Star Wars Saturday: Luke and Leia's Losses in Episode IV

Everyone calls the original Star Wars an amazing film from start to finish. The effects were revolutionary, the story was entertaining, and it was exactly what the world needed when it was released. However, people don't usually call it a perfect movie. It has a few flaws, whether you look at the original or the special edition. One of those flaws is how heartbroken Luke gets over the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a man he's known for about two days, while Leia seeminly has the galaxy's shortest grief period after her entire planet is destroyed. So why the discrepancy? When we look at the real-world implications, Leia gets less screen time than Luke and Han in the movie. While the boys are off blowing up the Death Star, she is stuck in Yavin IV staring at readouts and hearing the battle. Although she is shown to be a snarky badass, she still doesn't get enough to do - especially at the very end of the movie. In the 1970s the feminist movement was going strong,