The Last Jedi: I'm Not Sexist, But...

It has been just over a year since Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out in theatres, a film from director Rian Johnson that blew me away and is only second to Empire Strikes Back in my rankings.  Over three hundred and sixty five days later I am still both bewildered and saddened by something that came about from its release.  After seeing the film, a number of people took to the internet because they had a problem with it.  The issue was the fact that there were a number of female characters and it was feminizing the franchise that these fanboys love.

I personally heard people criticizing the mass amounts of women in the movie, in shock that such a thing would happen.  Women are fifty percent of the population (something that I sadly seem to have to say way too many times), and yet for some reason some fans believe they cannot approach that representation in film.  The outrage that came about because of the increased number of females speaking in the film made it sound like the woman had taken over the film completely and that males were now left with little to do.

Let's get to the reality of the situation. There are six main female roles in The Last Jedi.  There were nine main roles for men.  I have included smaller speaking roles for both genders, like Yoda and Maz Kanata.  The math (which the fanboys seem to ignore) shows that there are fifty percent more men than women.  Yep, still kind of a sausage party, but that isn't realized.  There were efforts by groups of angry fans that tried to drive down the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.  Honestly, that sort of effort makes it seem like there would be an almost all female cast.  The problem appears to be not that there were more women than men (which there obviously wasn't), but the fact that there were multiple roles for women.

I will be honest.  The fanboys that lurk on the internet generally seem to be misogynistic and immature.  Women were still under-represented in The Last Jedi, but the fact that they had more than a few characters means it was too much.  The fanboys miss the days like in the first film where the only woman was literally a princess to be rescued by men (luckily it turns out she was strong and spunky).  Sorry, there was also Aunt Beru and the minuscule role she played.  That is when the franchise was in its glory days, when even the various aliens were also swinging dicks.

Seeing the reaction that came about last year really was sad.  It is nice to witness how much humanity has progressed in terms of equality, but it is also naive to believe that the days of ignorance and bigotry are behind us.  Remember, the people freaking out weren't upset that there were more men than women.  They weren't upset that there were the same amount of women as men.  They were upset because more woman actually had a role to play in a franchise that they love.

So, my dear fanboys, understand that the very fact that you don't believe that having fifty percent more males than females is adequate, then you are most likely sexist.  Yes, if you are reading this and the apparently overwhelming amount of women was a problem for you in The Last Jedi  then you are most likely sexist.  I'm sure you don't believe that you are, but I can tell you that you are just like those people who say, "I'm not racist, but..."  The basic nature of this whole issue is sexism.

For all of those out there that actually care about equality, be happy in knowing that the year The Last Jedi came out the top three movies in the box office all had a female protagonist.  While there are some vocal, mucus brained dip-shits out there shouting through their keyboards, audiences have shown studio executives that equality is accepted as well as profitable.  These fanboys will carry on with their crusade, but thankfully the rest of the population has proved that they aren't caring as much about the X and Y chromosomes.  Well told stories are what the majority of us are after, regardless of gender representation.