Sci-fi Rey from Star Wars, and Katniss Everdene. <poss spoiler alert re Star Wars>

[Pannn]

I appreciate this may not get much traction in FWR, but having seen the latest Star Wars film, I'm speculating on the poss thread between Rey and Katniss from Hunger Games. And I'm doubtful if Chat may come up with responses.
Sooo..I'm suggesting that Rey could not become a Jedi warrior, in the Star Wars narrative unless Katniss led the way in terms of female hero in sci-fi? Allegedly Lucas had 12 films scripted back in the 70s BUT..I'm doubtful if he foresaw then the social change leading to Rey being a Jedi (though she doesn't know this yet - hence the next narrative for at least 3 films).
So am I being fanciful in thinking Rey is a legacy of Katniss, and if she is, what is the next step for her?
I also ask as dd is a fan of Katniss but hates sci-fi though for media studies she is being asked to have a sci-fi focus for GCSE Media.

Don't forget Star Trek Voyager... Produced in the 1990's it was the first in the franchise to have a female captain and a female chief engineer :) and they wore the same uniforms as the guys (except 7 of 9).

It really broke through a glass ceiling in terms of female leads.

I believe the kiss between uhura and Kirk was filmed twice. The first take they kissed and on the second they almost did (to not offend the racists I guess ) but William Shatner deliberately ruined the second take forcing the producers to use the actual kiss :)

It's complicated as so many women are sidekicks

Dana Scully in X files
Zoe from Firefly plus some other strong women
Gwen Cooper in Torchwood
Sarah Connor in Terminator
Samantha Carter - Stargate 1
Trinity in Matrix

Various star Trek series/films have amazing women in them

I'm sure there are tonnes more - Sarah Jane Smith from Dr Who went on to have her own (children's) series

If you google it there are issues with fantasy cross over in my opinion (Buffy, LotR and GoT all came up)

Is it just film or any sci fi media? If the latter, try some Firefly (Zoe), or Trillian from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio), or to go really out there, the recent BBC radio adaptation of LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness.

I find it hard to believe anyone dislikes scifi so much that they can't find multiple films, novels etc they enjoy enough to explore further. What about Frankenstein, Wall-E, The Handmaid's Tale?

Could you look at a whole long list of scifi and find other ones your DD likes that you could compare to the Hunger Games?

startrek90

Did you know a new series is coming in January 2017..... I need a Star Trek advent calendar for the occasion.

It is media so not exclusively film and/or television. I need to have a quick chat with the media teacher to check which elements of the genre are they looking for eg Hunger Games I agree is a dystopian action adventure and not necessarily under everyone's def. of sci-fi. Similar with Handmaids Tale which based in a very recognisable environment. (in fact Attwood states that all of the techniques used in the story to control females have been used at some point somewhere in time so it isn't even 'fiction').

Her mother would be useless in trying to get dd to see past the 'lasers-in-space' interpretation of sci-fi (as she abhors it herself). We aren't looking esp for bold female characters per se BUT..they would be a way in for me with dd and sci-fi. A large part of dd's GCSE in Media pivots on her getting her head round this stuff.

But I'm still really grateful for the perspectives and icons being named.

Though still not seeing the Leia-Rey sequence.

slug - reading is def. out. We have problems getting her to read any stuff outside of what is actually required. (oddly she is predicted for an A+ at GCSE Eng Lit because she does 'instrumental reading' really well.
I'm going to speak with the tutor, hopefully late today to get a bit more zeroed on what they want exactly.

Rey is like Jaina Solo from the Star Wars books though. She is Leia's daughter and the Sword of the Jedi. She has to kill her twin brother, Jacen, when he turns to the dark side.

I think Rey is Luke's daughter.

Anne McCaffery writes very strong characters but if reading is a problem I'll have a think

I think you can (and lots of people have) included dystopia as a sub genre of scifi. I know Atwood thinks of her fiction as speculative rather than scifi, but for the sake of your dd, we can put it all under a broad scifi umbrella.

If you and her can work out what it is she likes about the Hunger Games/Katniss, then you can look for that in other work.

I think that's what you are trying to do with Star Wars, but there may be other avenues.

And actually that could be a good starting point for the project. Why does your DD like Katniss but not other sci fi? What makes Hunger Games different to other scifi so that it appeals to a wider fan base. Is it, for example, different content or marketed differently to get people to watch it?

My current favourite is Starbuck in the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. She is unbelievably brilliant as a female character and is a very strong, kick-ass pilot who more than holds her own amongst the men. There are other female pilots too.

Have we mentioned Buffy yet?

If we're talking reading for non-fans, I found Isaac Asimov's short stories very accessible (in fact I used to read them to DS4, who still remembers them fondly). If you want a strong female lead who kicks ass, Susan Calvin has all the blokes in her workplace terrified whilst she effortlessly sorts out their impossible-sounding problems. Not, of course, that Susan ever needed to kick an ass in her life. She just gave them a Look, and they withered. (Let us not speak of the film I, Robot which contained a character using the name. That was Just Wrong.)

Firefly got a mention above. I know Zoe is a sidekick in that the male Captain is "our hero", but it's an ensemble piece really in that all the characters are equally strong in their own way and are all fully fleshed out, instead of the women being there for decoration. They are just as strong as, often stronger than, any males and no less interesting. Trust the sainted Joss for that. Though to be fair, Firefly is - is indeed supposed to be - cowboys in space, albeit thoughtful and nuanced, and therefore not likely to change your non-fan's view. Asimov is fiction about science, by a scientist, but none the less readable for it, and comes in bite-sized chunks which may appeal to the (uh-oh, stereotype coming up) shorter attention span that some young readers may exhibit.

Dare I say teenage girls (my own dd included) are attracted to the Hunger Games because of the love triangle in it, with Katniss, Pete and Gale? The male leads in the films are very good-looking and my dd likes both of them.

Prefer Woody Harrison myself but I'm 42

Dark Angel is good but I'm not sure if she would be able to view it now

Trillian from HHG is a great character too

Oh, I loved Dark Angel. So sorry when they took it off. Bastard networks.

Left message for tutor who will call me later. thanks v v much for the interest in this and the nods to directions. I'd forgooten about so many female characters and the various sub-genres. I'm not even sure Buffy would get by any slightly well-policed def. of sci-fi. dd has no time for Buffy either, unfortunately.
I am suspecting you may be right Lilac - the love triangle thing for Katniss got her hooked but she is immersed in the films overall.

DD tried to be all right on with the hunger games strong young woman but then said oo gale

I think the point is surely that there has to be more than just the love triangle to make the film engaging. Because while most people like to look at the pretty, not all teenage girls like love triangles, and by Hollywood standards, Josh Hutcherson looks like a potato.

There are numerous other attractive male characters in the films. But the point is, the franchise has to be carried by more than eye candy.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think The Hunger Games are fantastic books and films. I really like them myself but I think Suzanne Collins was very canny in writing in the love triangle because she knew it would appeal to teenage girls. Much as I hate to say it.

DD is quite the young feminist but still fancies both Liam Hemsworth and Josh 'Potato' Hutchinson. She thinks Katniss is a great female lead and she's right to think that but it makes me a bit that the stories even need a love interest, let alone two.