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Star Wars and Racism.

Started by bgmnts, November 17, 2018, 07:35:49 PM

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bgmnts

The 'me so solly' aliens in Phantom Menace - on ITV now-  are racist right? I dont know what their names are but they are stupid.

I think maybe Jar Jar is racist as well.

Watto is a stereotypical space Jew but thats anti-semitic not racist right?

This film is greay when you're necking back 40% Metaxa straight from the bottle.

Star Wars!!

New Jack

I've only seen about ten minutes of a Star War in my life - but you're saying it's racist?? Hot damn, might watch some! Didn't know it was relevant to our lives at all, but racism is!

Mister Six

Anti-Semitism is racism, right? With Jews being a race.



Well dodgy.

Sebastian Cobb

Oh god I don't know. The whole thing is bollocks and overrated and for children and nerds.

Shit Good Nose

The Phantom Menace was a collective hallucination anyway, just like Crystal Skulls.

monolith

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 18, 2018, 06:02:17 PM
Oh god I don't know. The whole thing is bollocks and overrated and for children and nerds.
Is it really over rated? Consensus seems that after 8 films only two are good, a couple are alright and the rest are atrocious.

Mr_Simnock

QuoteThe whole thing is bollocks and overrated and for children and nerds

you might think that but if you had a clue about the film industry you might realize what a MASSIVE effect the original Star Wars has had on Hollywood since it's release.

Avril Lavigne

Quote from: Mister Six on November 18, 2018, 05:12:18 PM
Anti-Semitism is racism, right? With Jews being a race.



Well dodgy.

I'm a Jewish woman and Watto makes me uncomfortable as hell but I think that might just be that his character design is hideously unappealing regardless, like many non-human Star War characters.

madhair60

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 18, 2018, 06:02:17 PM
Oh god I don't know. The whole thing is bollocks and overrated and for children and nerds.

nah its good


Blumf

"Secure the existence of our people, we must. Green children, a future shall have"


Lord Mandrake

The stereotypes are so egregious and juvenile that I almost feel sorry for George Lucas because he's clearly a sheltered imbecile.

Kelvin

Phantom Menace is extremely racist, no question, but are the others? It's odd that the originals don't have more of that overt racism, considering it might have been overlooked more back then.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

My sister got thought Rogue One was racist, because the dodgy crew led by Forrest Whitaker were coded as middle eastern types. It didn't seem to dawn on her that the goodies were a fairly diverse bunch, while the truly unambiguous baddies were all white men.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


MojoJojo

Quote from: Kelvin on November 19, 2018, 01:52:25 PM
Phantom Menace is extremely racist, no question, but are the others? It's odd that the originals don't have more of that overt racism, considering it might have been overlooked more back then.

Well, there's the whole "good white guy inside the bad black man" thing, and the one black character betrays the heroes.

Shit Good Nose

I still don't know what this Phantom Menace everyone keeps talking about is.

Kelvin

Quote from: MojoJojo on November 19, 2018, 06:00:13 PM
Well, there's the whole "good white guy inside the bad black man" thing, and the one black character betrays the heroes.

Not sure what you mean by the first bit, but I did consider Lando.

I've always assumed that was the other way round, though. As in; Lucas wanted to include a black actor in the main cast, but the only major new hero he had written was one who betrayed, then saved his old friend. Either he had to totally rewrite a main character, or he had to cast a white actor to play that character to avoid accusations of racism. And he only betrays them out of desperation, not out of greed/self interest. If anything, the most problematic aspect of the character is his sexual advances on Leia.

Kelvin

That said, Phantom Menace really is staggeringly racist, so fuck knows what Lucas was thinking with Empire.

greenman

Quote from: Kelvin on November 19, 2018, 07:18:43 PM
Not sure what you mean by the first bit, but I did consider Lando.

I've always assumed that was the other way round, though. As in; Lucas wanted to include a black actor in the main cast, but the only major new hero he had written was one who betrayed, then saved his old friend. Either he had to totally rewrite a main character, or he had to cast a white actor to play that character to avoid accusations of racism. And he only betrays them out of desperation, not out of greed/self interest. If anything, the most problematic aspect of the character is his sexual advances on Leia.

The old Kevin Smith debate about Vader being black in looks and voice before being revealed to be white but really you see that he's white under the getup partway though Empire Strikes Back and he kills the Emperor when he's still "black".

Honestly I would say that Lando was a reasonably forward looking casting in having a black actor portray that kind of successful businessman in 1980.

Kelvin

Quote from: greenman on November 19, 2018, 07:25:33 PM
The old Kevin Smith debate about Vader being black in looks and voice before being revealed to be white but really you see that he's white under the getup partway though Empire Strikes Back and he kills the Emperor when he's still "black".

Ah, thanks, not heard that. Sounds like bollocks, though. No way was that the reasoning behind the look/voice. Black (darkness) has a very long history of connoting evil, and Jones' voice was just very deep and commanding.

That said, Phantom Menace really is staggeringly racist, so...


The only BAME character in the original trilogy, Lando, sold everyone out in a bit of a dick-bag move. He became a full goody in the next one I suppose.

rue the polywhirl

Star Wars Phantom Menace doesn't have any Inuits or Mozambicans and movies are meant to be diverse and multi/omni-representative and some of the stereotypical characters in it are mostly harmless therefore the film is staggeringly racist.

Kelvin

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on November 19, 2018, 10:58:15 PM
Star Wars Phantom Menace doesn't have any Inuits or Mozambicans and movies are meant to be diverse and multi/omni-representative and some of the stereotypical characters in it are mostly harmless therefore the film is staggeringly racist.

Pretty sure some contemptable corporate chinaman aliens, a greedy, anti-semetic jew alien, and a bumbling patois speaking alien are staggeringly racist, actually.

I mean, it's pretty shocking to think that one of the most famous directors of all time inserted such blatant, grotesque stereotypes into one of the most influential film series ever.

Bronzy

To be fair it was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away so we may not fully understand their cultural norms and the attitudes of their times

Back then alien women had big jugs, it was okay then

greenman

Quote from: Kelvin on November 19, 2018, 07:32:54 PM
Ah, thanks, not heard that. Sounds like bollocks, though. No way was that the reasoning behind the look/voice. Black (darkness) has a very long history of connoting evil, and Jones' voice was just very deep and commanding.

That said, Phantom Menace really is staggeringly racist, so...

I mean even Smith played it as deliberately over the top during that scene in Chasing Amy with Dwight Ewell's character playing up a "dangerous black revolutionary" character to sell his comic.

It does I think say a good deal about Lucas shifting from a new wavish film maker to an "industry titan" in that he became so insensitive, I think you could argue really that the original film is actually the most obviously politically aware focusing heavily on Han's classic anti hero character being shot down repeatedly by Leia.

Bad Ambassador



George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson.

mothman

"What first attracted you to millionaire Colonel Sanders impersonator George Lucas?"

greenman

The supposedly forward looking sequels of course have a black actor playing a bubbling comic relief role as well next to a white person with a posh accent.