Just when you thought you couldn't love Princess Leia anymore…
Carrie Fisher - aka Princess Leia - may be an iconic figure in the Star Wars universe, but after taking down ageist critics online, she's become a true feminist hero in our eyes.
Responding to critics who tweeted they wanted their ‘money back’ after Carrie’s character Princess Leia ‘didn’t age well’ in the Star Wars sequel (because that doesn’t sound odd at all), Carrie quickly responded in brilliant fashion, telling her 850,000 followers: ‘Please stop debating about whether or not I aged well. Unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings’.
The iconic Star Wars actress then added: ‘Youth and beauty are not accomplishments, they’re the temporary happy.’ She then went on to post pictures of her adorable French bulldog, Gary – who has garnered quite a following since he made a number of appearances on the red carpet during the promotional trail for Star Wars: The Force Awakens – captioning the tweet saying: ‘I identify more with who I feel myself to be than what I look like. Either way, am I obliged to entertain you with my appearance?’ Can Leia Skywalker BE any more badass?
Source: Disney via Rebloggy.com
Indeed, taking place 30 years after Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi – and even though it would appear that some fans seemed to believe that the passage of time would have absolutely zero effect on its original cast members despite being, y'know, THIRTY years later – Princess Leia is no longer the 25–year–old Princess she was when introduced in A New Hope (funny that!), instead Star Wars: The Force Awakens sees Leia as an older, wiser and hardened General who leads the rebellion against the new baddies, the First Order. It’s a strong role, played by an equally strong actress, and Carrie’s ah-mazing response to a frankly ridiculous line of ageist criticism is marvellous. But sadly the recent criticism was something Fisher predicted before the film's release. Writing in her 2011 memoir, Shockaholic, ‘What I didn’t realise, back when I was this twenty-five-year-old pinup for geeks… was that I had signed an invisible contract to stay looking the exact same way for the next thirty to forty years. Well, clearly I’ve broken that contract.’
Source: Disney via Pinterest.com
But Carrie is the most recent celebrity to have spoken out against ageism in Hollywood: James Bond’s Daniel Craig called out an interviewer last year when promoting Spectre after being questioned about the age of Bond girl Monica Belluci , while the unbalanced age gap favouring younger female co-stars to older male actors led many famous faces to call out Hollywood’s unfair standards.
But while the brilliant Fisher is more than capable to handle a few haters – what with being brilliant and Carrie Fisher and all – the actress recently revealed that she had advised her young co-stars, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega on the fanfare set to befall them after the film's release.
Talking to the Daily Star on Sunday, she warned that no matter how much she tried to explain the ‘hysteria’ that was coming to her and John Boyega, ‘they won’t get it until they are in the middle of it. All you can do is prepare them for it as best as possible.’