Document Type
Paper
Abstract
Ever since Luke Skywalker and Han Solo first appeared onscreen together in 1977, LGBTQ+ Star Wars fans have harnessed the power of queer reading to write themselves back into a galaxy far, far away, despite Lucasfilm’s long-term disapproval of such practices. Nonetheless, there exists little scholarly literature on queerness in the franchise, and even less on the potentially sapphic characters. Queen Padmé Amidala, first introduced onscreen in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, proves a surprising—but no less salient—queer figure in Star Wars. From her intimate relationships with her handmaidens, to her experimentation with gender performativity, to her quiet yet intense desire for her best friend Sabé, I analyze how Padmé can be viewed as a queer figure in media throughout the Star Wars franchise, including but not limited to Episodes I-III, The Clone Wars television series, and E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow trilogy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Loewen, Madeleine
(2024)
"Queen's Pride: A Queer Reading of Star Wars Character Padmé Amidala,"
Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings: Vol. 2024:
Iss.
1, Article 11.
Available at:
https://dc.swosu.edu/mythpro/vol2024/iss1/11
Included in
American Film Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Queer Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
