In 2015, thousands of Star Wars fans old and new flocked to theaters across the US to view the latest installment of the Star Wars saga. The film reintroduced millions to the laser-guns-blazing-universe of leading woman Rey and her trusty supporting man, Fin. While the major themes of galactic destruction, an unexpected hero, and an underlying romance remain consistent with the previous installments of the franchise, there is an aspect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that sets it apart from not only its fellow movies, but from 80% of modern day blockbusters. A study done by  Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found that only 12% of protagonists in the top grossing films of 2014 were women. Both The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story feature leading women with male minority supporting roles, with The Force Awakens grossing $2,068,223,624.

If a person were to type “Star Wars cast list” into the Google search bar pre 2013, the first names to pop up would be Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. Both white, both leading men-  a cast list which was achingly normal for the time. Now, the first two names on the Star Wars cast list belong to Daisy Ridley and John Boyega- a woman and a black man. It is also worth noting that the third leg of the stool in Rey and Fin’s company is Poe Dameron, a pilot played by the Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac.

Historically, sci-fi has been a platform for minority roles since the 60’s; the first televised interracial kiss occurred between Uhura and Captain Kirk on the hit show Star Trek.

“I think the beauty of fantasy and sci-fi things is that you can actually make commentary on society by introducing things like putting Rey as the lead,” Mr Burkle, an AP Government teacher and avid fan of Star Wars said. “Even going back to Princess Leia- she was the decision maker- she was in charge of most of the rebellion. You can make that commentary that women are just as strong and daring and intelligent as men are. I mean, you see it in Star Trek all the time, you see it in Star Wars.”

At City High, the student leadership board also serves as a platform for social and political advancement for women, with both the class president and class vice presidents being young women. Class President Lucy Wagner ‘17, quoted the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg.

“ ‘I won’t stop fighting for women’s rights until all the Supreme Court Justices are women.’ And someone said, ‘What the heck, why would you do that?’ And she said, ‘Well, they were all men in the past, and nobody questioned that.’ And that really resonated with me,” Wagner said. While Wagner has not seen the most recent Star Wars installment, she wouldn’t call herself “not a fan” and is completely on the side of the minority-inclusive cast of The Force Awakens.

“I think, from an outsider looking in, it’s good, especially that the leading character is a woman in such a prominent and historic film because I think a lot of people know what Star Wars is regardless of whether they’ve seen it or not,” Wagner said. “So to have a woman starring in it- I think is powerful.”

“I think it’s really important to have diversity in the leading characters, especially now, to kind of go against the norm of always having a white person being a powerful person, which is how it is in reality,” Class Vice President Lucy McGehee ‘17 agreed. “I think once we have that more in film, it influences what the normalcy is, I think once it starts being adopted into our culture then it will reflect itself in other ways.”

While sci-fi superfan Burkle believes that female inclusion is important, he doesn’t believe that by doing so, movies should push an agenda. “If you keep releasing shows where women are the protagonists it just kind of becomes normal and people just expect it and that’s good,” Burkle said. “I guess I’d rather see people write good characters and write good dramas or comedies and not force an agenda.”

With the success of female-driven blockbusters such as The Hunger Games,Divergent, and The Force Awakens, there comes a question of how accurate the representations of powerful women are becoming.

“What I get a little bit worried about is: I totally love having powerful women characters, but sometimes I feel like they’re always portrayed as being super mean, and in order to be really powerful, you have to be this mean person that everybody hates, and that’s not always the case with male lead characters,” City High Vice Principal Natalee Thompson said. “They can be benevolent and people can love them for their leadership skills but it seems like we don’t get that as much in our female characters; they’re going to be obnoxious and, for lack of a better word, ‘b*tchy’, and that’s how they become powerful, and I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that.”

Another problem with portrayals of powerful women stated by McGehee is the frequent sexualization of women surrounded by men in movies.

“I think that generally those specific characters like Katniss are kind of sexualized in a lot of movies. They tend to have another dilemma, which is usually a man, or they have some kind of conflict within themselves about a man, and I think in reality women in power aren’t as focused on their relationships,” McGehee said. “If they have a lot of power and they’re very focused, they’re going to have the best results by not being distracted by men, but that doesn’t disclude the fact that a lot of them do have men. I just don’t think it’s at the forefront of their problems like it is in those movies.”

In children’s movies, however, this ideal has been changing, as Thompson points out.

“One thing I’ve really enjoyed over the years is watching the shift in the female characters in Disney movies. If you go back to the original Snow White orCinderella, it’s like, ‘Oh, well we have to wait for a man to come along,’ but in some of the newer ones, it’s all about, ‘Nope, we’ve got this woman character, and… she’s going to be the one that’s going to not rely on anybody else, and she’s going to do what she needs to do to be successful,’ and I think that’s really an important message to send to young girls: you don’t have to rely on anybody else- you certainly don’t have to rely on a man- but if you set a goal, you can accomplish it, and you have just as much ability to do this as a man does,” Thompson stated.

Another common trait in female-driven action movies is the singling out of powerful women, depicting them as an exception to the traditional female role.

“I’ve seen a couple films where the main character is a women, but then there are no other women in it,” Wagner said. “So then a lot of the time it’s this one woman who’s kind of seen as the most majestic female character.”

This alienation of strong women also falls under a similar trope in each movie, pointed out by Wagner.

“A lot of the time the strong female character will always have the same personality. I can almost describe it: she doesn’t date men- they refuse to date because ‘men aren’t worth it’- that’s a huge theme that’s played out. They’re always really beautiful, and I don’t want to say whatsoever that women aren’t beautiful, because they are, but I just think that it’s unrealistic, but what do you expect, it’s a blockbuster movie.” Once again, along the same lines as McGehee, “They always have a fault, and their fault is always that they get too emotionally connected- that always happens,” Wagner continued. “Their downfall is because they either fall in love with this man or they realize that, ‘I’m not a cold spirited wretch like I locked myself up to be,’ and that really bothers me because I just feel like it’s a very cookie cutter thing.”

Wagner also found similarities between the struggles of on-screen women in powerful positions, and her own shortfalls of running for class president. Wagner found that running as a woman meant being judged by her peers more than just her credentials on paper, and, just like the ladies on screen, ambitious women are often pitted against each other, a plot line Wagner finds tiring.

“To have this new era where women are rising to powerful positions and starring in huge blockbuster films, where they could be the next President of the United States,” Wagner said, “It is bad to be comparing women based on their personality traits, how they look, instead of just how hard they’re willing to work for something.”

Ultimately, both Wagner and McGehee agree that while having strong, powerful leading women is important, equal representation is just as pertinent.

“In the feminist movement you do need to be able to find that common ground,” Wagner said. “I do think that it’s important to get more females in movies, but you are going to have to make them not necessarily the lead. I want them to be the lead, but I also want them to be supporting characters as well.”

The world has yet to see what Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has to offer in terms of minority and female representation, but thanks to the precedent set by the films predecessor, Rogue One is already a step ahead regarding diversity in its cast list and the public’s New Hope of a more diverse era of blockbusters.