Star Wars' first heroine is passing on wise counsel to the franchise's newest female star.
Interview magazine had Carrie Fisher, who returns as Princess Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, speak to Ridley, who plays the scavenger Rey. Though we have high hopes that Rey will be an awesome, feminist character, Fisher issued a warning to Ridley. The elder star told Ridley to "fight against that slave outfit," referring to Princess Leia's infamous bikini from Return of the Jedi, worn when the character was imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt.
The subject came up when the two were talking about the "sex symbol" label.
Fisher declared, "I am not a sex symbol, so that's an opinion of someone. I don't share that." After Ridley began, "I don't think that's the right—," Fisher interjected, saying, "word for it? Well, you should fight for your outfit. Don't be a slave like I was."
Ridley goes on to promise Fisher, "All right, I'll fight." Fisher again insists: "You keep fighting against that slave outfit."
That famously exploitative garment from the original trilogy has had a lingering cultural impact. Rachel wore it for Ross in an episode of Friends. Amy Schumer donned it on the cover of a recent issue of GQ. Though it is what Leia is wearing when she takes down Jabba, a moment Fisher deemed "the best time [she] ever had as an actor," it also transforms Leia into an object of male fantasy. Fisher has always been keenly aware of this, telling Rolling Stone in 1983, the year Return of the Jedi came out: "Let's not forget that these movies are basically boys' fantasies. So the other way they made her more female in this one was to have her take off her clothes."
Head over to Interview to read the rest of the conversation, which covers Volkswagen, dating after Star Wars, and the duo's plan to get put in an asylum. Just go with it.
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