Unfortunately these real-world consequences mirrored the storytelling, as Return of the Jedi also marked the beginning of the Star Wars franchise’s now extensive track record of undermining its female characters and failing to bring their stories to conclusions worthy of their importance.
It is a recent development, under the eye of Kathleen Kennedy and Disney, that the metal bikini finally has been deliberately surpassed by Hoth and other alternatives. To the casual audience in particular, only the famous hair buns and plain white dress from A New Hope defined Leia as clearly in the public square. Despite Leia’s crucial role on the forest moon of Endor in other attire, for decades after Return of the Jedi’s release Lucasfilm and its licensees repeatedly reinforced the objectification of Leia – and Fisher – with posters, collectibles, merchandise, and key art featuring the scantily clad version of the princess posed alluringly for the male gaze, not in the empowering moment of forcibly regaining her freedom from the loathsome Jabba the Hutt. Even Lucasfilm’s official Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy (2014) by Brandon Alinger recounts the sexualization Fisher faced in connection with the slave bikini costume – to the point that she brought her friend Penny Marshall with her as a witness and defender for the topless wax mold fitting by a male costume designer who had a crush on her.Īnd that was only the beginning.
If Carrie Fisher had lived to see the conversations sparked by #MeToo and #TimesUp unfold across social media and public discourse more broadly, she no doubt would have used the occasion to remind us of the uncomfortable truth that the Star Wars franchise does not have a spotless history on those issues.
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