{"id":3819,"date":"2015-12-30T13:19:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T20:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/?p=3819"},"modified":"2015-12-30T13:19:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T20:19:52","slug":"leia-and-rey-the-ancient-grief-of-women-turned-on-its-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/30\/leia-and-rey-the-ancient-grief-of-women-turned-on-its-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Leia and Rey: The Ancient Grief of Women, Turned on its Head"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Leai<\/a>\"Rey<\/a><\/p>\n

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One of the most important scenes\u00a0in The Force Awakens<\/a> does not appear anywhere on the Web – not as a film clip or a screen shot\u00a0or even a publicity still. \u00a0I know why, I think. \u00a0Its power rests largely\u00a0in its unexpected, heartbreaking, \u00a0surprise. \u00a0You know what it is: that desperate, grieving embrace between General Leia Organa and the pilot-scavenger Rey.<\/p>\n

Since time began, women have mourned the loss of loved ones in battle. \u00a0Since time began we’ve stayed at home waiting, worrying: Penelope, Catelyn Stark<\/a>, Mrs. Miniver<\/a>,\u00a0Sisera<\/a>‘s mother, the women of WWI<\/p>\n

Through the window she looked forth, and wailed,
\nThe mother of Sisera, through the lattice:
\n“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
\nWhy are the hoofbeats of his chariots so delayed?” — The song of Deborah, \u00a0Judges 5: 24-31 s<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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“[I] wondered if he was looking up at that same moon, far away, and thinking of me as I was thinking of him.”\u2014 Vera Brittain<\/a> (Chronicle of Youth: The War Diary, 1913-1917<\/a>)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But these two brave warriors, forced into battles that would steal their loved ones — their grief is different. \u00a0It is the grief of fellow soldiers, not docile ladies-in-waiting. \u00a0It is also a\u00a0passing of the torch – literally and figuratively\u00a0–\u00a0between two powerful, wise women: one a grand\u00a0figure from the last generation, the other an emerging power\u00a0in the present one.<\/p>\n

The loss of Han Solo, lover of one, father figure to the other, at the hands of Kylo Ren, his (and Leia’s) own son,\u00a0and\u00a0the near death of Ren himself in his battle with Rey, brought a\u00a0grief\u00a0shared by two warriors at opposite ends of the\u00a0war against the Dark Side. \u00a0Despite the pain of loss – and near loss – Leia comforts – and seeks the comfort of —\u00a0of a younger version of herself.\u00a0 The battle between Rey and Kylo Ren\u00a0in no way inhibits the joining\u00a0of their pain and loss. \u00a0It’s similar to\u00a0the reality male soldiers have described so often: the loss of\u00a0a\u00a0beloved buddy in battle.<\/p>\n

For women though, that loss has usually been at a distance, learned of and mourned far after the death itself. \u00a0Now, just after\u00a0the United States military has granted women soldiers access to the same combat\u00a0duties and responsibilities as their brothers, and even as it portrays the generational legacy, the Star Wars tale depicts\u00a0the same parity. \u00a0These preservers of The Force fully share it all as, now, do our own soldiers – and equally know loss\u00a0as battlefield comrades. \u00a0Consider this, too:<\/p>\n

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I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity. \u00a0— Dwight David Eisenhower, 1946<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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        One of the most important scenes\u00a0in The Force Awakens does not appear anywhere on the Web – not as a film clip or a screen shot\u00a0or even a publicity still. \u00a0I know why, I think. \u00a0Its power rests largely\u00a0in its unexpected, heartbreaking, \u00a0surprise. \u00a0You know what it is: that desperate, grieving … Continue reading Leia and Rey: The Ancient Grief of Women, Turned on its Head<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,27,42,28,7,29],"tags":[3667,3663,3385,3379,3660,3661,3662,3389,3668,3666,3659,3377,3669,1045,3369,3399],"class_list":["post-3819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-current-affairs","category-family","category-film","category-life","category-women","tag-catelyn-stark","tag-general-leia-organa","tag-han-solo","tag-kylo-ren","tag-leia","tag-light-saber","tag-luke","tag-luke-skywalker","tag-mrs-miniver","tag-penelope","tag-princess-leia","tag-rey","tag-sisera","tag-star-wars","tag-star-wars-the-force-awakens","tag-vera-brittain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gBq8-ZB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3819"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3852,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819\/revisions\/3852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}