SWC **Diversity in the Star Wars Universe-Possible Spoilers**

The thing is that Star Wars is more adventure/fantasy rather than science-fiction. The only real sci-fi stuff about Star Wars is, if you ask me, the lightspeed and wormhole stuff. Star Wars was never about time travel, powerful computers, robots and gender/race issues which are common themes in sci-fi settings. So I dont think you have any reason to worry about this so-called problem with science fiction for the upcoming Episode VII.

I did, you want to read it again?

 

It's also possible to carry the diversity angle too far. You get into the realm of disabilities and homo/heterosexuality. Are people in those categories going to be upset if the next film doesn't have a blind/deaf/wheelchair using/homosexual/transgender [choose as applicable] character?

 

Fett: I am a 'challenged' person and I notice we are very often overlooked and discounted *particularly* in scifi/fantasy. Yes, it can be very upsetting especially because we are usually not acknowledged at *all* and when we are it's not *accurate*. Almost always we are shown to either be helpless or a burden on others. Just because some people's bodies don't work as expected doesn't mean we don't have a mind or merit. Likewise if we have mental issues or emotional ones. It doesn't relegate us to non-people and that is usually how we're presented. I have heard some utterly outright say and imply that we wouldn't exist in SW or scifi because 'defects' would be eliminated. That's pretty callous. Worth and merit and strength are not solely based upon how well one fights or moves.

 

Because it implies we're judge of what perfection is and it also sends a *horrendous* message to *everybody* that differences particularly is the physical realms are *bad*. For myself, I am who I am because of my challenges. I don't want someone saying 'You're broken, I will fix you my way.' Challenges is what causes strength to emerge and grow.

For me it's about quality not numbers since that was touched on.

 

i think Master Yoda would concur. well, the Yoda we see in The Empire Strikes Back would anyway. =)

 

[quote="darth ladnar, post: 51497115, member: 1377994"
Now looking back at it, I'm really surprised by the lack of women on the Jedi council. I believe there was only 1 in the TPM and none in the 2nd and 3rd prequels.[/quote]


Well I've just wasted 20 minutes of my life but you may as well have the results (I figure it's reasonable to count female non-humans)

TPM (3)
Adi Gallia
Depa Billaba
Yaddle

AOTC (3)
Adi Gallia
Depa Billaba
Shaak Ti

ROTS (2)
Stass Allie
Shaak Ti

 

Question of the dayactually 2)

Is it really the job of SW to show racial diversity?

Is it really the job of SW to elicit social acceptance for interracial couples?

 

Forgive me for backtracking a little, but I wanted to comment briefly on the OP (well, the 2P).

Just as a thought experiment, let's say that there is a universally agreed-upon Demographic Breakdown for all mainstream storytelling. At least for gender it would be pretty easy to call it 50/50, but the numbers are irrelevant here. Point being, numbers exist and everybody accepts them as reasonable.

Now suppose someone writes a story that takes place amongst, I dunno, a Boy Scout troop in Mitchell County, Iowa--the whitest county in America. The cast, understandably, is therefore entirely male and entirely white. The following are reasonable reactions for people to have to the story:

• I don't feel represented
• I'm not interested in this topic
• The story is alright, but it would be nice if they'd picked a more diverse setting

The following are unreasonable reactions:

• The story is bad
• The story conveys racist messaging purely via its lack of diversity
• The writer is racist
• People who like it are racist

The point I'm making is that numbers had nothing to do with any of those reactions. Even if there was a "quota" that everybody agreed to philosophically it wouldn't make the story bad for not following it, nor would it make people wrong for not being satisfied with it--because art is art.

I'd therefore recommend keeping that in mind as the bounds of this conversation--pro-diversity people don't want quotas, and anti-diversity people aren't racists. Things will go much more smoothly if we keep in mind that everyone just wants good stories.

 

I'm greatly enjoying the new Fargo TV series at the moment, in which the entire cast is white--and it never crossed my mind until just now, because of course they are. Could they have made a point to include a few POC? Sure, and I wouldn't have objected, but it's a totally separate conversation from the quality of the show. Diversity in and of itself doesn't make anything better--but nor does it make anything worse.

 

I think very few people would be upset with taking diversity in those directions. In fact, the nature of the Star Wars universe makes it easier to cast people with the qualities you mentioned. Someone blind/deaf/wheelchair bound -- all these wouldn't be much of problem with the Force. While completely blind, Count Dooku dueled 3 nightsisters including Asajj Ventriss and he defeated them. He simply used his sense of the Force to guide him. Luke does the same thing with the remote on the Millennium Falcon in ANH. Someone who lacks the use of his legs could simply use one of those floaty chairs that Yoda uses in ATOC. (Of course, Vader would also be wheelchair bound if it weren't for his robotic limbs.) In Avatar, Sully was paralyzed from the waist down, and I never heard anyone complaining that James Cameron had sold out to the disabled community.

And why can't you have a gay character? If you're going to have a romance that you want the mostly heterosexual audience to identify with, then it would probably make more sense to make it a straight relationship, but what's the problem with introducing a gay couple? If the plot requires that two characters work closely together (i.e., Lando and Lobot; Lama Su and Taun We, etc.) why can't they be gay? In fact, you could have an entire alien race that only has one sex. (There's actually one species of lizard on earth that's 100% female.) I mean, in ROTJ you've got a giant slug who seems to be sexually attracted to human females. If you've got that, it seems like mostly anything goes.

(Or maybe Jabba just likes scantily clad dancers for their artistry and subscribes to Playboy just to read the articles!)

 

This cannot be said enough. If you're fine with Oola, dancing slave girl for the giant slug-man, but gay romance is "too far", I dunno what to tell you.

 

IMO, merely considering disability and sexual orientation as part of the whole diversity angle is not carrying it "too far." And I also think the issue can be meaningful to people who don't happen to be in those categories. I'm not disabled or gay, but the thought of having more representation of such characters in general is appealing to me.

I would welcome hearing respectful, sincere perspectives on this topic from members of any community.

I agree that it's good to avoid making too many assumptions about people on either side.

 

Clieg was wheel chair bound. Fort that matter, so does Charles Xavier in X Men. Having a blind prophet Force user would not be unique since there have been many blind characters with special powers in fantasy films. Those sorts of things have a mystique and intrigue to them and are very often part of the story and exemplifies their abilities to utilize or overcome something that is very close to the story of that film (Clieg-victim of Tusken Raiders to show how vicious they can be).

Disabilities are not the same as being transgender or homosexual. Transgender/homosexual characters would only present themselves as such due to plot lines that would warrant them. I cannot fathom a SW plot line that would require anyone revealed as either Transgender or homosexual for the sake of it There would be no reason of that in a fantasy movie that is supposed to appeal to all ages.

 

Is it really the job of SW to show racial diversity?

no

Is it really the job of SW to elicit social acceptance for interracial couples?

no

 

I wouldn't say it's necessarily the "job" of any one movie or franchise (or every one, for that matter)...just something that hopefully will continue to occur in a variety of movies over time, as a natural reflection of increasingly diverse (and hopefully increasingly inclusive) 21st-century societies.