This is what happens when we have movies with very female protagonists in popular genre movies. People are drawn to make inept comparisons, cause there isn't a big pool of female characters to compare to begin with.
There are probably dozens of John McClane inspired characters since Die Hard, but unless the plot is identical to that movie most of us wouldn't even realize the similarity between those inspired characters cause they are all part of a vast ocean of male characters.
I probably need to watch more movies, but besides Ripley, Sarah Connor and maybe now Katniss I don't know that many female characters who were central lead characters in big franchises that are part of general public consciousness. Black Widow, Hermione doesn't really count. (Pretty sure someone is going to offer a rebuttal by listing supporting characters to disprove my claim or going to list panned franchises like Twilight)
Jyn Erso is bound to be compared to Rey, if not to Katniss (even without the visual similarity), as there aren't any other major female characters in fandom.
I agree. Women get unfairly scrutinized, not just in the movies, but in real life, when it comes to their looks. To use a real-life example, two men can show to an event--let's say a political debate--wearing the same blue suit and red power tie, but God forbid if two women were to show up wearing the same dress, that's all people would talk about! Even at an event with hundreds of people, it's a societal faux pas to show up wearing the same dress, and will cause countless "Who wore it best?!" comparisons in the tabloid print and television worlds. It's ridiculous. It doesn't bother me at all that Jyn has an appearance that's sorta similar to Katniss Everdeen.
But apparently Jyn is already too much for some people's testosterone.
Enough with the PC BS Disney, keep my beloved franchises male centric and keep those female roles limited to secondary characters, love interest or damsel in distress like those Disney movies about princesses and magic or something.
I have no problem with strong female leads. To cite two of your examples, I love Ripley, and I love Sarah Connor! And in non-serious productions, like Buffy The Vampire Slayer (one of my favorite shows ever), Buffy can do all sorts of physical acts that defy credulity and reality, because the show was pure camp, Buffy was not mortal, and I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. Hayden was my favorite character in Heroes. But in serious films, when mortal women (or men!) do things physically that defy the laws of physics and common sense, I have a major problem with it.
Here's an example of a MALE mortal who did something in a movie that completely ruined the movie for me. Ironman. The first one. Very early in the film, Tony Stark, in his Iron Man suit, flies out of a cave and crash lands hundreds of yards away in the sand. No problem, he's totally fine. The film lost me right then and there. Stark doesn't possess any superpowers, how does he survive that?. In reality, he doesn't. Or he'd be really messed up. This is just one example. When I saw dwarves fall a hundred feet and all get right up and scamper away in The Hobbit, I could do nothing but roll my eyes, as I was completely taken out of the movie. I didn't see Deadpool, but a buddy of mine said a girl survives a fall no problem that would kill her or mess her up big time.
Now in the Star Wars galaxy, there is the Force. And Rey had it, even though she was unaware of it. Nothing wrong so far. My only problem with Rey was that she did things physically that were too advanced for a Force-sensitive person who's had zero training. Some of you counter by saying she was a conduit for the Force, but I think that's a cheap explanation, if in fact that's the explanation we're given in the next episode to explain her beyond-extraordinary facility with the Force. I realize Star Wars is fiction, but it's still serious storytelling (not camp), and so I want my heroes and heroines to be plausible and relatable, by way of seeing their flaws and vulnerabilities, their ignorance and naivete, their insecurities and fears. Luke showed us these things. Rey did not. She rollicked through the adventure, pausing only to gleefully shout out,
"I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID THAT!", "I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID THAT!". It took me out of the film. And if Daisy wasn't so hot and such a great actress with such a sexy accent, it would've been totally cringe-worthy. That's my opinion. Many of you disagree. So be it. Does everyone have to agree on everything these days? When did diversity of thought lose all it's value?
As for Jyn, it's too soon to tell if she'll be another Mary Sue. But I doubt she will. I think Disney heard the Mary Sue gripes and will not make that mistake again. I hope. My mantra remains, I'm cautiously optimistic.
Can you see the distinction I'm making, Vivek? That badass female leads are great, but the same as with male leads, I want their characters' abilities to be rooted in reality.
(The exception being if they have superpowers. And also in the case of the Force, but again, my problem was that Rey was perfect in every way, and despite having had no training, she bested a near-Sith Lord in a duel with a weapon she'd never wielded before in her life. I don't care that he was injured, nor that he'd spent energy fighting off Finn. It was utterly ridiculous for her to win that duel. It was also ridiculous that Finn--a man *without* the Force--was able to last 2 seconds with Ren.)
The Wook
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