Star Wars: The Feminism Awakens

In the Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture excerpt, Rakow introduces the Images and Representations Approach of feminism, which points out "the disparity between the messages of popular culture and the experiences...of real women." This approach asks the questions (1) what kind of images are present and what do those images reveal about women's position in the culture? (2) whose images are they and whom do they serve? (3) what are the consequences of those images? and (4) how do such images have meaning.

Friedan studied this phenomenon and concluded that popular culture images are for the most part men's images of women. She said that "the crucial function, the really important role that women serve as housewives, is to buy more things for the house." This was in 1963 when the focus of women in popular culture was on the fulfillment of femininity through women's roles as housewives.

Although the progressive society we live in has eradicated some of the stigma of being a housewife that comes with being a female, it has only changed into another stereotype. Women are now portrayed as being something that is just pretty to look at. These images diminish the position of women in culture and the consequences make women seem subordinate to men.

In 2015, women protested superficial red carpet questions using the hashtag #askhermore. During red carpet events extremely successful actresses are reduced to the simple question "what are you wearing?" as if the brand of their dress defines who they are.

Protests like these are what have fueled the feminism movement in popular culture. Even though men still dominate popular culture and women are portrayed as just a pretty face, there have been improvements in the representation of women.

For example, one of the most successful movies ever released, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, featured the first feminist protagonist in the series of episodes. 

Yes, she may be beautiful like most of the women in portrayed in popular culture, but there is more to her than that. When the audience first meets Rey, she is living on Jakku, a desert, scavenging by trading scrap metal for bread. Oh, and she is a pilot. Throughout the movie she remains clothed in less than glamorous attire while engaging in multiple battles. She went from being an orphan to fighting scores of Storm Troopers.

At one point in the movie, Finn grabs her hand as they flee, and she snaps back with “I know how to run without you holding my hand.”

The role Rey plays fights against the Images and Representations approach discussed by Rakow. She is brave, she is smart, and she is resourceful. She isn’t just a pretty face to look at, and this empowerment of woman is leading the transformation of how women are portrayed in popular culture.