So, the new Star Wars trailer is out and folks are losing their cool about the lead dude being black. There are cries of tokenism and so-called ‘black privilege’ and the requisite number of Thanks, Obama jokes. I allowed myself a few moments to troll the comments and was immediately disgusted. Some–few–were valid cinematographic and plot-like concerns. Admittedly, what I saw seems like a rather fake rendition of the Star Wars lore. There are spots where I could believe this was the work of JJ Abrams and times where I thought my kid’s iphone special effects app had a hand in the crafting. These quick looks don’t tell us enough to be excited but they may reinforce skeptics.
And racists.
The things that were said about the races of the actors need not be shared here, but the general idea was that this film is going to placate the racial masses. To some fans this is a huge disappointment. I suppose those fans only subconsciously are aware of the fact that the comment itself already establishes that the films had previously been placating a white audience–though it seems this wasn’t a problem to the majority of our posters. Keep the status quo and everyone is happy, right? Isn’t that the message The Hunger Games is challenging right now? (though not visually)