#or that MARA JADE can't cook

[iverna]

One of the most egregious "not a typical girl" thing is when they make the rough-and-tough survival-artist fighter lady bad at cooking. Aside from the sexism, it just makes no sense. Like. You're telling me this woman knows ten different ways to kill a man and can survive for weeks in the wilderness, she's an independent woman and proud of it, but she doesn't know how to cook?

Cooking is a survival skill. A very basic, very important one. It's also not very difficult. She can fix an engine, but she can't figure out how to make pasta? Come on.

The only reason to make her bad at cooking is because cooking is seen as a female thing and she is Not Like Other Girls and sneers at anything feminine. Like the ability to make food for yourself.

ALSO btw every single person I know who trains and wants/needs their body to be in good shape is decent at cooking because they all end up cooking, because it just makes sense to make sure you're getting the right nutrition, enough protein etc, when you're trying to build muscle and endurance. Your body needs fuel and the better the fuel, the better the performance. So you learn about nutrition and cooking.

The only reason to make a female character bad at cooking is because cooking is seen as a female thing and she is Not Like Other Girls and sneers at anything feminine. And we've decided that the ability to make food, an actual survival skill, is feminine and therefore silly and beneath the dignity of tough warriors.

It's a stupid stereotype and it makes no sense and it ends up making her seem like an incompetent child who needs other people to provide her with one of her most basic needs and who, realistically, isn't getting the nutrition she needs to be tough and strong. You can't be an independent woman (or man, or person, or whatever) if you can't even feed yourself.

How about badass warrior types who make a fantastic spaghetti bolognaise and just make people slightly uneasy with how quickly and precisely they can slice a tomato or their insistence on always using the biggest possible knife, how about ripped fighters who exchange tips on how to add more protein to your meals because that's way more realistic than "eww no cooking is for GIRLS".

#at least in my experience it's realistic #having witnessed several conversations like this #during and after sword training #just saying #i'll never believe that emma swan can't cook #at least on some basic level #or that leia organa never learned #either at home or in the rebellion #or that MARA JADE can't cook #like... what #madness

[electricprincess96]

What do you make of the arguments Disney Star Wars EU is better than Legends?

OK well firstly I can't figure out how much of this ask is actually caring about my opinion or is potentially trying to start a fight since the EU is not Disney Star Wars and never will be, yes Disney Star Wars has content outside of the movies which would technically be able to be classified as an "expanded universe" but ask any Star Wars fan who's been a fan since before 2015 (why did I for some reason think The Force Awakens was older than that....?) what is the Expanded Universe and they'll point to Mara Jade, they'll point to Jaina Solo, The Original Thrawn Trilogy, The Yuuzhan Vong, Darth Caedus, Anakin Solo, Ben Skywalker etc. They won't for a second think of Marvel Comics under Disney, at a push they might accept the Filoni Animated Shows just because Clone Wars is in that area where it was EU but Disney didn't wipe that from canon so old school fans 1. Primarily as a whole like Filoni's work within the series and 2. Because Clone Wars was EU many will accept the likes of Rebels as well although I personally didn't think it was as good as Clone Wars it was a continuation of that so like that's like maybe honorary EU content for some people.

Cause also here's the thing. I never call it Legends and I find many people who do call the EU Legends..... doesn't like the EU so why would I want to start a discussion with them about it if they hate it already. And heres the thing, you don't have to like the EU, there was a lot of utter garbage in the Star Wars EU, it had went on for far too long, had far too many Cooks in the Kitchen and while I found enjoyment out of a lot of it it was definitely dying out in its later years, well its later stuff set post ROJ, the later EU books set around the founding of the Jedi Order are actually some of my favourites honestly.

But I'm realistic, I know it had to go if Disney or anyone ever wanted to actually make Star Wars a viable series again, it was just too bloated. That being said I'd have rather they replaced it with something good. They didn't. Like movies aside because I've explained before why I think Disney Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was uttr garbage, but I have yet to read a Star Wars Canon Book or Comic that hasn't felt either 1. Utterly artificial, in the sense it feels like something trying to be Star Wars (admittedly plenty of the EU suffered from that but because it had enough good I was more willing to overlook the bad, I haven't found the good in the Disney Star Wars stories yet) or 2. Very... pandering like it will play up anti Jedi sentiment cause "fuck wacky religions" or "hey Mandelorians are cool here they are randomly" or "lets have trans characters but make them the ugliest characters in the series because that's not like low-key kinda transphobic being masquerade as progressive despite it really not being..."

And I'll be called a fandom purist for that opinion but honestly I don't care. I loved the Star Wars Expanded Universe, it will never be "Legends" to me, Disney Star Wars is trash and they'll rip Mara Jade and Jaina Skywalker from my cold dead hands. What I find especially funny was before The Rise of Skywalker one of the "criticisms" from fans of Disney Star Wars towards the Expanded Universe was always "well it had to Clone the Emperor in one of its stories rather than introduce an original villain" and then literally the Sequel Trilogy did thay exact plot line. Also ignoring the fact the EU introduced villains like The Yuuzhan Vong, the Killik, Darth Caedus (cause Kylo fans can moan all they like Jacen Solo came first and is literally the only reason Kylo Ren exists, he was literally based off Jacen but a poor man's replica since with Jacen we seen him grow, we seen him live his life as a Jedi and watched the circumstances that lead him to the Dark Side), Abeloth (Lovecraftian demon thing) etc.

So I mean long story short if some people prefer the books and comics from Disney Star Wars good for them, enjoy whatever you enjoy, media is, for the most part, subjective and just cause I don't like it doesn't mean other people can't like it. But its probably best I don't ever talk Star Wars with them because we likely are going to have such radically different opinions on the topic that it just won't end well especially if neither of us are approaching the conversation in good faith. I don't like the Disney Star Wars world they've built, I love the Expanded Universe, I wish Disney could have given us something as good as the EU at its best but they never did, or at least not consistently enough.

#princess answers asks #anon #star wars blogging #disney star wars discourse