‘I’ve been seeing her in my dreams… vivid dreams… scary dreams’
- Leia and Padmé
The substantial articulation of the feminine therefore relies entirely on the role of Carrie Fisher as Leia and Natalie Portman as Amidala/Padmé. Both characters are assigned high status both socio-politically (as princess, queen and senator), as spurs to action for other characters (being rescued and protected), as possessors of knowledge both military and moral - and therefore vulnerable to kidnap and interrogation - and to a limited extent as guerilla leaders (Leia directing the activity of the rebels on Hoth in Episode V; Padmé directing tactics for the retaking of occupied Naboo in Episode I). Leia is vulnerable but courageous (‘help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope’) dressed almost always in soft virginal white. She seeks to be part of the action and to defend herself but usually needs rescuing and protection. She represents high ideals – democracy, opposition to dictatorship, devotion to the cause – and she represents order, political and moral. Her sexuality is muted; she kisses both Luke and Han but appears uneasy and even frightened by expressed sexual desire, for example in the scene in which she and Han kiss for the first time (‘you’re trembling’). This reflects, as we will see, anxieties in finding relationship with Anima. Amidala/Padmé is subject, like her planet, to exploitation and coercion and she, like Naboo, generally lacks the means to defend herself. Indeed she actively resists moves to equip her planet for self defence (‘We must continue to rely on negotiation… I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war’). As Amidala she is static, iconic, helpless; as Padmé she is girlish, impulsive and loving. She is angelic (the child Anakin asks her ‘are you an angel?’) and numinous, ‘just being around her […] is intoxicating.’ Her vulnerability is complete with her pregnancy, which reduces her to an object to be protected and contained in semi-secret by Anakin. Nonetheless she is the agent of his transformation into Vader – ultimately by her chasing him down on Mustafar and challenging his attachment to the Dark Side that itself is driven by his desire to keep her. Amidala feels love and is an object to be possessed in love. Like Leia she embodies both political order and the principle of rebellion, the conflict that will prove so productive in the Star Wars galaxy.
Neither woman is truly self determining; this is a narrative in which the explicit power of the feminine is strictly circumscribed and frequently marginalized. Rather the two women have a totemic value for the male quest for personal destiny and a catalytic function to drive forward the masculine journey to consciousness. Their fate is to be protected at all costs and touted as symbols of a just cause, but strictly limited in their exercise of personal autonomy and power. Indeed the boundaries of behaviour for women in these films are so tight that Amidala must have an alter ego (Padmé) in order to break out of her queenly leading role and engage in action. Although Anima is, as always, of dynamic importance to male consciousness, therefore, the male soul these characters represent has qualities of maiden and virgin goddess: innocence, courage and attachment to ideals so high they are almost unworldly. Both characters are at once Artemis leading the hunt and Persephone naively waiting for rape or rescue, the latter an archetypal quality bound up with the acceptance of the principle of death and failure and therefore crucial in particular to The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith[1]. Both appear to demand devotion and love, and the finding of a course between these two attitudes proves troublesome for both Luke and Anakin. This is the quality of Anima, however; she demands the activation of Eros; ‘she comes to life through love and insists on it… Perhaps only through love is it possible to recognize the person of the soul.’[2]
[1] For the significance of failure in the archetype of Persephone and the connection with death, see James Hillman, Revisioning Psychology, pp. 208-9.
[2] Ibid., pp43-4.
- Leia and Padmé
The substantial articulation of the feminine therefore relies entirely on the role of Carrie Fisher as Leia and Natalie Portman as Amidala/Padmé. Both characters are assigned high status both socio-politically (as princess, queen and senator), as spurs to action for other characters (being rescued and protected), as possessors of knowledge both military and moral - and therefore vulnerable to kidnap and interrogation - and to a limited extent as guerilla leaders (Leia directing the activity of the rebels on Hoth in Episode V; Padmé directing tactics for the retaking of occupied Naboo in Episode I). Leia is vulnerable but courageous (‘help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope’) dressed almost always in soft virginal white. She seeks to be part of the action and to defend herself but usually needs rescuing and protection. She represents high ideals – democracy, opposition to dictatorship, devotion to the cause – and she represents order, political and moral. Her sexuality is muted; she kisses both Luke and Han but appears uneasy and even frightened by expressed sexual desire, for example in the scene in which she and Han kiss for the first time (‘you’re trembling’). This reflects, as we will see, anxieties in finding relationship with Anima. Amidala/Padmé is subject, like her planet, to exploitation and coercion and she, like Naboo, generally lacks the means to defend herself. Indeed she actively resists moves to equip her planet for self defence (‘We must continue to rely on negotiation… I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war’). As Amidala she is static, iconic, helpless; as Padmé she is girlish, impulsive and loving. She is angelic (the child Anakin asks her ‘are you an angel?’) and numinous, ‘just being around her […] is intoxicating.’ Her vulnerability is complete with her pregnancy, which reduces her to an object to be protected and contained in semi-secret by Anakin. Nonetheless she is the agent of his transformation into Vader – ultimately by her chasing him down on Mustafar and challenging his attachment to the Dark Side that itself is driven by his desire to keep her. Amidala feels love and is an object to be possessed in love. Like Leia she embodies both political order and the principle of rebellion, the conflict that will prove so productive in the Star Wars galaxy.
Neither woman is truly self determining; this is a narrative in which the explicit power of the feminine is strictly circumscribed and frequently marginalized. Rather the two women have a totemic value for the male quest for personal destiny and a catalytic function to drive forward the masculine journey to consciousness. Their fate is to be protected at all costs and touted as symbols of a just cause, but strictly limited in their exercise of personal autonomy and power. Indeed the boundaries of behaviour for women in these films are so tight that Amidala must have an alter ego (Padmé) in order to break out of her queenly leading role and engage in action. Although Anima is, as always, of dynamic importance to male consciousness, therefore, the male soul these characters represent has qualities of maiden and virgin goddess: innocence, courage and attachment to ideals so high they are almost unworldly. Both characters are at once Artemis leading the hunt and Persephone naively waiting for rape or rescue, the latter an archetypal quality bound up with the acceptance of the principle of death and failure and therefore crucial in particular to The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith[1]. Both appear to demand devotion and love, and the finding of a course between these two attitudes proves troublesome for both Luke and Anakin. This is the quality of Anima, however; she demands the activation of Eros; ‘she comes to life through love and insists on it… Perhaps only through love is it possible to recognize the person of the soul.’[2]
[1] For the significance of failure in the archetype of Persephone and the connection with death, see James Hillman, Revisioning Psychology, pp. 208-9.
[2] Ibid., pp43-4.
posted by Ask my Animus at 11:41 AM
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