Captain Phasma - Not a Disappointment...just Underutilized and Misunderstood (A Rosie Revision Essay)

Captain Phasma was not a disappointment...just underutilized and misunderstood with hints at more awesomeness to come!

In the weeks following the premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, many have said Captain Phasma was a disappointment.  But I disagree. To some extent, I generally agree with some of this basic assessment.  I understand where these thoughts come from.  But, ultimately, I see more there.  Much more.

When the remarkable Gwendoline Christie was announced as being cast to play the armored bad-ass, many fellow geeks had very high expectations due to her fan-favorite portrayal of "Brienne of Tarth" on the wildly popular HBO series Game of Thrones.  "Brienne" is also an armored bad-ass, with enormous bravery, strength and pathos.  Ms. Christie's excitement and enthusiasm was apparent to the fans who saw her appearances at Star Wars Celebration and other publicity events.  She was clearly as much a fan of being in Star Wars as we were of seeing a brand new film.

But the minimal screentime and action of "Captain Phasma" in TFA was cause for concern and complaint from many fans of both Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

So, I am in the camp that thinks a more accurate description is that she was not a disappointment, but she was underutilized in TFA.   And more than that...I think the character has been misunderstood, as well.

In the scenes where she appeared in the film, Ms. Christie portrayed a very effective menacing villain.  Her steely determination when ordering the destruction of the sacred village on Jakku at the beginning of the story was vicious and cold.   Her methodical persistence in adherence to rules and protocol, especially in terms of her criticism and relentless obsession with the traitor, FN-2178, were emblematic of a faithful soldier dutifully following orders of a tyrannical regime.

One missed opportunity:

I did think that there was one scene that would have greatly improved if the action of the Riot Trooper had been played out by Captain Phasma.  It would have been understandable when she had a different weapon than the other troopers shown in the film.  The fight was dynamic and exciting.  The fight showed Finn being bested by a superior fighter, which, no doubt would be followed up with more plot developments in the remaining two Episodes.   This would have been another step on Finn's Hero's Journey.

As I said...the tweak I would have loved to have witnessed would have been the exact same sequence, but with Captain Phasma wielding the amazing baton of vibro-death.  As it was presented in the film, the Riot Patrol Trooper gets killed before finishing off his prey.  And just moments later, our Resistance heroes get captured regardless.  So, of course, in this revised version, it would have ended without Han Solo killing the trooper to save Finn.  And since moments after the fight, our heroes get captured regardless, why not have this fight end with Phasma knocking Finn to the ground and then having her troopers just collect her prize?  

It would have given Phasma that moment to shine as a warrior in addition to a cold, fearless leader.  That would have transitioned seamlessly to her shifting to the lake as the X-Wings arrived.  But...as I said...just a missed opportunity.  But the lack of physical action of the character was one of the prime complaints about the character.

One misunderstood scene:

This is apparent in all except her most pivotal scene.   My initial thought about how quickly she lowered the shields at Starkiller Base was that it would have seemed more plausible that she would simply refuse to comply and sacrifice herself, if necessary, for the cause.  A cynical view of this action is that this only happened to move the plot forward.  In other words, she acted out-of-character as a coward fearing for her life.

However, the reason she states in the movie (and expanded upon in the novel) does ring true to me.  She does not consider the act of lowering the shields as a risk, since she is so confident/arrogant to believe that her troopers will simply retake the control room as restart the shield.   In its own way, it is an continuation and extension of the arrogance of Tarkin and the other Imperials (including Palpatine in ROTJ) showed refusing to acknowledge the Rebellion, and likewise, The Resistance, as a credible threat. 

BUT...the First Order will, no doubt, find out that she was the one who lowered the shields. And it won't matter much that she thought that her troops would retake them shortly after to restore the shields without incident. The Empire wasn't very forgiving for failure of this magnitude.   I can't imagine The First Order would be any more forgiving.

She may find herself on the run from The First Order, just like Finn.   But, unlike Finn, she will still be a true believer.  So, her exile will be a very different struggle for her to cope with.  The bottom line...I can't WAIT to see what happens next for Captain Phasma along with all our new other heroes and villains in 2017 in Star Wars: Episode VIII!!!