As a 44-year-old man it’s difficult to not make the connection from Carrie Fisher to the famous scene in the desert aboard Jabba’s party cruiser where as Princess Leia she wears a gold bikini. There are a couple of reasons. First, as a teenage boy in the 1980s, it was Carrie Fisher in a gold bikini. Next, and most importantly, I love a good hero. Leia uses the very chains that bind her to choke the life out of her captor and help save the day.
There’s a reason a woman like Carrie Fisher was chosen to play a remarkable character like General Leia. she fits the bill. In the late 1970s, some four decades ago, Carrie Fisher brought that hero to life. When you take all of that actual time that has passed and apply it to a human being, you end up with a Han Solo in great shape for his age but obviously gray and battle-worn and A General Leia who is a stately woman of nearly 70 perfectly capable of running a rebellion. You also get a Chewbacca that looks and sounds…just like Chewbacca.
It really is remarkable how the timelines of the movies ended up crossing paths with the latter years of the three major role players who survived to see the day after the celebration in the Ewok village. Carrie Fisher will always have an iconic role in American pop culture. That iconic figure was of course turned by sexists into something to objectify rather than to celebrate, leading to criticism of Fisher’s current appearance, which is nothing short of ridiculous.
Variety did an interview with fisher and released this tweet, which grabbed the attention of the buffoon brigade — a group of American men between 18 and 40 who like their women as purdy as possible at all times and are voting for Donald Trump:
Carrie Fisher: "Please stop debating about whether or not I aged well." https://t.co/hPHVezyoCg pic.twitter.com/zyChBSZbq3
— Variety (@Variety) December 30, 2015
And the hate poured in:
YOU DIDNT AGE WELL AND U SUCKED IN STAR WARS. IT WAS A REST HOME FLICK. WANT MY MONEY BACK @Variety @carrieffisher #StarWars @bad_robot
— SurferJoe (@surfJoeMalibu) December 30, 2015
@carrieffisher So you want the money & adulation that comes with being a famous actor but not the criticism. Whoever told you life was fair?
— Tom Roberts (@TomRoberts983a) December 30, 2015
Not the criticism? When the criticism is “You aren’t as young as you were 40 years ago” it doesn’t really make sense to consider it constructive enough to pay attention to. Fisher obviously had enough, tweeting:
https://twitter.com/carrieffisher/status/681738143075176448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Youth&BeautyR/NOT ACCOMPLISHMENTS,theyre theTEMPORARY happy/BiProducts/of Time&/or DNA/Dont Hold yourBreath4either/ifUmust holdAir/takeGarys
— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) December 30, 2015
Featured image via screen capture from The Return Of The Jedi via underscoopfire.com
