How excited were you when Disney announced its creation of not just Star WarsEpisodes 7, 8, and 9, but also the spin off movies such as Rouge One? Chances are, a majority of you were ecstatic. After all, this is Star Wars we're talking about! It's one of the most successful, innovative series ever made! But one game changer that the creators of this next generation of movies made was the casting of female lead characters, which raised controversy. In fact, when Daisy Ripley was cast as the star of Force Awakens, there was fan outrage. It became so bad, that co-star John Boyega had to make several statements regarding the fans' outrageous hate surrounding Daisy, and his own casting (the hate regarding him revolved around his skin color). The outrage quickly escalated when they announced Felicity Jones as the lead of Rouge One. Many people of the internet claimed that this new consistency of having female leads would deter from the over all Star Wars experience, and blamed the new casting directions on Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm.
But where many fans see a lack of originality in the double casting of women, what they should see is Star Wars doing what it does best: being innovative. How so, you might ask? Well did you know that between 2007 and 2012, 30.8% of speaking characters in movies were women. Many people argue that this is fair because Fewer women view movies. But this is far from the truth. In fact, about half of movie attenders are female (Statistics provided by the New York Film Academy). But how does this relate to Star Wars being innovative? It does because Star Wars is, by creating a pattern in casting female leads, doing something that has never been done before. It's presenting gender equality in its films. It is showing a plethora of female personas, such as the tough warrior Rey, and even the more feminine Leia. Even in a time where creating new things is difficult, it's being innovative.
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