and how this makes this a feminist film are ignoring that no woman dies on screen, and dozens and dozens of men do, because ofcourse they're ignoring that. Equality when it suits them, not when it doesn't.

Kylo getting his ass kicked irks me, but not because a woman did it. It's because it removes all tension from him as a villain. it's a writing flub. Not feminism.

Krissam · 2015-12-25T11:44:11+00:00

Does it contain spoilers?

ralphswanson · 2015-12-25T18:31:42+00:00

It seems that every action movie this year has a girl as the hero who is a strong is any man and has marksman, technical and martial arts expertise without training. At least Skywalker required years of training before he challenged the dark lord. Not Rey. Will romance movies also place equality over popularity? Will movies feature young feisty men being aggressively courted by several wealthy, powerful suitors? I hope not.

TechnoSam_Belpois · 2015-12-25T06:57:18+00:00

At around 6:00, he mentions diversity. I thought the movie handled this really well actually. I mean, if we're being honest, there's really no reason why a fleet commander can't be Asian, or fighter pilots black. There's nothing "heavy handed" about it. It's just there. A lot of games and movies fail with this because they try to draw too much attention non-white and female characters. If there's nothing special about them and the character stand on their own merits, then the race and gender isn't a concern. So I thought TFA did a fine job with this, I honestly have no complaints.

Around 7:40. Alright, fair point. I mean, we do see Finn struggle on the battlefield, so it's not perfect. But Finn just has a gigantic heart, which is fun to watch. I don't really think it's that unbelievable, I mean clone trooper from the prequels are still able to crack jokes and relax with one another.

8:21 I agree with the general point. Dismissing childhood trauma is a very real problem. But I don't think it's Star Wars' job to do something about that. I'm not sure if Stephan is actually making that argument though.

11:19 I mostly disagree with this. I feel like Rey is actually a good character. In the beginning she is insistent on Finn not holding her hand, but I don't see anything wrong with this. She is legitimately capable of taking care of herself and Finn is just trying to look out for her. This is saying more about Finn than it is Rey. Again, when she defeats Kylo on multiple accounts, it's as big a statement about Kylo as it is Rey. Kylo is weak and scared. The dark side is not stronger, remember? Mask on = scary, powerful villian. Mask off = scared little boy who lost to a girl. This character dynamic is very well done. Also, when Rey defeats him, it's not with some crazy magic, it's simply feeling the Force and letting it flow through her. This is what many Jedi failed to do during the Clone Wars. Is she a little overpowered? Yes, but I think it's reasonable given how she uses her power. Also, Rey is not without flaw. She is overconfident, which got them into trouble on Han's ship. She also seems too quick to violence early in the movie. We also see her desperately scared of Kylo at multiple points. I do believe that Rey is a good character.

Now, it's true that I've seen feminists over-emphasize her being female. When you put that kind of spin on it, it starts to become too much. But the movie itself doesn't do this. Viewers of the movie have done it.

13:07 I feel like this point is a bit irrelevant, we see stuff like this all the time from both males and females. Also, Rey I think had a harder early life than Luke did. It's well known that beings use the Force without realizing it, Anakin did it win the podrace. Luke probably did it to shoot womp rats. So it's not unreasonable to think that Rey has been getting help from the Force by means of super reflexes for quite some time now. Luke got these same benefits pretty much instantly. We don't see Rey doing hardly anything by way of Telekinesis. And she only performs one mind trick, but she was exposed to Kylo's probing just minutes before, so it's really not unreasonable to think that she could do this.

It's well established that the "natural" Force is far more powerful than the dark side. This is what Rey is using, and I think trusting it a little bit more than Luke did, which is why she is stronger at this point in the journey.

13:55 Another fair point. We do see this a lot in today's culture and it's a problem. But it's important to realize that Rey is not awesome because she's female, but because of her dependence on the Force. Can young girls tell the difference? I have no idea. It's a point worth considering.

15:12 Again, the difference is the Force. I agree that it's kind of a problem seeing a female get stuff right automatically and a male struggle with his job. I honestly don't believe that this was the intended message of the movie though. So it's a good point, but not one that the movie meant to make.

15:39 I'm not sure if I would call Kylo a master swordsman. I mean, he uses the lightsaber to basically throw temper tantrums. And observing his style, it's not well refined. It's brutal to be sure, but not masterful. Additionally, Kylo was wounded pretty bad and had lost a lot of blood by the time he fought Rey.

17:33 I don't view Rey as someone to be propped up a "female empowerment." If that's what her character was meant to be, then fine, Stephan wins on this one. Is Rey a good role model for girls? Heck, for boys? I think so. She is persistent, she is skilled, and she has good principles. But while I stand by my explanations with the Force, I can see how it's not the best character to show to kids; one who doesn't really struggle that much. But why does this only influence girls? Surely boys would be just as upset that mastery does not come so easily. Additionally, the next movie will focus on the training of both Rey and Kylo, so I'm sure we will see struggle there. But the struggle is still there. I imagine if a girl thought she should be good at everything because of this movie, her parents would point her to Finn, who has had to struggle.

Rabbit trail: What about Poe? We don't really follow his Journey, but we don't see him every struggle. He's a fantastic pilot who takes out an inordinate amount of TIE Fighters. That seems almost as bad.

So basically I think the character works fine and consistent with the universe, but see how it could give children the wrong idea. That's not the end of the world though, and it's not what's responsible for the current cultural climate.

17:42 The movie didn't portray women as a group being good without effort. They portrayed a single character being good without effort, who also happened to be girl. Anakin was also good without effort in the prequels.

19:05 This seems a dishonest effort to collective women. Stephan is usually pretty solid and I respect the attitude behind this review, but do think he's wrong on some things here.

20:36 I don't remember Rey belittling Finn for escaping. So I'm not sure what he's talking about here. Rey didn't know Finn's story when she berated him for wanting to go to the Outer Rim. She assumed that he'd been fighting the First Order his whole life with the resistance, so it made no sense to her why she should leave. And showing her scared of the Force vision (a bit more powerful than a dream) shows that she is an imperfect character. She initially shirked her responsibilities only to embrace them later. There's nothing male or female about this behavior.

22:26 Finn was black and was raised to be disposable, so the white part there doesn't make sense. However it probably is primarily men in stormtrooper armor. But there's also a fair number of female resistance fighters who most likely die. We're not meant to care about these characters though. Phasma was a let-down in general though, I give you that.

The biggest reason women don't die is because they don't go into combat. Phasma and Rey are the only two females we really see in combat. So this isn't an argument for "women have plot shields." It's just "important characters have plot shields." So this is really more of a "women don't like to engage in combat," which is pretty accurate, so I don't have a big problem with that. The only other characters with a plot shield are Poe, Finn, and Kylo, who are all male. This seems reasonable.

22:52 Funnily enough, I think this movie fails the Bechtel test. Which shows how useless it is, because I really do think Rey is a good character.

Also, real life doesn't pass the ball-crush test. Men are (on average) more willing to fight and die for a cause than women are. Therefore you see more male casualties, more male heroes, and more male villains.

24:16 Yes, these are all important things. They are important because they are often ignored to prop up a narrative of female victim-hood. So bringing attention to these issues is important. However, these issues are not caused by feminism. They are caused by inherent gender differences that our species will likely never overcome. And that's not bad in my opinion. Men dying more in war isn't a problem. This fact being ignored to paint women as the real victims is a problem. The movie does not do this, so I don't see why it's worth bringing up.

Overall, I enjoyed listening. It did make me think about some things I hadn't considered. I still feel that Rey is a good character and makes sense in the Star Wars universe, but I see some dangers in the presentation. I don't think it's as bad as Stephan is making it out to be.

Ted8367 · 2015-12-25T06:50:59+00:00

Yes, a truly great review.

... the insemination sequence of navigating a dangerous trench to drop a tiny sperm into a giant Death Start egg, in which birth is destruction ... the Death Star egg, which has the capacity to destroy entire civilizations ...

A Star Wars fan for decades, and I never thought of that! Although all those X-wing fighters should have been Y-wing.

aMensView · 2015-12-25T19:26:45+00:00

Come on guys, it's just a very good film and return to form for the franchise. The main flaws are not related to SJW-Femism, etc. But I won't mention them in case folks haven't seen it yet.

jtaylor73003 · 2015-12-25T05:44:30+00:00

I find his rant easier to believe that the movie is pro-war than pro-feminist.

Title	How the new Star Wars movie has been turned into feminist propaganda. This is a great review!
Author	ShariaPantyParty
Upvotes	0
Comments	27
Date	December 25, 2015 3:53 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3y5deh/how_the_new_star_wars_movie_has_been_turned_into/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/how-the-new-star-wars-movie-has-been-turned-into.964534 https://theredarchive.com/post/964534

Comments