starwars

Showing 123 posts tagged starwars

theatlantic pew pew pews: ‘Star Wars’ Needs a New Approach to Gender—Not Just More Women Because, after all, the lack of women in Star Wars is not arbitrary. Star Wars is a genre picture—and the genre is, broadly, boys’ adventure. The series is devoted to battles, adventure, politics, more adventure, and more battles. Girls certainly can—and certainly do!—like all of those things. But the fact remains that the genre has historically been focused on boys. Which means that it has been a lot more concerned with providing points of identification for guys than with points of identification for girls. It’s not an accident that it’s Leia rather than Han who ends up in the swimsuit and chains, right? (Even though she remains, even in chains, badass.) Genre and gender, then, are tied up together. Sci-fi imagines different worlds—but those different worlds are governed in no small part by particular narrative expectations. The galaxy isn’t as far away, nor as teeming with possibilities as it looks. Read more. [Image: 20th Century Fox] High-res

theatlantic pew pew pews:

‘Star Wars’ Needs a New Approach to Gender—Not Just More Women

Because, after all, the lack of women in Star Wars is not arbitrary. Star Wars is a genre picture—and the genre is, broadly, boys’ adventure. The series is devoted to battles, adventure, politics, more adventure, and more battles. Girls certainly can—and certainly do!—like all of those things. But the fact remains that the genre has historically been focused on boys. Which means that it has been a lot more concerned with providing points of identification for guys than with points of identification for girls. It’s not an accident that it’s Leia rather than Han who ends up in the swimsuit and chains, right? (Even though she remains, even in chains, badass.)

Genre and gender, then, are tied up together. Sci-fi imagines different worlds—but those different worlds are governed in no small part by particular narrative expectations. The galaxy isn’t as far away, nor as teeming with possibilities as it looks.

Read more. [Image: 20th Century Fox]

Leia Is Not Enough: Star Wars and the Woman Problem in Hollywood If you’ve never really noticed the absence of women in Star Wars (or movies at large), consider yourself living proof of how the limiting narratives of culture and media can warp our expectations, to the point where the presence of one woman in a cast of dozens of memorable male characters can seem like perfect equality. digital painting via flickr:CC | sk.art

Leia Is Not Enough: Star Wars and the Woman Problem in Hollywood

If you’ve never really noticed the absence of women in Star Wars (or movies at large), consider yourself living proof of how the limiting narratives of culture and media can warp our expectations, to the point where the presence of one woman in a cast of dozens of memorable male characters can seem like perfect equality.

digital painting via flickr:CC | sk.art

What would hyperspace travel really look like? The sight of the Millennium Falcon making the “jump to lightspeed” is one of the most iconic images from the Star Wars trilogy. But University of Leicester students have calculated that — in reality — Han, Luke and Leia would not see the light from stars stretching past the ship as we are shown in the movies. There would be no sign of stars because of the Doppler effect — the same effect which causes the siren of an ambulance to become higher in pitch as it comes towards you. Doppler blue shift is a phenomenon caused by a source of electromagnetic radiation — including visible light — moving towards an observer. The effect means that the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation will be shortened. From the Millennium Falcon crew’s point of view, the wavelength of the light from stars will decrease and ‘shift’ out of the visible spectrum into the X-ray range. They would simply see a central disc of bright light as Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is shifted into the visible spectrum.

The sight of the Millennium Falcon making the “jump to lightspeed” is one of the most iconic images from the Star Wars trilogy. But University of Leicester students have calculated that — in reality — Han, Luke and Leia would not see the light from stars stretching past the ship as we are shown in the movies.

  • There would be no sign of stars because of the Doppler effect — the same effect which causes the siren of an ambulance to become higher in pitch as it comes towards you.
  • Doppler blue shift is a phenomenon caused by a source of electromagnetic radiation — including visible light — moving towards an observer.
  • The effect means that the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation will be shortened.
  • From the Millennium Falcon crew’s point of view, the wavelength of the light from stars will decrease and ‘shift’ out of the visible spectrum into the X-ray range.
  • They would simply see a central disc of bright light as Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is shifted into the visible spectrum.