”In Loving Memory of Our Princess, Carrie Fisher”

How, after all that, can we accept that she be unceremoniously vaporized in the opening battle scene, two years from now?

Originally written in 2017


I know they’re going to do it anyway, but I really wish the saga would end with Episode 8. I just saw it, and I want so much for that to have been the end.

I don’t need the rebels to have a final victory in Episode 9. I don’t need a big Rey-Kylo lightsaber battle to the death. I don’t need any Poe v. Hux or Finn & Rose.

Most of all, I neither need nor want them to write Leia out. In the story being told of this new trilogy, Han has been killed and Luke has left in Jedi ascension. In two-and-a-half captivating hours, Leia survived the vacuum of space, the transport attacks, and the battering cannon. She put Poe in his hotshot flyboy place, and taught him the difference between heroes and leaders. All along, she kept the hope of the rebellion alive, with the wisdom, grace, and compassion to see Luke return forgiven and Rey heartened. How, after all that, can we accept that she be unceremoniously vaporized in the opening battle scene, two years from now?

How does Episode 8 end? The entire Rebel force now sits within the Falcon. They’ve damaged the heck out of the First Order. They’ve escaped, and they’ve survived. As long as the Dark Side exists, the Rebellion will continue. If Kylo is defeated, there may someday be another.

Leia was leading the Rebellion long before Luke or Han ever raised a blaster at the Empire. They’re gone, and she’s still standing.

This was Carrie Fisher’s sendoff film, and to my mind there’s nothing more to be said of the story of that galaxy long ago and far away than what she said and did in this film.

Subscribe to The Journal of Applied Neononsubjectivities

Don’t miss out on the latest issues. Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only issues.
jamie@example.com
Subscribe