Female authorial traces in the new Star Wars trilogy

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19132/1807-8583.57.142461

Keywords:

authorship, author-function, making of, feminist film theory, star wars

Abstract

This work aims to problematize the issue of female authorship in cinema, having as its object audiovisual paratexts, more specifically making of documentaries. Authorship emerges in this study, not as the privileged place of the creative genius, but as a discursive manifestation, so that the search for its traces aims to unveil its functioning as well as the processes of creation in the new Star Wars trilogy. The article articulates the tensions between feminist film theory and studies on authorship, finding in the author-function a mode of discursive operation that reveals possible breakthrough within the Hollywood cinematographic system. The methodological strategy involves a narrative and discursive analysis of the making of documentary Secrets of the force Awakens: a cinematic journey, released in 2016, and interviews for the specialized American critics, in order to understand the authorial configuration of Star Wars in this new stage. We identified that the production space occupied by filmmaker Kathleen Kennedy constitutes a creative place as well as a management team, whose features outline a movement towards the insertion of female figures in the creative and authorial processes of the franchise, whether at the level of discourses or narratives.

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Author Biographies

Patrícia de Oliveira Iuva, Universidade Federal de santa Catarina - UFSC

Professora Adjunta do Curso de Cinema, na Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). Doutora em Comunicação e Informação pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), na Linha de Linguagem e Culturas da Imagem. Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), na Linha de Mídia e Processos Audiovisuais. Bacharel em Publicidade e Propaganda pelo Curso de Comunicação Social da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). Bolsista do PET (Programa de Educação Tutorial) durante a graduação, bolsista CNPq durante o mestrado e bolsista CNPq durante um período do doutorado. Áreas de interesse: montagem cinematográfica, estética audiovisual, semiótica, teoria do autor no cinema, extra-fílmicos/paratextos (trailers, making ofs), campo cinematográfico e trajetória do artista, narrativas seriadas, gênero, identidade e sexualidade.

Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia

Doutorado em Literatura Comparada e Cinema pela Université de Montréal, Canada. Professora do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia. Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, Brasil.

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Published

2025-06-27

How to Cite

IUVA, Patrícia de Oliveira; CARVALHO, Ludmila Moreira Macedo de. Female authorial traces in the new Star Wars trilogy. Intexto, Porto Alegre, n. 57, 2025. DOI: 10.19132/1807-8583.57.142461. Disponível em: https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/intexto/article/view/142461. Acesso em: 3 aug. 2026.

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