The revolutionary space drama ‘Star Wars‘ usually brings sci-fi fans from all over the world together. But in 1983, one creative choice from George Lucas‘ team divided them and sparked an endless debate.
When the original franchise’s third installment, ‘Return of the Jedi,‘ hit theaters, Princess Leia‘s famous gold bikini immediately set off a wave of opinions. But Carrie Fisher wasn’t about to let critics get the last word. Instead of letting the controversy define her legacy, the late actress shut down the critics with her untamed honesty.
Princess Leia’s Metallic Bikini Stirred The Pot; Actress Clapped Back
At the beginning of ‘Return of the Jedi,’ Jabba the Hutt, a huge slug-like creature as well as an alien gangster, captures Princess Leia. The monster forces the protagonist to wear a metallic bikini as a tool of domination and humiliation.
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When the movie arrived in theaters, this very costume generated considerable opposition from critics, who believed it objectified the iconic character for male audiences. The sentiment lasted for decades.
In 2015, Fox News ran a story about parental concerns about the attire resurfacing when merchandise featuring Leia in a bikini popped up in stores. When asked why the toy comes with a chain around its neck, a parent replied, “I don’t have any answers. I was just blown away looking at it.”
When faced with the question of whether the merchandise should cease production, Fisher gave a great response on how to deal with the controversy. Prior to the release of ‘The Force Awakens’ in 2015, she presented a brilliant pragmatic approach.
The actress called that line of thinking “stupid” while talking to The Wall Street Journal. When asked again to elaborate on her stance, Fisher couldn’t be more lucid and brutal. “The father who flipped out about it, ‘What am I going to tell my kid about why she’s in that outfit?'”
“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,” she replied.
Her comment showed that the powerful ending was more about Leia’s reclaiming control and less about the bikini. But guess what? Fisher wasn’t this straightforward when the movie had just come out.
Carrie Fisher Was Ambiguous Towards The Attire
After the movie’s release, the actress had quite an ambiguous attitude toward the piece of clothing. “I remember that iron bikini I wore in ‘Episode VI,’ what supermodels will eventually wear in the seventh ring of Hell,” she said in a 1999 interview with Newsweek.
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Despite her discomfort with the dress-up, Fisher was happy with the conclusion of Jabba’s arc. Murdering her abductor turned out to be the star’s favorite moment in the entire saga.
“They asked me on the day if I wanted to have a stunt double kill Jabba. ‘No! That’s the best time I ever had as an actor,'” she told The Guardian. “And the only reason to go into acting is if you can kill a giant monster.”
It seemed as if Fisher’s Leia reclaimed her agency in the scene intended to strip her of it. And then almost a decade later, we saw how the actress had a change of heart about her two-piece. She was downright brutal to her critics.
So, case closed. If anyone asks how to explain the famous golden outfit to a child, Fisher has long delivered a simple answer: a giant slug made Princess Leia wear it, but she didn’t like it and ended up killing him. End of story.
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