The Four Color Media Monitor

Entertainment Weekly's said that J. Scott Campbell informed of the possibility that Disney's upper echelons are banning all marketing of princess Leia Organa in the "slave outfit" seen in Return of the Jedi. But that's not the real problem:

In a series of Facebook comments responding to a post by sci-fi author Blake Northcott, Campbell wrote, “Disney is already well on it’s way to wiping out the ‘slave’ outfit from any future products period. You will NOT see and future merchandising featuring the slave outfit ever again. Trust me.”

He added, “I’ve heard it from two sources. We can’t even draw Leia in a sexy pose at Marvel, let alone in that outfit! We also had a 3-D SL statue killed at a major manufacturer because there will no longer be any SL merchandise.”

This is what really raised my eyebrows. So Carrie Fisher's famous space princess character cannot even be drawn sexily, let alone beautifully now? And perhaps cannot even be drawn in sleeveless shirts, which are by far the best way to draw a woman sexily. This is definitely where the Disney Corp's overreacting.

What's really absurd here is that as far as the movie is concerned, Leia was still anything but helpless. As a commentor says:

Even in that outfit, she was still a formidable character. She kills her oppressor and helps her brother destroy his henchmen and their sail barge. That outfit never diminished who Leia was or what she was capable of for me. It more represented the villainy of Jabba the Hutt.

Exactly. He was giving her an outfit similar to belly dancing outfits in an allusion to what some slavemongers would want their subjects to wear. Another commentor said:

agreed. and yeah the outfit could be deemed, demeaning, but you need to consider the context. Jabba the Hutt was not a moral man, he did it no doubt TO degrade Leia, but in spite of this, she remained strong and struck out for her freedom personally. she didn't wait for someone to save her. the message it sends young girls IMHO is entirely fine.

Of course. Disney is missing that context. But more annoying is how they're being incredibly stringent about how to draw Leia in the comics adventures Marvel's currently publishing. Why must every position she's drawn in be policed? It's just another example of moral panicking. What makes this all the more weird is that Fisher told the new trilogy's current leading lady, Daisy Ridley, that "You should fight for your outfit. Don't be a slave like I was." In other words, if she'd once found it bothersome, she doesn't now. The bold spirit of her character's persona offsets any drawbacks.

Labels: censorship issues, good artists, licensed products, marvel comics, politics