Trailer failure. (It’s hard to be what you cannot see)

I loved Star Wars The Last Jedi, which I saw recently in the cinema with my granddaughter, who is now a fan. The Porgs were a hit with her, and for me it was a real thrill to see the stone structures of Skellig Michael, one of my favourite places ever to have stood, given centre stage.

The down side of the visit was the trailer and commercial sequence that preceded the film. All but one human featured was a male. There was soccer games featuring males, car racing by males for males, shampoo for men’s heads and men’s shoulders, Spidermen, Coco, Maze Runners – all with male heroes or consumers only in view. It all took about 20 minutes, and the only girl hero was Alita. Polar opposites in the “you are/are not of value” messages to the young girls and young boys in the auditorium.

Luckily, the women sheroes portrayed in Star Wars eclipsed all that negative bias, and to top off the delight we won an exit door prize of two tickets. Guess who’ll be going back to see Alita?