The Death of the Female Hero: Rey Palpatine vs. Clarice Starling
The heroine never needs to be stronger than the villain; she just needs to win.
The female leads of modern movies have completely undermined the character development and definition of what it means to become a hero. From Rey in Star Wars to Galadriel in the abomination that is the Rings of Power; female leads are being written in the most contrived and maligned way possible.
For the last decade, modern audiences have been able to complain over social media outlets about how underserved their compatriots are. Whether the issue circulates around sex or race, writers rooms are paying attention to all the wrong cue cards when crafting their scripts. As a result, the female lead has suffered greatly. Social justice warriors have stolen all the bullhorns and soap boxes, and what has followed are infallible heroines. A perfect heroine is a boring one.
In order to understand how far the writing has fallen concerning female leads, we need to analyze one of the best to ever grace the screen: Clarice Starling. Played by Jodie Foster, Clarice Starling is the female lead of 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. Clarice operates in a world dominated by men; she is never far from their judgement. They impede her, and she is constantly sidestepping them as the gatekeepers to her progress. Above all else, Clarice is alone in this world, but her talents lie in her unwavering confidence and determination.
The claustrophobic world of Clarice Starling.
When Jodie Foster is on the screen, the camera shots are wide. Exposing us to the fact that her character is isolated and alone. The only way Clarice Starling is going to succeed in becoming an FBI agent is if she herself puts in the work, and she has. The character of Clarice Starling is educated, self-disciplined, and tough. She isn’t from a silver-spoon upbringing. She lost her father at a young age and lived through adversity. Her pain motivates and drives her, and though she is physically unimposing, Clarice is a psychological Hercules.
The FBI is dominated by men.
The entire movie is shot to make Clarice Starling appear meek, small, and vulnerable. She is often surrounded by men in close spaces. The cinematography is beautiful because it highlights her character’s stature so well. Clarice is not weak, but everyone around her cannot help but think she is because of her appearance. Looks are deceiving, and there is no better way to shape a female hero than to make her appear weaker than the villain.
In stark contrast, Buffalo Bill is a powerfully evil character; deceptive, strong, and determined. The audience is left with legitimate worry when such a stark contrast is constructed between hero and villain; how on Earth is she going to defeat him? That is what makes a female hero worth watching; the viewer should have significant doubts about her ability at the start of her journey. The development of the female lead is savory when she emerges with ordinary abilities because each milestone she passes adds another layer of character development that draws the audience into her. We don’t need to be her right away; we need to want be her along the way.
This is the notion that is missing from female leads like Rey and Galadriel; they are perfect characters from the start that are already in possession of incredible strengths and few weaknesses. Worse still, the villains and enemies only appear to be strong when, in fact, they are weaker than the female lead.
Rey Palpatine, perfect from the start.
Kylo Ren appears to be imposing, but that veneer is quickly eroded when he and Rey have their first fight. Kylo is supposed to be a seasoned fighter, a veteran of countless battles and wielder of the dark side of the Force. Yet, when he fights Rey for the first time, she not only survives, but she also wins the duel. She has had no training and is not an experienced fighter of any means, but in one scene, with zero development, she topples the main villain. There is no reason for her to be able to do this. Thanks to Kathleen Kennedy, “the Force is female”, so female leads don’t need to be developed into warriors. They are perfect from the beginning.
In stark contrast, Clarice Starling does not face off against Buffalo Bill until the very end of the film. The dramatic ending is made that much more enjoyable because of her journey. She fought tooth and nail against her mentor, Hannibal Lecter, to gain the knowledge from him to identify who Buffalo Bill is. The villain is unknown to our hero for most of the film.
Clarice Starling and Rey Palpatine are opposite female leads. One must suffer through a barrage of psychological tortures in order to gain the ability to even identify the villain while one simply awakens her powers at the most opportune moment. Rey doesn’t earn any of her powers; she simply had them all along and simply needed to flip the switch. Clarice had to expose her troubled childhood to a cannibalistic mass murderer just to have the chance to be able to even see her villain for who he is, and only then, after baring her soul to a serial killer genius, is Clarice ready to face Buffalo Bill. Her trials and tribulations are tumultuous and unsettling while Rey unlocks the mysteries of the Force without a mentor and zero training.
Clarice’s first encounter with Hannibal Lecter.
The character of Clarice Starling is made into a hero while Rey was born one. The Star Wars sequels are so baffling because its hero has no character arc. Rey is gifted. She needs no training with a jedi master the way Clarice had to confer with Hannibal Lecter. Rey is perfect from start to finish, and that is why her character is positively shallow in every way. Clarice Starling is imperfect from the beginning and completely out of her element, vulnerable. Her strength grows as she pursues Buffalo Bill. It doesn’t appear out of thin air. The only reason she even finds herself in Buffalo Bills doorway is because she pursed what others failed to recognize as important.
Character development is necessary when it comes to the hero’s journey because it is the hero’s journey. Male or female, the hero needs to have a mentor, they need to have weaknesses, and they need to have fears. It is the only way that genre of storytelling works. Otherwise, you are left with a story that is patched together by a series of conveniences. Rey just happened to be living on the planet Fin crashes on. Rey just happened to know how to fly the Millenium Falcon. Rey just happened to know how to bypass a compressor on a ship she barely knows with knowledge she was never shown to possess. Rey just happens to know how to use the Force. Rey just happens to know how to wield a lightsaber. Good thing Rey is perfect or she would have needed character development.
Crying alone after Hannibal’s psychological torment.
The entire Star Wars Sequel Trilogy has proven that no amount of CGI can make up for a poorly written hero. The modern female lead needs to be written by writers who understand genre. If you are going to write a script about a hero, you had better understand what the hero’s journey entails. Genres are age-old methods of telling a story that are engrained in humanity. You cannot approach the hero’s journey by making your character, regardless of sex or race, perfect — it does not work.