It is really hard to take Star Wars “fans” seriously when they get angry about certain things. Like women existing in the franchise. Currently, those kinds of “fans” are mad about women “taking over” the franchise.
At the Lucasfilm publishing panel at New York Comic Con, it was announced that there would be the first ever romance novel published in the Star Wars canon alongside a novel based on Leia Organa and Rey. One novel is called Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux and the romance novel debut titled Star Wars: Eyes Like Stars by Ashley Poston. There were also plenty of other novels announced with men leading the charge but, of course, these two novels have that subset of Star Wars “fans” fuming online.
A user logged on to X to complain about the company becoming a “girl brand” when less than 20% of the announced novels have female leads. But hey, these are the fans who see a woman and complain. “You know, I try to have nuanced conversations about how Star Wars used resources to become more of a ‘girl brand’, BUT these are the actual big announcements from Star Wars from NYCC… They’re making LITERAL Romance Novels now…”
They were not the only “big” announcements from Lucasfilm’s publishing slate but it is hilarious that men like this log onto the internet and act as if women are taking over Star Wars. Or better yet, that the franchise has not had romance attached to it from the start. This is a series that was founded on a man (Anakin Skywalker) falling so in love that he was willing to destroy everything to save the woman he loved. But hey, that would require these men to use braincells when thinking about Star Wars.
Star Wars would not exist without women, bud
My other thought about this “girl brand” nonsense is this: Star Wars wouldn’t exist without women. You want to complain about there being women in the franchise when we are still an underrepresented portion of these stories and yet refuse to acknowledge that this would not BE the franchise you “love” if it wasn’t for people like Carrie Fisher and Marcia Lucas?
Star Wars has always been rooted in collaboration with women at the forefront of creation. But throughout the years, the incel culture of the Star Wars fandom has taken over and acted as if this franchise was built on the backs of men and men alone. That is far from the case and whenever they argue about women getting their time to shine either behind the scenes or in front of it, it shows that they never really understood this story/franchise at all to begin with.
Calling Star Wars a “girl brand” because one romance novel is being written about it is hilarious. Especially since the sequel trilogy is the only one that DOESN’T have a specific romantic theme set between two characters. George Lucas’ trilogies have both “Han and Leia” as well as “Across the Stars.” Disney’s take on Star Wars did not have a love theme but Lucas’ did. So let that sink in, men angry that a romance novel is being written about the franchise.
Anyway, men like this don’t know what they’re talking about and we can, and should, leave them in a vacuum of their own design on the internet, writing their bad takes for other men who don’t know what they’re talking about.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
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