Teh One Who Knocks
02-15-2017, 12:55 PM
By Heat Street Staff
http://i.imgur.com/GegI7Rwh.jpg
Feminists were celebrating a fresh victory for equality as rumors began to circulate that the Star Wars movies will feature a female droid for the first time.
Casting for the upcoming Han Solo origin movie is underway, and reportedly involves a major part for droids who are female.
British comedy actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pictured above) has been tapped for the part, according to Hollywood gossip site Tracking Board.
It would be the first time a significant android character was played by a female. A spokesman for Waller-Bridge declined to comment to Heat Street.
(Some fans pointed out that TC-14, a bit part in The Phantom Menace, is quite feminine – though s/he was voiced by a man and had next to no screen time.)
Feminist blog The Mary Sue was certainly pleased with the alleged casting. A post said:
…at long last, a lady droid will have a turn in the sun in the upcoming Han Solo feature film. Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been tapped to play a ‘significantly featured’ female droid in the movie, according to Tracking Board.
If that’s the case, she’ll be the first female droid to ever feature prominently in a Star Wars movie. We’ve seen some female droids in smaller roles over the years, but we’ve never seen one in a true sidekick role–at least, not yet!
The development marks another incursion of social justice narratives into the Star Wars universe.
Statements by writers for the recent Rogue One movie, framing it as an anti-Trump production, were seized upon and started a culture war over the film, although the actual movie itself did little to justify the furore.
Gendered droids also played into Rogue One discussion, as initial suggestions that the spherical BB-8 robot would be female turned out not to be true.
Though given that droids like R2-D2, BB-8, the Trade Federation’s various droid soldiers etc., never had much in the way of gender characteristics anyway, it is worth questioning whether the Star Wars robot world was that much of a patriarchy anyway.
http://i.imgur.com/GegI7Rwh.jpg
Feminists were celebrating a fresh victory for equality as rumors began to circulate that the Star Wars movies will feature a female droid for the first time.
Casting for the upcoming Han Solo origin movie is underway, and reportedly involves a major part for droids who are female.
British comedy actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pictured above) has been tapped for the part, according to Hollywood gossip site Tracking Board.
It would be the first time a significant android character was played by a female. A spokesman for Waller-Bridge declined to comment to Heat Street.
(Some fans pointed out that TC-14, a bit part in The Phantom Menace, is quite feminine – though s/he was voiced by a man and had next to no screen time.)
Feminist blog The Mary Sue was certainly pleased with the alleged casting. A post said:
…at long last, a lady droid will have a turn in the sun in the upcoming Han Solo feature film. Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been tapped to play a ‘significantly featured’ female droid in the movie, according to Tracking Board.
If that’s the case, she’ll be the first female droid to ever feature prominently in a Star Wars movie. We’ve seen some female droids in smaller roles over the years, but we’ve never seen one in a true sidekick role–at least, not yet!
The development marks another incursion of social justice narratives into the Star Wars universe.
Statements by writers for the recent Rogue One movie, framing it as an anti-Trump production, were seized upon and started a culture war over the film, although the actual movie itself did little to justify the furore.
Gendered droids also played into Rogue One discussion, as initial suggestions that the spherical BB-8 robot would be female turned out not to be true.
Though given that droids like R2-D2, BB-8, the Trade Federation’s various droid soldiers etc., never had much in the way of gender characteristics anyway, it is worth questioning whether the Star Wars robot world was that much of a patriarchy anyway.