Umm didnt you know, the force is female. So of course she can do anything. Get with the times or you are a rapist sexist troll that hates waamenn.

Whaaat? This isn't gender based. So, some movies have more males? Some have more females? In some movies, females are dumb. Others, males are dumb.

Isn't it better to focus instead on the back-at-square-one story arc & glaring plotholes? Just saw Last Jedi for free last night, and was disturbed by how much $$$ they spent in the visuals, production, etc, but not in the story & script. Why, oh why?

Rey could be a long-lost relative of the Skywalkers, ie. a relative of Kylo Ren. But that's not enough to be a sudden proficient Jedi (plus with the lightsaber). And now Leia is suddenly more impressive than previous Jedi/Sith's?! How come? Are we supposed to suppress other glaring questions too? I suspect even kids would spot some of them too. Maybe Disney underestimates the intelligence of the audience. I don't intend to pay for future Disney films, as their priority is obviously elsewhere.

I had more time to think of what you said. That it is slightly bothering to up-pedestal characters because of their 'refreshing' gender, race, etc. It can fall off the wayside to be rather hollow. No longer an earnest storytelling, but a hijacked compromise.

I like Terminator(s), Alien(s), Thelma & Louise, Jessica Jones, etc with strong females, but not when the characters are not believable/relatable as in Star Wars 7 & 8. Cuz they would be far more distracting, and would raise more questions than needed. And thus become divisive, ie. pushes some audience away, than draw them all in.

Thus I think movies like this might be less helpful than they initially seemed. Some might say it's just movies, but if that's the main source of engagement/entertainment, then surely our worldview would also be slightly skewed. Rightly or wrongly. Anyway, thanks for replying & provoking a thought!