A Great Disturbance In The Force 1 comment
Yesterday my sister was finally able to get my youngest niece to sit down and watch Star Wars. (I had tried a few years ago with her older sister, who wandered off as the droids were traversing the desert after the escape pod touched down..). She was pretty sure it was a "boy movie", but my sister assured here there was one girl who told all the boys what to do.
That girl, of course, was Carrie Fisher in her iconic role as Princess Leia. I've written how I first saw Star Wars and the impact it had on me, and of course Fisher was a big part of that. The "spunky girl" character has a long pedigree, but Leia was one of the first to actually take charge of the action rather than just supporting her love interest's plans. It wasn't a perfect role by any means: she rarely got scenes as good as the one above, but then in the end, for better or worse, the original Star Wars trilogy is Luke Skywalker's hero's journey, not Leia's.
Having an iconic role always risks type-casting, but Fisher didn't lack for work when she wanted it, and managed to re-invent herself as a writer too, all the while wrestling her demons, sometimes into submission, sometimes not.
I think both my sister and I realized from the news accounts that Fisher had sadly suffered the kind of episode you don't come back from, and I'm sure that prompted the selection of Star Wars rather than one of the many movies the girls had gotten for Christmas.
Farewell Princess, farewell Carrie.
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Andrew
29 Dec 16 at 12:23 am
I'm not much of a movie person but the thing that gets me to realize is now Carrie Fisher's mom (Debbie Reynolds) has died the day after her which is a double whammy for their folks as they process two losses in as many days...it's two bitter pills for the family & friends to swallow no doubt...