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Star Wars is fantasy. Space fantasy, with science fiction elements, but fantasy. Because of this, there are glaring portions where one-to-one real-world parallels just aren't possible. The same is true for any other fantasy story. So if you want to pick it apart, you can.
You can say, "Cinderella born in privilege. She could've left her stepmother's abusive household anytime she chose. Her choice to stay meant she deserved to be treated poorly, and she's a bad model for girls because debasing yourself won't lead to rescue in the real world." Sure.
I mean, that's certainly a take. Why not? Fantasy is up for interpretation. All stories that fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction can mean many things to many people at many different times in history and in many different cultures.
It's a take that references modern notions and modern sensibilities. Sure, she could've left. Feel free to write that novel based on that premise. But in the story, she didn't. She suffered. She lost loved ones. She endured. She survived. There's a strength there.
Would the Cinderella narrative be different if the fantasy took place in a different culture, in a different time and place, with different social norms and expectations on women? Absolutely. These are all worthy questions and definitely worth asking, discussing, and exploring.
But: It's fantasy. There probably wasn't a real Cinderella, and even if there was, it's not the point of the fairy tale to pass down her real-world legacy, but to tell a morality tale, to instruct as well as to entertain. Now there's a ton of scholarship about fairy tales.
What characteristics do they share, what was there function and purpose, how were they passed down, how did they chance, how they stayed consistent, and then into the deeper analysis of what do they mean psychologically, etc. All good stuff. All interesting stuff!
A fairy tale transmit shared social values. It can be a way to prepare young girls for a marriage they have no control over. It can reinforce a religious norm, a gender role, a message about class and status. It's 'just fantasy,' and it's not real, but it's meaningful.
So each different person is allowed and even encouraged to approach fantasy, approach a fairy tale, with their own set of biases and opinions and ideas and ideals for what it represents, both culturally as well as personally. That's... fine. Great, even.
Cinderella didn't leave. We can interpret that however we chose, but the story is the story. She stayed, she worked, her kindness and hope sustained her, and she got the reward of love and freedom. This message means different things to different people. Maybe it makes you angry.
Maybe it gives you hope! Maybe when you read it through the lens of your own life and your own struggles, you think, "Hey, I could be bitter, I could be ground down, I could walk away, but I won't, because in the end, good things are coming if I stay hopeful."
You can yell at Cinderella. You can get mad at her that she did what she did. To me, that's different from analysis, though, because... Cinderella isn't real. She didn't exist and so therefore she didn't stay, or go, or sing and have a flock of birds sort her seeds, or whatever.
I am sure some people hate Cinderella. I've certainly read takes that the fairy tale is too passive, outdated, not feminist... Again, it's not for me to say what it is or isn't. Only that it's up to interpretation. It's a fairy tale. It's fantasy.
And it seems to me that the important thing about fantasy isn't where the one-to-one, real-world equivalencies happen, or where they can be nitpicked for accuracy and acceptability, but rather what the deeper message could be.
That's not to say, "Nobody can critique anything that is fantasy, just accept it and shut up and don't think too much." Not at all! I only say that for many people, Cinderella represents perseverance and hope. She represents honoring empathy and kindness.
Some women can be warriors. They can fight back. Some can't. Some are scared, so deeply hurt and weakened that fighting back isn't possible, or safe for them. Some can't just walk away. They aren't physically chained but they don't have that option. But they aren't weak.
There's been a trend lately in fiction of all sorts of the warrior girl, and don't get me wrong, I love that. Let girls be angry, let them be aggressive, let them stand up to injustice and stab and fight and succeed. But heroism can look like perseverance. It can look like hope.
As usual, I am rambling. I'm sorry.
But Star Wars is fantasy. It's not real, right? It's not. Cinderella isn't real, whatever you think about her. Kylo Ren isn't real, whatever you think about him. Rey isn't real... they're not real.
It's a fairy tale.
But Star Wars is fantasy. It's not real, right? It's not. Cinderella isn't real, whatever you think about her. Kylo Ren isn't real, whatever you think about him. Rey isn't real... they're not real.
It's a fairy tale.
So just like with Cinderella, you can certainly write your own story where Rey, the hopeful abandoned scavenger, wakes up one morning, gives Jakku the finger, shaves her head, and joins the Guavian Death Gang. In fact drop the link to that fic if you got it, that sounds rad...
But she stayed, and that has purpose and meaning. She convinced herself that her family would come for her, if she just stayed, and kept herself exactly the same for them. Rey isn't real, but what does her story say? How does it make you feel? How do you relate to it?
Does it make you angry? To be honest, as a mom, it makes me feel sad that this little girl was abandoned like that. I don't lose sleep over it because it's fiction, but... that's so horrible. Just like Cinderella's story, I don't enjoy the thought of innocents and kids suffering.
Cinderella stayed, and was rewarded. Rey stayed, and suffered, and was pulled into an adventure she never anticipated... Her family didn't come for her. Their stories are different. Analyze them, like them or dislike them, but acknowledge what they are. Fantasy. Fiction.
And I guess that's where my frustration sets with regard to Star Wars. Because people who think they are analyzing story really are just misconstruing it, usually willfully, and then getting angry about what it means to them, as if it is real, which (checks notes) it's not.
Anyway, that was a very roundabout way to say that if I have to see another person call Kylo Ren a privileged white boy who had a bad day once, I'm going to yeet myself into the sun, thank you, happy thanksgiving, tip your waitstaff, abolish ICE.
