Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

Babylon 5 (well, one of the spin-off shows) had one of the best takes on the X-Files ever, where the 'greys' were humans.

 

Despite having it pre-installed on my phone, I've never used go90, so I have no firsthand knowledge of it. According to Wikipedia, it's "free, ad-supported, and does not require a subscription."

Agreed. And they were one of the first shows that had aliens that required different environments than humanity as a feature of the setting rather than a one-off plot point, though the realities of their limited budget meant that those species didn't appear often.

 

While the films may be less than stellar on alien diversity, the books, comics, and reference guides of the new canon are knocking it out of the park. In Jason Fry's Bomber Command, we see the Resistance having a Faust flight doctor, a Martigrade commanding officer, and a Mon Calamari female waitress that was a Resistance informant. Chuck Wendig is another standout, who gets major points. The Aftermath Trilogy is chalk full of alien species, especially the OT and PT variety. Battlefront II as well, with Duros, Quarren, Abednedo, Rodian, Sullustan, Twi'lek, and other species all used regularly.

As Dan Wallace would say, all these species/worlds/ships are "props" for the play, it makes sense to use them when you're putting on a new performance.

--Adm. Nick

 

I'm reading Cobalt right now and it definitely struck me that Fossil is the kind of character who'd just be walking around in the background of the movies but actually gets to be a character in the books.

 

It's not a problem. The characters were written/cast that way and that's that. The movies were made in countries where the majority of people are white, males fit the roles at the time of writing and human because... They had no specific reason to make the character non-human. In most cases "straight" is a lie because no reference to their sexuality is mentioned and it is unnecessary to mention it, most people ASSUME they're heterosexual. Children watch the movies and there is no need to make any explicit reference toward sexuality. When a male and female character form a romantic bond, as is common in movies and fiction, that adds to the story. There are plenty of movies about homosexual characters out there that serve a purpose to their story, and there's no need to shoehorn it into movies for kids for the sake of politicising them, just like there are no Jewish characters or people of certain other "protected characteristics" that could be shoehorned in. It just doesn't fit the story, and trying to politicise things by shoehorning such characteristics in isn't a "victory" for anyone, it's an embarrassment to them, like signposting them with a freakshow label.

I have honestly never watched a Bollywood movie and felt that it needed more Caucasian people or latinos or Arabic people. I think it would be insulting to any of those groups of people to try and shoehorn them in - only include those characters if it is fitting to the story, tokenism is insulting. If you tried to shoehorn my protected (or non-protected) characteristics into a movie or form of media to make a point, I would be offended. It is ignorant to feel like I need others to push my traits into things to make a point to other people. Ignorant and offensive.

 

That reminds me. I made these for folk to use as and when they are required:

(Well, "made". I added text.)

 

geez 572 unnecessary pages

glad we had someone to let us know

 

Do you have any follow up with "I'm sorry for having to backstab you"?

 

In keeping with the thread: *Cool story, Cis

 

Also can we get it in huttese, mando'a and sith?

 

sith-het scum

 

Not all children are straight.
I was a gay kid and seeing a gay character in Star Wars would've meant the world to me then (and now, but honestly I needed it more then). Gay characters in Star Wars could literally save lives.
Nobody is asking for a token. Anyone who wants a gay character in Star Wars also wants them well written.
As a gay person I can tell you I am not embarassed by fair diversity. Most gay people are pleased and empowered to see themselves reflected in media, since many of us grew up feeling invisible. Not seeing yourself reflected positively in media does not make you feel like a freakshow. Being included makes you feel like you're actually a part of the world.

 

I miss that meme.

 

I don't see how having a same sex couple in a star wars film would save lives. It's just a movie for kids and adults to have an hour or two of light entertainment, and is nerds to discuss ad infinitum, it's not the place to push political or social views or aspects, especially divisive ones that not everyone agrees are good for people of all ages to see (regardless of what arguments you can make). That's just how it is. It's Star Wars, not high school musical, term soap operas or Billy Eliot where they're targeted at certain groups wherein people might have sexuality based issues and require comfort or reassurance, and can be tailored to them. Star Wars should just be star wars and not that movie that divides people over political issues - there's enough debate over that with people feeling that certain aspects of character were pushed for certain agendas and status quos (I don't think they were - I just think they're cool characters although I just want more Luke ha), that fire doesn't need stoking by a saga based on a few powerful people in space fighting for a fantasy based galaxy, it would certainly feel shoehorned in - the closest I could see fitting is a kind of alien race that only has males (or females).

 

Ah, divisive ideas like:

• It's OK to be Gay.
• There are people who aren't white and male.
• Nazis are bad.

 

By this line of thinking a factual recounting of my own fairly mundane and reasonably conformist life thus far would be inappropriately 'divisive', because I live in a world where gay people exist and have interacted with them.

 

A same-sex relationship would only be shoe-horned in if it is actually shoe-horned in. You could say the exact same thing for hetero relationships in films and it happens all the time. It's actually a pet peeve of mine when relationships (which are generally depicted as heterosexual in nature) are shoe-horned in to films that just don't need a romantic element.

Look at TLJ, Finn and Rose? Really? That is about as shoe-horned as a supposed romance can be.

 

Are you saying that there wouldn't be a huge division among audience members if there was an explicit same sex romance in a star wars movie? Because if you're saying that, you're wrong. It would cause Disney a huge problem. Besides, why are there no practicing Islamic characters? Are they saying that it's not okay to belong to that group by ignoring them? Not including aspects that *would* cause division or wouldn't fit the narrative in a movie whose audience includes children is not bias - none of my specific protected characteristics (which u won't disclose) are included and I don't feel targeted nor do I feel that it would help star wars or people with my characteristics nor if any other characteristics by including them, and it would just potentially cause an embaressing negative reaction, without improving the movie in the slightest.

 

I'm sure it would. We had people threatening to boycott because of Finn in The Force Awakens. But it's not about audience division or possibly offending people. It's about doing the right thing and making the saga a more inclusive place. And this isn't unfamiliar territory for Disney. A few years back, Good Luck Charlie, a popular children's show on Disney Channel, had same sex parents. Last year, in their Beauty and the Beast remake, LeFou was heavily implied to be gay. Because Disney knows that, long term, this will help them. And I can see that same mentality brought to Star Wars.

Why aren't there any Christian characters? Because we're in a different universe with different religions.

Quite possibly. But I don't really care what bigots think, and I don't think Disney does either.