Has there ever been a more iconic
vision than the sight of Princess Leia wearing that metal bra (and not much
else) in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? It has inspired many an adolescent fantasy
and continues to do so today, more than thirty years after it appeared on the
screen. You can find images of it, or artistic renderings of it all over the
internet. On the one hand it is just another example of Hollywood
sexploitation. Of course she appeared that way on the movie poster even though
Carrie Fisher really wasn’t wearing it for much of the film, just two scenes.
There are many examples of Hollywood sexploitation, too many to name. They have
been doing this since the 1920’s and still are today. It is such a common
feature of movies that movies without it are almost the exception. And it is
not just the women (well okay, it’s mostly women) but from time to time they do
put scantily clad males on display too.
The whole point of doing this is to
get people into the theater. It must work because they keep doing it. And that
is certainly why they put Leia on the poster. But apart from bringing people
in, does it add much to the movie? Usually not much. I mean, I like to look at
scantily clad women as well as the next guy (or whatever your preference) but in
ninety-nine out of a hundred such films,
the scenes would generally make just as
much sense to the plot of the movies if the women weren’t wearing ridiculous
clothes.
But it seems to me there is something
different about the Princess Leia outfit. As I said, it still resonates with a
certain demographic all these decades later. Other images have not had that
kind of staying power. I remember when Raquel Welch performed in an otherwise
forgettable movie called One Million
Years BC (Yes I know there are fans of the movie who consider it a classic,
but I am not one). There was a famous
poster featuring her in an outfit that was just about as revealing as Leia’s.
The Raquel poster was all the rage for a while, but I don’t think it had the
staying power of Leia in her hardware. Why is that? Well, for one thing the
first three Star Wars films were much
more popular than One Million years BC,
and they had their own staying power that spoke to each successive generation. People
cared about the Luke, Leia, and Han. It wasn’t just about special effects or sexy
women.
And that is the takeaway. Having
scantily clad women on the poster is a successful marketing strategy. I am sure
it has even drawn me in to a movie or two, but staying power comes from having
a well written, well-acted film with characters you can care about.
(My novel Star Liner, is now available as an e-book
through Copypastapublishing.com, Amazon, or the other usual online sources. For
those who like to turn physical pages, the paperback will be out soon).
link to Star Liner
Comments
Post a Comment