Generally Awesome

[Content Note: Star Wars spoiler. It's a minor one, but, you know, if you don't want to know ANYTHING, then skip this post!]

So, I love Carrie Fisher. I love her, imperfect though she is as are we all, because she is an outspoken advocate for people with mental illness; because she is a brash and funny survivor; because her stage show Wishful Drinking is fucking amazing; because she navigates tough and vulnerable like a champ, never succumbing to the expected stereotypes of women as either imperviously strong or pitiably weak; because she was, and is, Princess Leia.

I love Princess Leia.


Me as a kid, sound asleep with Princess Leia buns.
The prequel trilogy upended the idea of Leia as a princess by traditional definitions, when we learned that the Queen was an elected position on Alderaan. So, when Leia returns in the forthcoming sequel, she won't be a princess anymore.

If you're a Star Wars fan, you already know that you're going to do a lot of emoting in the theater when the next movie comes out. So prepare yourself for another wave of emotion with this news: Princess Leia isn't a princess anymore. According to Entertainment Weekly's latest interview with J.J. Abrams and Carrie Fisher, the rebel leader has a new title that reflects her role as, well, a rebel leader. "She's referred to as General," Abrams told EW. "But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her 'Princess.'"

Let's pause on the latter half of that quote for a moment and do some imagining: At some point during the new Star Wars, a character — let's be honest, it's some unnamed rebel soldier, but we can hope that it's Han Solo — calls General Leia, "princess." Then, Leia turns — hopefully toward the camera, in a close-up, hopefully while her melancholy theme from the original trilogy transitions to the trumpets you hear in the rebel throne room at the end of A New Hope (not that we're already deeply invested in this moment) — and, with deadly seriousness, intones: "I'm no princess. I'm your general."

I WANT THAT SCENE. But I am happy enough just lingering forever on these words: "General Leia."

GENERAL LEIA.

General Leia!!!

Okay, I'm done.

Wait, one more.

GENERAL LEIA.

Now I'm really done.

In other wish fulfillment musings, I want to see the "I love you." "I know." moment recreated in this sequel so badly. Except, this time, I want it to be Han who says, "I love you," and GENERAL LEIA to say, "I know."

P.S. General Leia.