Women, sf spectacle and the mise-en-scène of space adventure in the Star Wars franchise

This article explores the gendered work of the Star Wars franchise within the generic frame of sf. In the context of this special issue around women in space, I explore here the mise-en-scène of adventure in the Star Wars franchise, focusing on The Force Awakens (2015) and Rogue One (2016). Space and the juxtaposition of planets with spacecraft provides one of the series’ recurrent establishing shots, indicating points of arrival and departure; along with the representation of light speed through a vanishing point, such shots serve to signal distance in both spatial and temporal terms. Although narrative and thematic elements are important aspects of the argument presented here, the article elaborates the centrality of setting and landscape in the twenty-first-century films, notably the construction of multiple worlds as sets for melodramatic action. Female heroism is staged in the films I explore here in a cinematic space of visual effects and spectacle across diverse settings including desert and forest landscapes, mechanised interiors and, of course, space itself. I argue that these spectacular settings are important both visually and thematically, elaborating key themes of freedom, loss and redemption in and through the ground, the environment and space.