Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
Truth: I wasn’t excited about the new Star Wars movie. No trailer could get me jazzed. No BB8 toy. No new apparel. Even the awesome cast couldn’t get me pumped. I attribute this to two things: 1. I feel like the movie has overtaken the new culture for the last few years and it hasn’t even been seen, which feels like a lot of hype for an unknown entity. 2. I don’t totally trust JJ Abrams with female characters. Sorry, JJ.
But then, Shonda Rhimes proudly introduced the new movie clips as part of her tour with her book Year of Yes. On top of that, the film released a new TV spot last week during the Thank God It’s Thursday lineup on ABC that seemed to heavily rely on the story of Daisy, the primary female character we’ve been introduced to in previous trailers and teasers. For those that don’t know, TGIT is the night where Shonda Rhimes’ properties take over the television and nothing else matters but women kicking ass and being represented.
So what does it all mean?
Here’s a theory: this film may be more about Daisy than any other character. And in fact, this is a female led Star Wars movie. And in fact, it’s also a movie with a second lead that’s a person of color.
If that’s the case, then hell yeah, I can get excited. Real excited. Not only would it mean that we are officially living in an era where major properties are putting non-white dudes in the lead, but it means an long-established property with record-breaking presales are going to be pushing that exact narrative. Of course, I have no problem with that. No problem at all.
