If the words “highlighting Star Wars female fandom” appear anywhere on the interwebs, my ears twitch. That’s what happened when I saw the latest about Annalise Ophelian’s Looking for Leia documentary thanks to io9. Ophelian spoke with The Verge about her documentary, a film, that according to the documentary website, “explores the Star Wars phenomenon from the perspective of ‘fangirls.'” She’s talking to a diverse group of fans about how they were introduced to Star Wars, how they’ve connected to the stories, the relevance of the saga to their lives, etc.
If you want to take the temperature of this ambitious project, watch this video from Star Wars Celebration:
Ophelian told The Verge that with the documentary, she’s “challenging the cultural assumptions made of Star Wars fans in the same way I want cultural assumptions about women to be challenged in general.”
Female fans have always been present in Star Wars fandom. The number of women who tell me they saw A New Hope in 1977 and haven’t looked back is, as K-2SO would say, high, very high. But in the last 10-15 years, the female half of fandom (and it is estimated to be about 50/50 between male and females) has become more visible and present than ever. I’m all about what Ophelian and Looking for Leia are doing to showcase it.
The reel put together from Celebration Orlando is just a hint of what’s to come. Looking for Leia is still being filmed. If you’d like to get involved with project in front of the camera or behind-the-scenes, visit their website for details on how to do so.
What was the first moment that you fell in love with Star Wars? Share in the comments.
Featured Image: Lucasfilm
[brightcove video_id=”5263096727001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]
