Page 19 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2019)

In The Princess Diarist (2016), Carrie
SWI2019_016_025_Carrie_Fisher.indd
SWI2019_016_025_Carrie_Fisher.indd
shares her reaction to hearing the news
from her agent that she got the role in
Star Wars:
“I laughed and dropped the phone
and ran out into the front yard… It was
raining. It didn’t rain in L.A. It was raining
in L.A. and I was Princess Leia. I had
never been Princess Leia before and now
I would be her forever.
I would never not be Princess Leia.
I had no idea how profoundly
true that was and how long
forever was.”
It’s difficult to comprehend what Princess
Leia will represent decades from today. Star
Wars is imbued in our daily lives. Famous
lines are spouted on television and referenced
throughout pop culture. In suggesting a
battle tactic in Captain America: Civil War, the
youthful Spider-Man says, “Hey guys, you ever
see that really old movie, The Empire Strikes
Back?” Star Wars is our mythology now; it will
be the mythology that is studied in the future.
It is what storytellers strive to emulate and
also a representation of society’s values at
the time it was made.
Over the years Carrie made light of the
fact that she was the “only girl in an all-boy
fantasy,” and she was candid about her
struggles with being objectifi ed.Nevertheless,
it’s undeniable that she had an affi nity for
her character from the beginning. In a recent
interview with National Public Radio she
told Terry Gross, “I like how she handles
things. I like how she treats people.”
Princess Leia came to life the same year
women, feeling undervalued and
underrepresented, gathered in Houston
for the National Women’s Conference.
On screen, Leia wasn’t fighting for an
opportunity to be equal; she led the
everyman characters of Han and Luke
down into the trash compactor, then
ultimately to the rebel base on Yavin 4. In
handling authority, Leia found time to stop
and console a farmboy who had lost a mentor. Previous spread:
While Carrie played a brash, brave new Carrie Fisher as
kind of heroine in Star Wars, The Princess Princess Leia Organa.
Diarist reveals a young woman who was in Star Wars: A New
very alone and who recorded the demons
of her daily life on the 1976 set. Those diary Hope (1977).
pages memorialize a woman who was
desperate for approval, but also terrifi ed This spread: On set
of it. One day her entry might be a series with director Irvin
of thoughts, another a scene of dialogue Kershner during the
or a poem that showcased a genius way
with words. Despite her pain, 19-year-old shooting of The
Carrie already had begun to perceive what Empire Strikes Back
made people tick and what drove her own (1980).
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