By Jordan Owen
(c)2016
2016 has been a year of tremendous loss. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Greg Lake, Prince and a whole host of others have made for a tremendously morose and devastating trip around the sun but the last week of the year has been especially brutal, racking up George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, William Christopher and, most heartbreakingly of all, the newborn infant son of Breaking Benjamin guitarist Jasen Rauch.
There can be little doubt, however, that of all the most recent passings, Carrie Fisher’s marks the biggest shock to modern culture. As Princess Leia she was one of the most important and beloved characters in the Star Wars universe and it was a role that made Fisher a household name as well as an enduring sex symbol. While I hate to make my tribute to Carrie Fisher in the context of a rebuttal to some of the worst people on the planet, it remains necessary. Given that Fisher was one of the most iconic sex symbols in all of science fiction, owing in part to her now iconic “slave Leia” bikini segment in Return of the Jedi, and as such a legion of fans have mourned the passing of a woman who embodied their most cherished sexual fantasies. Predictably, the modern day hipster puritans on the left have emerged to chastise anyone and everyone who dares lament the death of someone they found sexually attractive.
One of the more notable voices to be silenced in a wave of protests (and they’re protests, not harassment, because the PC police say so) has been Steve Martin who removed a heartfelt tweet about Fisher’s passing which read:
"When I was a young man, Carrie Fisher was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. She turned out to be witty and bright as well.”
This provoked an outrage perhaps surpassed only by the riots that occurred at the first performance of the Rite of Spring with even New York Magazine stepping up to condemn the post in an article titled “Carrie Fisher Struggled Against Being a Nerd-Boy Sex Object Her Whole Life.” Steve Martin deleted the tweet and has not posted another. The New York Magazine article goes on to discuss how Carrie Fisher struggled with being thought of as sex symbol her entire life but I think the grave error here comes in not properly defining terms. The political correctness police have long railed against the notion of women (but, of course, never men) being reduced to the status of sex objects, arguing that the status is degrading and dehumanizing. But a sex symbol is another matter.
As I discussed in my 2012 novel Eros Empire, a symbol, by definition, is a concrete embodiment of abstract ideas and specific determinations of value. The difference is crucial- an object is merely an identification of a material existence. It carries with it no value judgements and no inherent worth. But a sex symbol is something else altogether. That is a vessel into which we pour a great wealth of meaning and importance. A sex symbol embodies the manner in which persons appreciate sexuality- the psychological meaning and deeper spiritual value that we ascribe to that most basic of acts. As we are a species whose values are predicated on a system of objective meritocracy it is only proper that we identify those individuals whose sexual expression best embodies those values. The human appreciation of sexuality is, like all sensory indulgences, set apart from that of the animal world because of our capacity for volitional cognition. We can take our base indulgences and ascribe higher meaning to them and it is in this manner which we progress as a people and live our fullest, happiest lives.
In pagan circles and indeed in archetypal psychology there is the archetype of the Maiden, Mother, Crone- the three stages of life that all women must pass through. As maidens they are profoundly sexual beings whose first and foremost desire is sexual indulgence. It is by fulfilling this role that they pass into the next role which is mother- the balance point between the first and the last stage wherein they are chiefly concerned with creating, growing and sustaining new life. The final stage is the crone, which is achieved when the mother has raised her offspring to adulthood and now, having fulfilled her parental purpose, can observe the new generation and provide elder wisdom. This is a beautiful concept, one built around premises of love and personal evolution over time. The literalists on the politically correct left will no doubt presume that by even suggesting this idea I’m saying that women ought to stay home with their children or some other such nonsense. No, that is not at all what I’m saying here at all- this is merely indicative of a symbolic journey through womanhood. It is, conversely, also reflective of the journey taken by men as they learn to relate to women.
Steve Martin’s tweet is perfectly emblematic of the way men come to appreciate women and it echoes my own experience of Carrie Fisher. I can remember going into the Oxford Bookstore in Atlanta shortly after new years when they were having a sale on expired calendars and my folks were perplexed (or perhaps secretly understanding) that the pre-teen me wanted an out of date Return of the Jedi calendar. Well, really it was obvious- I wanted the shots of princess Leia in the slave bikini. At the time it was one of my first forays into the understanding of women as being fundamentally important in some unique way. I didn’t know about sex and I only understood love as the virus that causes cooties but there was something about that image that was fundamentally perfect. And as I grew my understanding of what I appreciated about that image grew as well. It wasn’t just the exposed midriff, barely covered breasts and loincloth clad legs and buttocks.
Contrary to what Fisher herself said, beauty is a skill. Having a beautiful face and body is not in itself what’s appealing- it’s the life in the person which animates those features that makes them shine. Consider the lyrics to the song “One” from a Chorus Line:
One singular sensation, every little step she takes
One thrilling combination, every move that she makes
One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
You know you'll never be lonely with you-know-who
One moment in her presence and you can forget the rest
For the girl is second best to none, son
Oooh! Sigh! Give her your attention
Do I really have to mention she's the one
She walks into a room and you know she's
uncommonly rare, very unique
peripatetic, poetic and chic
She walks into a room and you know from her
maddening poise, effortless whirl
She’s a special girl.
One thrilling combination, every move that she makes
One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
You know you'll never be lonely with you-know-who
One moment in her presence and you can forget the rest
For the girl is second best to none, son
Oooh! Sigh! Give her your attention
Do I really have to mention she's the one
She walks into a room and you know she's
uncommonly rare, very unique
peripatetic, poetic and chic
She walks into a room and you know from her
maddening poise, effortless whirl
She’s a special girl.
And THAT is the essence of beauty. Not just appealing features that suggest health and fertility but the spirit inside that gives them life. In that way it’s correct to say that true beauty comes from within.
Just as it is through sexual identity that the maiden begins her development into the larger stages of womanhood so it is through sexual attraction that the man begins to understand the larger appeal of a beautiful woman. To deny men that right is to deny women the motivating force that allows them to reach those larger stages of development. Is it any wonder that in our current politically correct landscape we have so many young women spouting spiteful, hateful nonsense in a vain attempt to bypass the maiden stage and convince the world (and themselves) that the crone stage exists automatically and exclusively as the sole acceptable state of womanhood while the other two are just embarrassing abstractions forced on women by a male dominated society?
After all, as Simone de Beauvoir pointed out, one is not born but rather becomes a woman.
I feel compelled to stop and remind the reader, once again, that I’m only talking about these stages as symbolic of different points of personal development in one’s life and while there is a biological element to that I am only suggesting this as a metaphor, not to suggest that women are nothing more than sexy baby factories.
I bring all of this up because much of the controversy concocted by the perpetually aggrieved has stemmed from Carrie Fisher being immortalized as “slave Leia,”
Slave Leia is, therefore, a crucial part of Leia’s development. For the first two movies she is dressed in white- the pristine, virginal princess. In Empire Strikes Back she’s seduced by the dashing rogue Han Solo but remains dressed in white throughout. Then finally she goes to rescue Han in Return of the Jedi and we see her first in disguise as some grotesque mercenary creature as she descends into Jabba’s slave palace. George Lucas is well known for applying Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth concept to Luke Skywalker’s character arc but he applies it beautifully to Leia as well. As Leia descends into the underworld on her own Orpheus descent to rescue her love she is, symbolically, in the initial stages of discovering her sexuality. The initial stages of physical sexual development- menses and the onset of puberty- are gross and uncomfortable and when Leia descends into Jabba’s palace she has entered a dark interior space that is ugly and smelly but from this will emerge something immensely appealing- the “slave Leia” segment wherein she is transformed into a beautiful being of pure sexual energy but she is constrained by Jabba- the ugly, grotesque creature that she first discovered when embarking on her journey towards sexual identity. It is here that she is at a crossroads- she can capitulate to Jabba and in so doing accept her sexuality as disgusting a shameful or she can triumph over Jabba and move forward into a greater stage of womanhood. It is here that we understand why Leia’s sexual personae has become so appealing- she kills Jabba and beams out at her male comrades with joy and accomplishment. She has overcome the grotesque onset of sexual identity and learned to command it as something that makes her beautiful. She has learned to bring her inner beauty in line with her exterior self and that higher self is what we have all loved and cherished for so long. In the remainder of Return of the Jedi (except for a couple of scenes where it’s necessary to the plot) we see Leia on Endor in earth tones- the shades of green and brown that indicate fertility. She is evolving from maiden to mother. The actual mother stage isn’t seen but by the time we return to the Star Wars universe for the Force Awakens we find that Leia has emerged as General Organa and moved from mother to crone.
The PC police that impudently demand that we write off slave Leia as some unfortunate and embarrassing display of T’nA for its own sake forget that if Leia had never gone through all of that she would never have become General Organa. If she had remained the pristine virginal princess and confined herself to royal duties she would have never joined the rebellion in the first place, given the Death Star plans to the R2 droid, and set in motion the events that would topple the Empire. Never putting herself on the journey that would bring her to crossroads that was Slave Leia would have meant remaining a princess and likely married off to secure political alliances for the royal family.
So no, it’s not the slavery aspect that makes slave Leia so appealing. It’s the freeing of her sexuality at that crucial point of crossroads. If Star Wars had been a story where slave Leia decides that she likes being a slave and devotes herself to Jabbah which convinces Luke Skywalker and Han Solo that the only way to succeed with women is to become slave driving monsters themselves and they then embark on journeys of cruel, hateful debasement of women far and wide then the whole series would come to a dead halt and seem tedious, disappointing and depressing.
That is ultimately what happens to Tarl Cabot, the male lead in John Norman’s Gor novels. As my regular listeners know, the world of Gor has been my go-to example of actual misogyny in action. The story tells of a planet devoted to female servitude, where slave girls abound and Tarl Cabot finds fulfillment in being a monstrous bastard that rapes, beats, bullies, insults and intimidates women who become sexually aroused and submissive in his overwhelmingly masculine presence. Supposedly all this is done in the interest of sexual arousal for the reader but the female characters in the books don’t seem to have the kind of triumphant personal evolution enjoyed by princess Leia. Instead they are, by and large, empty, terrified husks of people who have had all the life and spark beaten out of them and replaced by a Stockholm Syndrome like desire to wait on men hand and foot and be at their beck and call. The political correctness police look at Star Wars and see Gor and they could not be more wrong.
My thoughts- and those of Steve Martin- are wonderfully embodied in this heartfelt post by Kevin Smith:
The Princess stole my heart at age 7. Anybody who knows me knows #CarrieFisher was my first love. I thrilled to the adventures of #princessleia in the @starwars movies, but from '77 to '84, I was in love with Carrie Fisher herself. My bedroom was filled with Carrie Fisher pictures from any movie she was ever in (including Polaroids I took off the TV when #thebluesbrothers hit cable). I was jealous of Paul Simon when he was dating Carrie Fisher and wouldn't listen to his music until they split up. I paid to see Carrie Fisher and #chevychase in Under the Rainbow nine times when it was in theaters (mostly because Carrie Fisher was in underwear in one scene). In childhood, I committed myself to Carrie Fisher without ever meeting her the way novice Nuns commit themselves to Christ without meeting Him. Decades later, I got to tell her this when Carrie Fisher and @jaymewes were in a station wagon on the set of #jayandsilentbobstrikeback. She was gracious about hearing it for the zillionth time from the zillionth man or woman who grew up idolizing her, but wickedly added "I'm glad to know I helped you find your light saber." And with that, she stopped being Carrie Fisher to me and just became Carrie. That's the Carrie I'll always remember: the dutiful standard-bearer of childhood dreams with a the wicked sense of humor and a way with words. She didn't want to get paid for her role in @jayandsilentbob Strike Back; instead, she asked that we buy her these antique beaver chairs. Her reason: "Beaver seems an appropriate currency for this movie." When she was a guest on Season 1 of our @hulu show #Spoilers, Carrie curled up in the throne like she belonged there. And she did: after all, she was royalty. As a boy, I dreamed of marrying Carrie Fisher. As a young filmmaker, I dreamed of casting Carrie Fisher. As an adult, I dreamed of being as sharp-witted and prepossessed as Carrie Fisher. And now that Carrie Fisher is gone, I'll dream of my friend Carrie - whose entire magnificent career I was lucky enough to witness, whose honesty made me a better person, and whose spirit - like The Force - will be with us always. Goodnight, Sweet Princess…
Smith’s words are a beautiful elaboration of what was said by Steve Martin and show us the full depth of feeling that such an attraction represents. These are not cold, unfeeling brutish men who are chuckling about the death of a scullery wench they enjoyed buggering here and there but to whom they are otherwise indifferent. These are men who, like myself, discovered female beauty as the window into the human being underneath. Whether the social justice puritan hipsters want to admit it or not, heterosexual men will always hold female beauty in high exaltation. So go on, remember Carrie Fisher for everything she was- a beautiful, bright, passionate, intelligent, sexy, loving, compassionate, fascinating woman and to hell with anyone who would burden the pain of our grief with guilt ridden sermonizing.
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