The internet trolls strike yet again.
In the wake of the teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story being released last week, some Star Wars fans in the dark recesses of the internet freaked out over the main “hero” of the movie being a woman. Specifically, the protagonist is a “rogue” named Jyn Erso, portrayed by Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything).
The responses on website comments, message boards and social media were not pleasant, to say the least.
https://twitter.com/nonbinaryremus/status/718053957457821696
https://twitter.com/Dylbo_Baggins13/status/718047299222577152
Unfortunately, as is often the case with female leads these days, some fans were quick to ridicule Jones’ appearance in the trailer. Meanwhile, others clearly think that in a galaxy far, far away, the cause for strong, female leads are due to the men simply not being strong enough.
https://twitter.com/DANNY_DICKBLOOD/status/718078985641467905
https://twitter.com/WHenry258/status/718084648463675392
This outcry is very similar to the infamous “Star Wars Boycott” in which a small minority of fans criticized The Force Awakens for being “anti-white” following the release of the first official trailer, which featured diverse lead characters, such as Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley), which brought forth a flurry of racist and sexist social media posts.
These types of reactions speak to the challenges women and minorities face in the rest of society. They can be in the film and can be supportive characters… as long as they’re not playing the lead role. The impact of a lead role effectively makes said character the central image of a film, and insecure fans can’t deal with the concept of having a black or female lead associated as that figure. In a society where many industries, particularly the film industry, have been dominated by white males for so long, many of these kinds of fans are simply unwilling to acknowledge the divide in regards to the amount of lead roles played by women and minorities.
@CNN So all Star Wars movies now have a female lead? Disney trying 2 pad bottom line? Because sure, most rebellions have females in charge.
— Our World is Nuts (@OurWorldIsNuts) April 7, 2016
In what has been a largely hyper-masculine society, the idea that the women don’t need the men to save them is something that makes certain fans uncomfortable. They feel threatened, as though the power they supposedly once had is being taken from them, even though the number of male lead roles still vastly outnumbers the number of female lead roles. The underlying perception of this “dominance” is always perceived to be under attack whenever women or minority take lead roles. For too long, women have been regulated to supporting roles as love interests for the main male character, while minorities are often assigned as the comedic relief or cast to various stereotypes.
For decades, the symbol of heroism has been largely dominated by white males. In the case of Star Wars, those heroes came in the form of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, more often portrayed as the icons of the trilogy alongside the “character” of Darth Vader, as opposed to the voice of James Earl Jones.
The original Star Wars trilogy, for all of its impact, was not the symbol of diversity it had the chance to be, as Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams stood as the lone female or minority characters with featured acting roles.
The prequels weren’t much better in regards to diverse casting, despite having Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, and Natalie Portman. Jackson’s Mace Windu and Smits’ Bail Organa characters weren’t very well-developed, which was disappointing given the popularity of Windu among the fandom. On the other side, Portman’s Padme Amidala gradually devolved over the course of the prequels from a strong, independent female to a mere love interest that hurt the development of her character. The newer trilogy was yet another missed opportunity to represent diversity in film, particularly in the Star Wars saga and sci-fi/fantasy genre.
Reflecting the society that goes to see blockbuster movies is becoming as crucial to the story as the film itself. With more diverse casts, more creative, in-depth stories can be told which can be more relatable to a wider array of audiences. The chance for redemption came once Disney acquired Lucasfilm. Director J.J. Abrams should be praised for placing young talents like Ridley, Boyega and Oscar Issac in the lead roles for The Force Awakens to re-ignite this franchise following the disappointing prequel trilogy. Abrams emphasized the importance of this Star Wars universe reflecting our increasingly diverse culture, and good performances from each of the leads helped the movie achieve critical success.
A year after the success of Episode VII, Rogue One will be the next important step in Disney’s Star Wars storytelling objective over the next few years. Not only is Rogue One the first of the Star Wars anthology series, it also features the saga’s most diverse cast to date, with Diego Luna (Hispanic), Riz Ahmend (Pakistani descent), Forest Whitaker (black), Donnie Yen (Chinese), and Jiang Wen (Chinese).
This cast listing may speak to Disney and Lucasfilm’s efforts to appeal to modern and international audiences, especially in the wake of The Force Awakens‘ success with its lead roles. Other films and television series with strong female leads like The Hunger Games, Mad Max: Fury Road, Supergirl and Jessica Jones have proven that genre material doesn’t need male stars to hit with fans. By the end of this year, Rogue One could be happily added to that list.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set to hit theaters Dec. 16.
