Why a woman needs to direct Star Wars, and the three women who’d be up for the job

A woman with a lightsaber. It’s still sinking in, two years after The Force Awakens put Luke Skywalker’s famous weapon in the hands of a new kind of hero: a young woman sheathed in the destiny usually afforded to men. Rey is plucky, headstrong, and quick to tears. And yet somehow, in spite of her orphaned, unmoored existence, and her daily struggle to even obtain food, she’s full of joy, light, and youthful optimism. She’s Luke Skywalker deconstructed, not merely gender-swapped. Her preternatural talent has made her the subject of scorn in certain fan communities, which were quick to dub her a “Mary Sue,” and call out her rushed narrative as problematic. And it is rushed. But that’s less a problem inherent to Rey, and more a symptom of...

Continue reading…