1/6 Hot Toys - MMS298 - Star Wars: Episode IV - Princess Leia Collectible Figure

[Tom Day]

No, it's a topic now because we have since learned how humiliating the shoot was for Fisher and how she'd implored Ridley to fight against what she wished she had at the time.

Nerds and their "context"... meanwhile, in real life...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/carrie-fisher-iconic-princess-leia-gold-bikini-costume/

"I remember that iron bikini I wore in 'Episode VI': what supermodels will eventually wear in the seventh ring of Hell," Fisher once wrote in Newsweek.

However there was a narrative behind that bikini which meant it was imbued with a more empowering message than some of those sultry film stills might suggest.

In a 2015 interview with the Wall Street Journal, she responded to controversy about an action figure which portrayed Princess Leia in the bikini. Fred Hill, a father of two daughters, had been shocked to see that version of the toy on offer to young children.

"Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn’t like it. And then I took it off. Backstage," Fisher advised Hill to tell his daughters, referring to the way her character uses the chains attached to the bikini to strangle Jabba the Hutt.

That would seem to be Fisher herself providing some context. I wouldn't even disagree with your view of it, but I would respectfully suggest that there's more ways of interpreting the costume/ her role than it might first seem. Lucas put her in it because he liked Frank Frazetta art of fantasy women with gigantic ****, which is demeaning, but then she didn't go on to be rescued while screaming for help; and while the costume might be demeaning outside the movie, in the world of the movie its about Leia being demeaned by Jabba. Personally, I find the way she screwed up Han's rescue while disguised as Boushh to be far more sexist.

 

[Jaycepticon]

Whatever the argument is, the Slave Leia outfit is just as iconic as her ANH/buns look so I'm sure it'd be a hot seller.

With that said, I just want Hot Toys to tackle Boushh. I don't want to "settle" on the Sideshow one.

 

[hen88]

I have no problem with the slave outfit in context to the film's narrative. After all, she killed her captor who was parading her around in that demeaning outfit. But it's certainly not something to be celebrated. People who rant about "political correctness" are merely trying to mask their sexism. Grow up and show some respect. Otherwise, you should try being chained up in a metal bikini, while legions of perverts salivate over you. I'm sure your tune would change pretty quickly.

 

[Tom Day]

I have no problem with the slave outfit in context to the film's narrative. After all, she killed her captor who was parading her around in that demeaning outfit. But it's certainly not something to be celebrated. People who rant about "political correctness" are merely trying to mask their sexism. Grow up and show some respect. Otherwise, you should try being chained up in a metal bikini, while legions perverts salivate over you. I'm sure your tune would change pretty quickly.

I can't argue with that, even if it is a fairly unlikely scenario for me to find myself in! I think Jabba would have just thrown me straight to the Rancor.

 

[SilverStar17]

I just simply watch the film and either enjoy it or don't enjoy it for what it is. Just entertain me.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Actors and actresses are often cast in situations they find uncomfortable and wearing a bikini isn't particularly outlandish. There are things I dislike about my CHOSEN field too. That said I will just leave these here, she doesn't look particularly miserable.

 

[Antihero]

Hey Turd, is that really Carrie in those photos?

 

[Khev]

Yes it's from an old Rolling Stone photo shoot that coincided with the release of Jedi.

 

[RPM716]

Hey Turd, is that really Carrie in those photos?

Yeah, I'd always thought the first one was "enhanced" with photoshop.


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[Khev]

Yeah that isn't the original photo:

 

[Lejuan]

"Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn’t like it. And then I took it off. Backstage," Fisher advised Hill to tell his daughters, referring to the way her character uses the chains attached to the bikini to strangle Jabba the Hutt.[/I]

That would seem to be Fisher herself providing some context.

It was a very reasonable and appropriate piece of advice to offer a father concerned about what to tell his daughters - it's not a switch of context she's offering there though.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Tom Day serves sushi on naked Japanese girls, why you asking him?

 

[Lejuan]

Well we all have to earn a quid, and if a Japanese girl paid me to serve sushi on her naked body I wouldn't say no.

 

[skizzoid]

Regardless of what Fisher thought of it, I've come to like the Slave Leia outfit a lot less than I used to. For how it takes a formerly strong and complex character and turns her into a silent, helpless sex object to be leered at by both Jabba and the audience for a chunk of the movie (and the fact she ultimately kills Jabba or destroys the sail barge doesn't really change that very much, considering she's still running around in a skimpy outfit the entire time and showing tons of skin).

All you have to do is just imagine how ridiculous and offensive it would be to see Rey or Jyn treated that same way in a future movie, after the strong characters they've been built up and developed into. And it should seem just as ridiculous for Leia.

The problem isn't the context, it's that Lucas put the character in such a situation to begin with, and contrived a situation where Leia ended up being held prisoner in a skimpy outfit with a chain around her neck.

As a teenager, I really liked the Slave Leia outfit (attractive woman in a bikini, yay), but now, I have a lot of problems with it for the same reasons you posted. In one sequence, she went from a bad-ass bounty hunter who threatened Jabba to little more than eye candy. If Jabba wants to demean her for breaking in and trying to help Han escape, there are plenty of other ways to do so without the metal bikini. It's very much a product of the times, but that doesn't mean that it's still right 30+ years later.

 

[amstel]

There are two ways of looking at it: Fisher's perspective...and the testosterone-laden nerd perspective.

True


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[QuiGonFishing]

My take on the bikini controversy is that the history that Carrie retold in more recent years is largely revisionist. Years after the Star Wars projects we over, Carrie turned to what I'm sure she would have referred to as more "serious" endeavors, exploring her relationship with her family a la Post Cards from the Edge, etc, and still later became more politically active with social causes.

But in the late 70s through the mid 80s, she was a young actress busy promoting herself as a versatile star with multifaceted appeal. It is widely reported that she herself came to GL in those days describing her wardrobe through E-V as being less than flattering and feminine, and asking for a more flattering if not alluring costume. Whether you like it or not, there's no doubt that that mission was accomplished in RTOJ.

There's also no doubt that Carrie was not shy about displaying the goods past present and future in terms of films and promotional materials of the times aimed at advancing her career.

Promotional Photoshoot (1976)

Under the Rainbow (1981)

The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

Another thing to keep in mind is that although Carrie was young and clawing forward like so many of her peers, Carrie was also highly connected by virtue of her famous parents. So it's not like a producer or director would have been in much of a position to force her to do much she would not have otherwise done unless they wanted an Eddie Fisher fist shaped indentation in their skull.

There's also the little issue of this being the third entry in a mega successful money machine that was making tons of money for the studio heads and all the others down the chain. ALL of the leverage was sitting obediently in the laps of the character leads. RTOJ was not going to be made without Carrie Fisher. So, if her objections had been as direct and as extreme as we're asked to believe they were at the time, there is just no question thaT GL would have been on the megaphone in a heartbeat ordering wardrobe to dump the bikini.

So I think the idea that she "always hated" the gold bikini was born much later out of the ashes of the suit being uncomfortable to wear on set (which is almost certainly true) when her evolving interests and causes didn't exactly jibe with being "objectified" as a slave in a bikini. What could be worse if you're hanging with the Gloria Steinem crowd later in life?

So the point of the dissertation here is not to say that her deciding she didn't care for the gold bikini in hindsight is not a valid position, or that she had no right to disavow its imagery later in life. We can turn our Politically Correct 2017 lenses on the circumstance now and draw whatever conclusions we'd like. The point is that in 1982-83, Carrie Fisher was not a victim. She was awesome...

 

[kiwiatlarge]

Well he'd just disposed of Oola, and found an appropriate replacement to demean. What was he going to dress her in?.. Ellen DeGeneres' evening-wear?

 

[QuiGonFishing]

Yes, and on the subject of the bikini as a plot device, there is nothing but logic here. Jabba's character was what it was - a "vile gangster". What better way to demonstrate this in a visceral way than to make him a slave owner? Perfectly valid choice given how much we need to hate him for the character to work.

Next, enter Liea. Her plan to rescue Han goes bad. She knows Lando is embedded for support. She knows Luke is waiting to launch plan B. What else would you do in this circumstance other than play along until you have a viable new option? Can we really hold it against Jabba that in addition to being a loathsome, beneath contempt creature that he also happens to be a tremendous talent scout?

This idea that the circumstances that brought Leia into the gold bikini were awkward or contrived or exploitative are baseless unless you want to say the entire Jabba character should have been erased or revised.

Given what we knew about Jabba, the entire scene makes perfect sense...and if Rey or Jyn (or Finn -gag!) found themselves in the same situation, logically, I'd expect no different outcome. The difference is no studio would have the balls to pursue it.

 

[SilverStar17]

Agree with both of QGF's posts.

On an unrelated note, aside from The 'Burbs, I never knew she was in another movie with Tom Hanks.

 

[Tom Day]

Tom Day serves sushi on naked Japanese girls, why you asking him?

How did you find out? I hope no one gets hold of the pictures...