Show Your Girls Star Wars

 Show Your Girls Star Wars

Samantha Schreyer
Freshman Composition
Ms. Long
2/22/16

I stood in Hobby Lobby’s clearance aisle, taking in the retro metal signs and wall art, when a little girl came rushing passed me to her mother.  In her small hands, she held a metal sign with Jedi master Yoda on it, his famous quote “Do or do not, there is no try,” written below it.  “Mom, mom,” she said, “I want this for my room.”

            “No, put it back. That’s for a boy’s room,” the mother told her.  Then the little girl, no older than ten, walked by me and put the sign on an empty rack.  She looked defeated.  Still in elementary school, and told she can’t show her love for Star Wars because it’s for boys.  My skin visibly crawled. 

            I never had this problem growing up.  As the only little girl surrounded by stinky guys, I had mixed obsessions.  I had two brothers, mostly male cousins, and my best friend was a boy.  My action figures lived in the Barbie Dream House, and my dinosaurs pulled Cinderella’s carriage to the ball.  I was a certified tomboy.  Sure, I had an awesome T-shirt with velociraptors playing basketball on the front, but I also spent some time doing beauty pageants.  Star Wars, sadly, was not a part of my glitter-and-dirt childhood.  Looking back now, I wish it was.  I truly missed out on a quintessential American childhood.  Now I’m an aunt, with two nephews and a niece.  She isn’t even a year old, and she already has a Star Wars book in her nursery.  If she decides to explore that galaxy far, far away, will she be able to, or will she be shot down like Greedo in the Mos Eisley cantina?  It is for this reason, for the girl in Hobby Lobby, and the future of my niece, I say every parent should show their little girl Star Wars.

           “Little girls aren’t interested in stuff like that,” some may say, but I say that is a matter of causation.  A girl never introduced to something will never know if she enjoys it or not. 

            Jedi Master Yoda says, “Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is,” but what good is the mind of a child if it is forced into a pink box?  We should show our girls Star Wars because it breaks down the gender binary in children.  Star Wars is viewed as a boy’s subject, and it is our job to change that.  “This is for boys and that is for girls” damages our children.  When we as a society stop gendering childhood interests, and instead encourage cross-gendered hobbies, we are setting our next generation up for success.  When young children have similar interests, like Star Wars or superheroes, this breaks down that gendered wall and tells children that boys and girls are not so different after all, and therefore not enemies.  Ridding ourselves of the “girls are from Naboo and boys are from Tatooine” mindset opens our children up to far more friendship options. 

            Then there’s the story of little Katie Goldman, a girl who just wanted to fit in.  She wears glasses, hates her lazy eye, and loves Star Wars.  In late 2010, she found herself on the receiving end of bullying, all because she likes something “meant for boys”.  When she came home and wanted nothing to do with her favorite fandom, her mother pressed her until she started crying.  One blog post later, and Katie started representing young girls teased for liking boyish things.  Weird Al brought her to a concert,  multiple voice actors from The Clone Wars reached out to her, and the 501^st Legion, an international organization of charitable stormtroopers, made her a custom, movie accurate, child-sized trooper costume, which she has now passed on to another bullied Star Wars fan (Gumbrecht).  If more girls enjoy Star Wars, then the sexist idea of a boy’s only club will eventually disappear, and girls like Katie won’t be alone.

            Star Wars also offers girls strong fictional role models.  When I look back at the shows I watched as a child, strong female characters were lacking, but as an older girl getting into Star Wars, I feel now what every boy has felt in their lives; man, I wanna be a Jedi!  I looked up to princesses when I was little, but Star Wars offers girls a different kind of princess.  Princess Leia Organa is more than just a princess.  She’s a freedom fighter standing up against a fascist government, as well as the leader of a galaxy-wide rebellion.  In the new series, she’s a general, and in the extended universe, she’s a Jedi.  In the prequel trilogy, there’s Padme Amidala, a government official and queen who holds her own against droids and George Lucas’s poor writing choices.  For girls who would rather watch the amazing cartoon The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano is a Padawan (Jedi in training), and is fourteen years-old.  She fights just like the boys, and even takes on General Grievous by herself in the first season.  Princesses are all well and good, but these ladies show that girls and women can carry the world in a male-dominated environment, and that everybody has the ability to change the world.  In the newest trilogy, the main character is Rey, a Force user from the desert planet Jakku.  She is the new Luke Skywalker, and has served as an inspiration to a new generation of Star Wars loving little girls (Karvelas).  For the girls who want to get in touch with their inner Dark Side, The Force Awakens also offers Captain Phasma, a mysterious villain who isn’t characterized by her gender, but rather her cool armor and intimidating personality.    

            Star Wars has been a part of every generation, and depriving young girls of such a deep history, and such a good story, is a shame.  It’s rare to see such an old series still hold true for modern children.  My father was my age when he first saw Star Wars, and now there’s a new brand of movies coming off the line, and a new generation of fans.  The Force Awakens is nominated for five Oscars, yet we still treat Star Wars as a boy’s toy (Star Wars: The Force Awakens Receives 5 Oscar Nominations).   Every generation has some sort of connection to Star Wars, and it’s important that we include the girls such as Katie and the girl from Hobby Lobby.  So I say, if you have a daughter, or a sister, a grandmother, a mother, or even if she’s your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate, sit her down, and let her see if she likes it.  She won’t be disappointed.  
http://samragan.edu.glogster.com/show-your-girls-star-wars/