On the morning of December 27, 2016, I was heartbroken after hearing of the passing of one of my childhood heroes. Carrie Fisher had suffered a heart attack during a flight from London to L.A. and was hospitalized upon landing. She was reported to have been in stable condition, which prompted many memes across the internet blaming the year 2016, and one meme in particular even depicted her standing triumphantly over an embodiment of the year 2016.
I felt as confident as everyone else did that she would pull through, and could not believe it when her daughter, Billie Lourd, confirmed Fisher’s passing. Losing the one and only Princess Leia will have a profound effect on Star Wars fandom for the next few months, and perhaps even years.
Although Star Wars was not Fisher’s first film, it was the one who brought her to fame in 1977, followed by the two sequels (now famously labelled episodes IV, V, and VI, with the prequels being labelled I, II, III). Female action heroes were few and far between before she came along in 1977, with female characters mainly being viewed as “damsels in distress” at the time. Princess Leia stood out for her snarky, sarcastic, outspoken and ass-kicking demeanor that inspired generations of fans, as well as subsequent films, books, comics, and video games attempting to emulate her unique badassery.
That badassery shined in Carrie Fisher’s true personality as well. She was known for being transparent about her substance abuse and mental health issues, speaking outwardly about them over the years and being a spokesperson for mental illness and helping young adults cope with it.
One of the questions that have been floating around today is in regards to her future with the Star Wars franchise. We know that when Disney bought Lucasfilm, they ushered in a new era of Star Wars films that would include sequels to the original trilogy, now labelled VII, VIII, IX. What is exciting about this new trilogy is that it takes place over 20 years after the conclusion of the original films, which means that we finally get to discover what became of our childhood heroes in their old age. Best of all, original actors Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher were still around to reprise their roles. Fisher’s role as Leia was small in episode VII The Force Awakens, which was released last year, but she was expected to play a major role in the next two films.
Episode VIII finished filming in late July, which means that all of Fisher’s scenes are accounted for. Episode IX, on the other hand, doesn’t start filming until next year, so the writers may only have a short time to go back and rework the story in her absence. Whether this will affect episode VIII before it leads into IX remains to be seen. One option may be to write her out of the story in some way, or a second option that’s being discussed across social media is CGI, a tactic used to finalize Furious 7 after the loss of Paul Walker, and which has made headlines recently after it was used by another recent Star Wars film, though I will stop here before I get too spoilery.
When I saw the initial reactions to the news on various social media sites, I noticed a number of commenters (including occasional celebrities) blaming the year 2016, claiming that it has taken too many celebrity lives. Facing the loss of a Hollywood icon is always very sad and shocking, partly due to the harsh reminder that the immortality of our plucky on-screen heroes does not extend to the actors and actresses portraying them. But such is the nature of investing our time, attention and love on escapist fiction and fantasy. At any given time, we can experience the thrill and child-like wonder that comes from watching the rebels liberate a galaxy far far away from tyranny and forever admire the role that she played in the story. But by claiming that “the year 2016 has been horrible and needs to end already” we may sometimes run the risk of being caught unprepared for tragedies that may happen in the year to come. We cannot truly blame the “year” itself when nature takes its unfortunate toll, as it has done in the past and will continue to do so. The best we can do is to keep our loved ones close and continue to celebrate and idolize the stories that inspire and motivate us.
May Carrie Fisher rest in peace, and may she live on in a place far far away.
The following is a list of tributes paid throughout the day by various members of the Hollywood community, followed by a small collection of fan-art that I’ve gathered from various sites.
Written by Michael Gonzalez.
