Shmi Skywalker – Fiction’s Fearless Females

By Jeffrey Cagle of The Imperial Talker

Young Anakin Skywalker turns and runs back to his mother, telling her that “I just can’t do it mom.” Offered the chance to flee his life of slavery on Tatooine, to travel the galaxy and become a Jedi under the tutelage of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the 9-year-old boy has a reasonable moment of doubt. He has only ever known this life with Shmi, his mother. As an audience we know very little of their life prior to meeting them in The Phantom Menace, only small bits that are often short on details. Anakin and Shmi used to be the property of Gardulla the Hutt and are now owned by the junk dealer Watto. Shmi has taught Anakin to care for others who are in need, and she says he has no greed. Anakin is the only human who can fly a podracer, having incredible reflexes that are uncommon for a human. We learn these and other facts, but they remain superficial, lacking any depth to better understand the trajectory of the life Shmi and Anakin have lived together. When Anakin says he does not want to leave, and his mother never-the-less insists “don’t look back,” we are otherwise lacking any meaningful understanding of what looking back truly means.

Martha Jones – Fiction’s Fearless Females

Happy International Women’s Day!  In celebration of International Women’s Month, I’ve joined with some other bloggers to write pieces spotlighting some of our favorite female characters.  Kathleen, of Graphic Novelty², kicked off the festivities with her brilliant look at Kara Zor-El/Supergirl and, following me, we’ll have Green Onion, of Green Onion Revival Project; Nancy, of Graphic Novelty²;  Kalie, of Just Dread-full; and Jeff, of The Imperial Talker.  You can find all their posts here but you should check out their super sweet sites, too.  Anyhoo (or AnyWHO, as the case may be (stop…don’t reward that (I’m sorry, I’m so sorry (you deserve better)))), this year when I thought of what “fearless” means, my mind turned to Martha Jones.  Played by Freema Agyeman, she was the companion of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in Series Three of Doctor Who.  Martha did a great many things while travelling with the Doctor but, in her faith and her willingness to advocate for her own needs, she models the type of courage which could transform all of our lives if we, too, could be so fearless.

Fiction’s Fearless Females – Wendy Torrance

By Kalie Zamierowski of Just Dread-full

One of my favorite scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a two or three second shock during which a series of terrifying events happen.  At this point in the film, Danny has been replaced by Tony, who’s saying “Redrum” in a voice that’s robotic at first and amplifies in intensity and urgency as Jack’s presence gets closer.  As Danny—or “Tony,” his psychic alter-ego—screams “Redrum,” Wendy reads the words backward in the mirror.  The camera pans in on the word “murder” written in childish handwriting with blood-red lipstick.  Almost as soon as we, the viewers, read “murder” in the mirror, we hear the unnerving sound of an ax chopping through wood and the camera moves to Jack, who wields the huge, sharp, silver device and uses it to slice through the wooden door of the caretaker’s quarters, where Danny and Wendy reside.  As if this nexus of sensation weren’t enough to alarm us, the viewers, and pull as even a little more deeply into The Shining’s sinister, unpredictable world, Wendy’s voice intercepts this moment with a simultaneously frenetic and bone-chilling scream—a scream that we’ll hear different variations of for the rest of the movie.  In turn, we, as the viewers—at least a little bit—start feeling Wendy’s maddening fear, and our cognition is ultimately forced to accept a mis-en-scene and narrative moment that’s eliminated anything reassuring or comforting for us to latch onto.  We are, in a sense, in the void, and we are there with Wendy.

Fiction’s Fearless Females – Rey

By Kiri of Star Wars Anonymous

I have heard that the opposite of love is fear, not hate, which may be first emotion that comes to mind due to the love/hate analogies we often make. If we go by that assumption, then someone who is fearless, or without fear, is someone who loves immensely.

Fiction’s Fearless Females – Princess Leia

By Jeffrey Cagle of The Imperial Talker

There is a line in Star Wars: A New Hope which often gets lost in the greater scope of the film, a quote which points to the toughness of the movie’s lone female protagonist, Princess Leia. It comes when Darth Vader, the movie’s villain, speaks to Grand Moff Tarkin, the secondary villain in the film. Pacing back and forth as if annoyed, Vader admits that, “Her [Leia’s] resistance to the mind probe is considerable. It will be some time before we can extract any information from her.” Prior to this admission, we saw Vader enter Princess Leia’s prison cell with an interrogation droid floating behind him, a needle protruding from the droid and Leia’s face giving off subtle apprehension. Now, Vader states that it was for not, that the Princess has resisted this “mind probe” and that breaking her will take more time.

Fiction’s Fearless Females – Scarlett

By Rob of My Side of the Laundry Room

When the subject of fearless women in fiction ever comes up, my thoughts instantly go to the first woman I ever idolized. Her name was Scarlett and she was a member of G.I. Joe. When I was a kid growing up in the 80s, G.I. Joe had three separate “universes”. There was the toyline, the cartoon, and the comic book. These three things weaved together from time to time but usually they distanced themselves from each other, only coming together with one goal in mind…making Hasbro Toys money.

Fiction’s Fearless Females – Amy Pond

There was an idea.  Jeff knows this.  The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable bloggers to see if they could become something more.  To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to celebrate a collection of incredible female characters we never could on our own.  This week it’s my turn and I’m shining my spotlight on the incomparable Amy Pond, my all-time favorite companion to ever set foot inside the TARDIS in the world of Doctor Who.

Captain Marvel – A Trailer, A Hunch

Okay so obviously I know the Captain Marvel trailer(s) came out before the one for Avengers: Endgame.  And, in the wake of my feelings on Avengers: Infinity War, I’ve been pretty open about being more excited for Captain Marvel than Avengers 4.  So you may be wondering why, pray tell, didn’t I write about this trailer when it came out?  Well, when I watched it I had a feeling and this feeling informed what I wanted to write.  However, to write what I wanted to write, I needed to see if my hunch played out and for that I needed to see the Avengers 4 trailer.  Now, having basked in the glory and excitement of both the Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame trailers, I’m ready to talk about our first look(s) at Carol Danvers cinematic debut!

Star Wars ComLINKS: Favorite Female Character

Much like Woody Allen Wednesdays took a hit when teaching slowed my participation in joint blogging adventures (papers don’t grade themselves…phooey), I’ve been sadly absent from Anakin and His Angel‘s Star Wars ComLINKS for a few months.  But I’m back baby!  This month, in honor of the Forces Of Destiny cartoon shorts on the Disney YouTube channel, Jenmarie has focused our ComLINKS posts on favorite female characters.  There are so many strong women I love in Star Wars.  Where would we be without Princess Leia??  And we have Padmé Amidala, Mara Jade, Jaina Solo, Admiral Natasi Daala, Shmi Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano too!  But for me, this post belongs to Mallatobuck.  Malla is Chewie’s wife and their relationship serves as a moving meditation on the strength of love.