I didn’t expect to wake up today to the news of the death of Carrie Fisher. The last reports I had read were that she was stable after her heart attack a few days ago, and it seemed like she would recover, and hopefully be back to herself soon enough. Sadly, this wouldn’t be the case.
I woke up today late, as usual: it’s always like this after the holidays thanks to the long, late nights throwing off my sleep cycle. I checked my phone, as I do upon waking up, and saw the usual update messages from a friend of mine about news events, and the last message sent was him telling me she had died. In a way, I was lucky to have just woken up – I was too groggy to react as I normally would, and instead stayed somewhat even-tempered, albeit very sad, through the day.
I’m not going to sit here and act like I am familiar with everything she was involved in. Honestly, I don’t know much about her as compared to some other celebrities I do like. That doesn’t mean I don’t care, or didn’t care – I just never got around to learning stuff, as it rarely came up. For me, like so many others, she was Princess Leia. That’s not to say her other roles weren’t good – I do recall her short, rather awkward appearance in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” to be quite well acted – but only that I know her for that role in Star Wars.
There’s a lot of talk today about strong female characters and all that, and to me, she was that. She was a woman, certainly: she had the classic damsel in distress element for her story, but at that same time she was in charge. Save for be captured in A New Hope, Leia as a character was able to stand her own in just about any situation as well as anyone in the story, on par with even Han Solo for braveness and outright boldness. She was a hell of a leader in her capacity later in the series, including in Episode 7, but at the same time stayed feminine – a very developed character, for what the story called for, in my eyes.
It’s hard to describe what I mean, but I think those of us who love that character understand what I’m saying. The thing is, I don’t think it was so much the character as it was Carrie Fisher herself. I feel she channeled herself into the character of Leia more than most actors would, rather than the reverse where they try to “be” the character as much as possible, and it worked damn well. As cunning as she was beautiful, as strong as she was caring, but also someone who could have fun. Star Wars, as a film series, doesn’t give too many chances for such fun, but seeing photos and clips during production of the films, and hearing her stories from those days makes it obvious.
I always have difficulty expressing everything I want to say about such subjects. There was something about Carrie Fisher that made us care about her beyond Leia, but still, that’s who she will forever be identified with most.
Rest well, Carrie. Thank you for portraying quite possibly one of the best characters ever. I hope to learn more about your life soon.
Of note is this video, which YouTuber and Star Wars fan Chris Pirillo recorded upon hearing news of her death. It carries similar points to my own, but is still another persons take on Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia.