Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

I want diversity, but of the alien kind. I never find that casts have a meaningful rotation of diverse aliens. And that's part of what I love about Star Wars; the brilliant alien designs. And I do feel Star Wars is hopefully moving toward a broader spectrum with female leads, Hera and Sabine are the favorites of my daughter, and that's something she can view herself in, and I am thrilled for that. I find when Star Wars has handled sexuality, it hasn't done so well, along with the varied, and we're all right in what we believe, controversies, I don't believe it has a place. I think Star Wars needs to be inviting to boys and girls and, finally, I think the diversity of an entire galaxy should be on display. And I think that is most important. As long as it fuels strong storytelling, independent of pandering or politically correct, as long as it is presented well, for all ages as Star Wars should be, then I welcome it.

 

I'm honestly a bit disappointed in some of the people I see liking that post. I don't know how intentional it was, but that's very coded "I'm fine with diversity as a word, but keep those 'controversial' gay people out!" language.

 

Oh, I'm sure if we unpacked it a bit it'd be a different story, but I thought I'd go for optimism this time. Sometimes if someone's heart seems in the right place I'd just as soon not force the argument.

 

Yeah, you force the argument after someone's second post in a thread. Or maybe I'm just slipping and not feeling argumentative after editing my Heir to the Jedi rant post for the 50th time.

 

Well, it's an unfortunate reality of society. I do strongly believe against establishing standards to set a quota, and I feel story should simply be left alone for freedom of the corporation and its writers. But I simply disagree, from a marketing standpoint, I've seen changes made simply to attract that audience, and that's unfair to the brand and its characters. Again, though, it's personal perspectives on a situation. At the end of the day, it is a sad fact that many people are still uncomfortable with any kind of depictions of sexuality, and until such a time those situations change, Star Wars should simply avoid it. This is not a brand that should be born into controversy, especially since this is something every child should experience. And we can leave the sexuality for a more open brand.

It's no one's place to vilify any lifestyle, but it also isn't a brand's responsibility to create a bridge between two conflicting viewpoints and thereby alienate a portion of children whose parents may have, unique, perspectives on what is and isn't welcome. And it's not my, or anyone's, place to call what they think wrong. And we certainly aren't going to solve it here. I have no feelings either way, I don't think romance has ever worked in Star Wars as a selling point. Beyond that, I don't think, as a brand, Star Wars should be looked to for validation in reality. It's pure escapism, and the average child has no interest in sexuality.

 

Well you're clearly very measured in your reasoning, which I can respect as far as that goes--but the one thing that I find hard to agree with in there is that when you say "sexuality" it feels like what you mean is "non-straight romance". Because while pretty much no one (in this thread, anyway) is going to support "diversity" in the form of explicit sexual content, two men kissing, say, is no more sexual or explicit than Han and Leia kissing. Do you disagree with that?

 

That's exactly why it should be willing to show characters of multiple sexualities. Bigotry is learned, not inherent.

(And no, it is absolutely my place as a moral human being to call homophobes wrong. Trying to apply even-handedness to discrimination is a classic fallacy).

 

They can do same-sex romances without making it seem like commercializing on controversy. For instance, while I'm not a huge fan of Karen Traviss's SW novels in general, the way she wrote Beviin and Vasur's relationship was done really well. It wasn't in-your-face-we-did-this-to-be-controversial, it was just sort of "hey yeah we're just two married Mandalore guys doing our Mandalore thing." Which is exactly as it should be in a place as diverse as the GFFA -- there's no reason for it to be treated as anything else but normal. And screw those folks reading the novel/comic who can't read the plot past that one minor point.

 

Yeah, one of the things I love about HGTV (besides the mindlessness of it) is that they'll have same sex couples on and they don't even call attention to it. It just is.

 

I agree that Star Wars hasn't handled sexuality well. There needs to be an overhaul in how Star Wars handles sexuality (which in this PG to PG-13 universe, is commonly what we refer to as "romance").

I disagree that sexuality--in this case, romance-- doesn't have a place in Star Wars. Sexuality is blatantly present in Star Wars--namely, heterosexuality. We see couples like Beru and Owen Lars, and we have to sit through a whole movie about Anakin and Padme's lustful forbidden heterosexual attraction. (IMHO This depiction of heterosexuality leaves a lot to be desired.) Han and Leia's interaction, while charming, definitely hews to some 1940s style snarky romance tropes (extremely dated if you watch the deleted scenes.) We see characters perform heterosexuality in Star Wars quite frequently. There's a little bit of that on Rebels with Kanan and Hera, and Ezra and Sabine, incidentally.

If Anakin and Padme hadn't given in to their lusty heterosexual urges, the main characters of Episodes IV to VI, Luke and Leia, would not exist.

If Han and Leia didn't give in to their sexual urges, there would be no iconic "I love you/I know" scene in Empire Strikes Back to make that scene truly epic. If Han didn't have a romantic interest in Leia, the ironic tension in ROTJ would not have dissipated the same way when Leia said "He's my brother."

Sure, these romances/sexualities are handled poorly--- but without it, there would be no story.

Fortunately for your principles, Star Wars currently does not have any quotas in place and the corporation and writers have the freedom to write whatever they want. (Which up to this point has been mostly about straight white humans.) Which means the nondiverse content fans currently have the freedom to critique.

I'm not sure I follow. Every decision made by the franchise is a marketing decision, including the decision to market all of these novels featuring white male protagonists. This lack of diversity is also unfair to the brand, its characters--and even to the fandom. Many people I know have lost interest or are not interested in Star Wars because of the lack of diversity. If I had less brand loyalty or had discovered Star Wars EU later in life (such as now when there are more diverse works out there) it is unlikely I would pick up a book.

I don't understand...why are the people who are uncomfortable with depictions of sexuality the ones we should be concerned about? Has research been done to see how proportionately the readership is for or against diversity? (Granted, I suspect that the remaining Star Wars EU fans as a whole may be less open minded to diversity than other readers simply because we keep throwing money at non-diverse books and over the years other EU fans have left....)

I don't understand why the franchise should avoid "uncomfortable" topics. Star Wars has never shied away from uncomfortable topics such as genocide (entire planets being blown up), intimate partner violence (Anakin choking Padme), torture (Shmi, Leia, Han), mass slaughter of innocents (Alderaan, Sand People, younglings), trade disputes (a blockade!), patricide (attempted), celibacy, cloning, etc. If you go into the EU, we have additional uncomfortable topics such as clooniing, manufacturing an army of humans to go die for you, arranged marriage, and interspecies romance and sexuality (do not have sex with a sea otter) etc. Even the most recent episode of Rebels dealt with lying, insubordination, and torture. A lot of this stuff has made me uncomfortable as a reader--but it's also given me a lot of enjoyment.

But if one sentient has a PG or PG-13 level romantic attraction to another sentient of the same gender, then the sad fact that some people might be uncomfortable means the franchise should avoid it?

To me that seems implicitly insulting to LGBTQ readers: That their PG or PG-13 level romantic inclinations and relationships should not be included, as if they are are more offensive than genocide, mass killing, torture, Jabba the Hutt enslaving Leia, sexualizing her, and licking her, and Corran Horn banging his Otter colleague.

The confounds me as well. If Star Wars is intended to be something for every child, it needs to be a "more open brand." Even the core film franchise is starting to see that, which is why the big three in Episode VII are a black guy, a white girl, and a Latino guy (if you're worried white guys aren't going to be in Episode VII, don't worry, they will be in the film too!) Contrast Star Wars to a brand like Avatar: The Last Airbender which has characters like kids with disabilities, multiple female characters (instead of just Leia and Padme) and even non-hetero romance. Diversifying Star Wars makes it more accessible to "every" potential fandom recruit.

Depicting same sex romance in Star Wars wouldn't do that.

I mean, I'm sure there are currently parents who won't let their kids watch Episode III because um, a man chokes his wife. (And kills a bunch of little kids.) So yeah, there might be parents who don't want to let their kids watch Star Wars because they don't want to expose their kids to gay people. That is certainly their prerogative but I don't think their preference should be what guides the entirety of the franchise.

Parents complained when there was ONE book with gay Mandos. ONE. Lordy, there are 300+ books with NO gay characters, 6 movies with NO gay characters, countless comics all perfectly pandering to their desire to not be shown the mere existence of gay people. But one book was enough to ruin Star Wars for them. Meanwhile, countless LGBTQ Star Wars fans have patiently bought, supported, and waded through books replete with heterosexual romances, many of which are not even that well written (sorry, it's true.)

"Think of the children" argument is bizarre when most of the EU consists of novels for the adult audience, and the novels that have been published so far are less explicit than most of the Young Adult scifi books on the market.

Even without Vithuil's argument that yes, it is definitely anybody's prerogative to call what someone else thinks "wrong" (especially if that wrongheadedness impinges on someone's enjoyment of the fandom they love, or god forbid someone's basic human rights) I also don't see how this works.

Depicting something uncomfortable/troubling/controversial isn't an endorsement. Depicting same sex romance would not invalidate or tell those theoretical parents (who, again, have no shortage of other no-gays-at-all Star Wars products to buy their children) that their viewpoints are wrong.

It might remind them that their viewpoint is not the only one that exists. But that isn't a reason to keep Star Wars exclusive.

Who is Star Wars intended to be escapism for? What is escapism but a way to help make reality more tolerable?

The kid who feels alienated and invalidated in reality for their sexual orientation cannot escape to Star Wars, because people like them in Star Wars do not exist. Imagine how frightening that has to be for kids in that position. Imagine some kid discovers the rated T-for teen MMORPG The Old Republic. When they play the game they learn that they can play as a male character and proposition multiple female characters for sex and make their t'wilek slave watch. But they read on the developer's forum that there are no gays in Star Wars and when gay characters are finally put in they are segregated as an add on. So in the base game you can play as an evil darksider, have heterosexual sex with multiple people, and own a slave--but same sex relationships are this weird taboo. What kind of implicit and covert discriminatory messages is Star Wars sending as a franchise?

My jaw dropped when I read this. The average child has a huge interest in sexuality---everything from romance to explicit sex. Toddlers dress up like brides and reenact their future weddings. From an incredibly young age, kids play with body parts, they even play doctor with one another. Kids are constantly asking embarrassed adults where babies come from. Kids get pregnant in middle school. Kids have romantic crushes in kindergarten. Kids watch Star Wars and try smooth-sounding Lando and Han Solo one liners on one another.

And it's not just modern kids. Kids kept magazine cut outs of Carrie Fisher in a metal bikini in their sock drawer (which, IMHO, is the ultimate escapism. Cuz that was definitely not going to happen.)


tl;dr: Star Wars has always depicted controversial stuff. The lack of LGBTQ representation in Star Wars is arguably more controversial than it's inclusion would be because exclusion is the norm and a form of implicitly discriminatory messaging. We shouldn't be more worried about the homophobic parents/fans (who have a huge influence over the boring status quo and have plenty of no-homo Star Wars stuff to consume) and should be more worried about the (especially younger) LGBTQ fans (who have barely anything representing them.)

 

Excellent post.

I really like the fan theory of Sabine being gay. While I doubt that Rebels would actually go along with or confirm such a thing, it'll definitely be my head canon until proven otherwise (and even probably after that, too).

 

This is the first I've heard that. I could see it, but I think if I had my choice I'd pick Zeb to be the gay one.

 

Apropos of nothing and speaking of controversy magnets, have a look at this: it's a game currently on Steam called "Social Justice Warrior" that simulated internet arguments in the form of a turn-based RPG a la old-school Final Fantasy. You can watch the trailer at the link of an idea of it.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/348270/

 

What took them so long.

 

I blame a friend of mine who comes up with really awesome Rebels head canons on Tumblr. But I'd also be on board with Zeb being gay. Or maybe Ezra is bi? The possibilities are endless!

 

Again with the quotes, when your not quoting anything that was said. You have a knack for taking everything said and interpreting it in the worst possible manner.

No one is saying you have to be quiet about anything. Someone trying to talk to you doesn't equal them saying shut up and don't say anything, on the contrary it is inviting your perspectives to the conversation.

Again, I have not seen the film(or read the book) in question, I've just seen both sides of the massive fallout surrounding it. I'm not saying your wrong, I'm not saying those of the opposite viewpoint are wrong(which may be the problem here) - but I do see one side of this argument telling people how to think, how to behave, what to enjoy, so on, so forth(and maybe for the greater good) - thus a took a slightly different viewpoint here to try and see if I could get a better understanding of the entire discussion surrounding the film.

 

Is it bad if now I'm imagining an episode where the crew runs into another Lasat but instead of being all tough like Zeb he's a soulful musician or something and Zeb has a crush on him and is all blushing and the crew is like "Wow, Zeb has a crush, he's in loovvvvee and Zeb is like "Nah, naw, just excited to meet another Lasat is all" (but blushing and chibi sparkles.)

 

You had me until "chibi sparkles".

 

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/03/writing-women-characters-as-human-beings

And

 

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