What I learned watching "The Last Jedi De-Feminized"

“The Last Jedi De-Feminized” is a fan edit which seeks to remove “Girlz Powah and other silly stuff” from the original film.

Though I don’t watch fan edits often, I have seen a couple edits of the prequels including “Balance of the Force” and “The Clone War”. The prequel fan edits usually seek to “fix” some of the slapstick humor from the first couple prequel films, including the paring down of Jar Jar, a character who many fans see an annoyance.

Though I found “The Last Jedi” to be a very high quality film, I thought it might be interesting to watch “The Last Jedi De-Feminized” to see what specific issues some fans had with the film. I wasn’t totally prepared for how sick I would feel over the result.

“The Last Jedi De-Feminized” doesn’t just pare down “annoying characters” or try to “fix” plot lines- the film silences the voices of women. From the very first shot of the film, it seeks to declare the Star Wars galaxy as a “Man’s World Only”. Billy Lourd’s character of Lieutenant Connix (who has some of the first lines in the original film) is cut out of the opening scene. Her male counterpart is retained, but she is literally cropped out of the picture.

Rose’s Sister Paige, has also been removed, and her role has been replaced by a male. Though Rose, is in the film, she doesn’t really speak much. She just sort of follows Finn around. According to the editor of “De-Feminized”: “Asian chick speaks less, doesn't bully Finn, Finn doesn't try to escape, she is never formally introduced. She is just there and occasionally smiles at Finn or screams "Finn!". She has no sister. Serves her right for all the heinous stuff she did.” In this edit of the film, Rose and Finn never go to Canto Bight. They just fly right into “The Supremacy” and attempt to take down the tracking system.

Another character removed from this film is Admiral Holdo whose sacrifice near the end of the film is now completed by Poe Dameron. Princess Leia still appears, but according to the editor she “never scolds, questions nor demotes Poe.” – which means that Leia doesn’t do much until she is killed by her son, Ben Solo. That’s right, in this version of the film Ben doesn’t hold off on firing on his mother, he pulls the trigger and blows her up.

Though I was saddened by the removal of the female roles and the wonderful dialogue these characters brought to the film, I found the treatment of Rey’s character the most sickening.

The island of Ahch-To is one of my favorite parts of the original film, but in this version a lot has been removed. The opening scene where Rey gives Luke the lightsaber is gone and (per the new opening credits), Luke’s training of Rey has already begun. This fan edit attempts to focus this story on Luke and not Rey. Rey still gets to be a Jedi apprentice, she just doesn’t get to say much. 

For me, Rey is a heroic and strong character, but seeing her silenced, was really too much for me. It’s like the editor wants her to be there, he likes the idea of her, he just doesn’t want her to have a voice. He doesn’t want her to be a full person.

I think for the first time in my life I truly understand how some men objectify women. It’s not just that they treat them as objects, it’s that they literally want them to be objects, with no opinions, with no inner strength.

In this version Luke leaves the island on the Falcon instead of staying behind. Later, when Rey encounters Kylo Ren, she is again silenced. There was no “force connection” in this edit, so the two characters never interact until they are aboard “The Supremacy”. When they encounter the supreme leader, Snoke is allowed to have his full speech, while Rey just listens submissively, never questioning, no opinion.

 Ben Solo, who has now killed his mother and father, does betray Snoke in this version, but the implication is that he does it for himself, and not for Rey. Snoke does not fall to pieces in this version, but fades away into a Force Ghost. Ben and Rey fight the guards together, but according to the editor “Kylo takes on more of Snoke's guards, Rey struggles with a single one” this is important to the editor because according to him “Women are naturally weaker than men”.

After the fight, Kylo offers Rey the chance to join him. When she refuses he zaps her with Force Lightning and imprisons her within the ship. Why? Because in this version: “Kylo is more badass and much less conflicted and volatile.” It seems Kylo is real hero to this fan editor. In this version of the film he kills his mother, kills his master, is completely unaffected by the character of Rey and then by the end of the film he kills his uncle too. And he does it all without being emotional and without remorse. 

Luke doesn’t do the whole projection thing in this version. He just fights Kylo with a lightsaber and ends up losing. In this way, even Luke Skywalker doesn’t get to be a fully realized character. According to the editor there is “No whiny/reluctant/murderous psycho Luke.” in this film. But as a consequence there is really no “Luke” in this film. A lot of fans choose not to remember that Luke Skywalker was whiny from moment one of “A New Hope”. He was whiny in “The Empire Strikes Back”. It was an artistic choice that Mark Hamill made and it is part of Luke’s character.

In the world of this editor women should be weak silent and men should be should be strong and never conflicted or emotional. It’s a scary version of the world, but it’s a version of the world that has been drilled into the minds of many people throughout their lives.

Some people dislike “The Last Jedi” because they find Canto Bight to be silly or they find Rose to be annoying and that’s okay. But it is not okay to dislike “The Last Jedi” because it threatens your sexist and racist worldview.

This fan-edit represents something truly sad and dangerous and something that makes me sick to my stomach. But it did help me realize what sexism really looks like. I feel so sorry for this editor. The messaging he has received and integrated into himself was one born out of our culture. It is not entirely his fault. We must do better.

Rian Johnson’s version of “The Last Jedi”, the original one, the one where women are allowed to be strong and men are allowed to be emotional- maybe it’s more important than we think. Films like this might just save the world. Star Wars might just save the world.