ST John Boyega (Finn) in the ST

Why would the Japanese trailer cause you to be jaded? Even from a diversity in films perspective, it demonstrates at most that the Japanese marketing is lagging way behind the rest of the world in terms of being inclusive and diverse.
From a reasonable "Finn fan" perspective, the only meaningful thing is his role in the film, which none of us have yet seen.

 

It's the Japanese TV spot. But you're right about the embarassment.

Edit: No offense CEB. But please don't direct those types of questions to me.

First, because I don't think the mods want us going off topic. And second, because I don't you'd understand the answer anyway.

The key word is sonder.

 

Remember when we all thought Finn was going to have a big ol' robot spine in TLJ? Ha!

 

We're past the point where we should just accept blatant discrimination. It's 2017 bro, these people are the very same people who worship pro athletes like Kobe Bryant or Usain Bolt. They should know better by now and they do.

 

Of course they should. That's not my point. My point is that using a Japanese trailer as evidence of what people at the top of Lucasfilm think about Finn isn't really useful or illuminating, so it doesn't really function as a point in the context of "and on top of the fact that Finn is being treated badly as a character, now THIS" - it's a wobbly stack of points that don't all have solid foundations by any means, and any dissent from this narrative that Finn as a character is being undermined is greeted with a barrage of pushback that is more up for debate.
So yeah, by all means criticise the Japanese teaser, just don't act like its part of an overarcing strategy to downplay Finn, cos that ain't happening

 

OK, so let's talk about IX which is being written by the same guy who wasn't able to write Han Solo into the story without overshadowing his young male lead. Should we be worried the same thing could happen again in IX?

 

To be fair that's mostly on Kasdan, the guy just loves to write Han. Thankfully (although i love Han) Han is dead now, and Kasdan isn't involved anymore.

 

I'd disagree, I thought once Han came into the story he had a really good chemistry with Finn and they played off each other really well. I think that Finn being funny is being taken as if it's a nagative, but Finn's sense of humour and Boyega's performance gives him humanity and a character that's distinct from every other Star Wars character. And Finn's story continues during Han's presence and after - the kick ass moment when a humble stormtrooper picks up a lightsaber to fight a far more powerful foe is probably the best moment of bravery in the entire saga, with the possible exception of Luke's throwing down of his lightsaber.

 

I don't thunk Lucafilm is behind this, that's ridiculous. Pretty sure Japanese media has their own editors , who for some reason are so obsessed with Caucasian features they even draw their anime/manga characters to reflect their desire to look this way.

 

Can't wait to see the Japanese and Chinese TLJ posters.

 

Can I at least ask you for your opinion on Pablo's tweets posted on the previous page? I'm very curious.

 

About his opinion of Han? I disagree. I thought Han integrated brilliantly with Rey and Finn, and his death meant that the new leads had to deal with the main antagonist themselves. For me, it worked. For PH, it didn't. That's fine

 

There's always been humor in star wars, but the only other character that had moments like "i'm in charge phasma!" , was that infamous prequel character. They can do humor in a way that doesn't come across as lame or at the character's expense. Han was usually the source of humor in the OT. That flew well because there was never any doubt about his capabilities in a fight. I'm more concerned with JJ's fixation on mystery boxes and stupid plot twists. He also has a very bad habit of not wanting to complete character arcs, so i hope he brings in some help with the writing. For all we know, IX may just end on some dumb cliffhanger where our heroes walk into a bright light, then credits.

 

Yeah, my tastes seem to be similar to Pablo's, but I disagree with his opinion on Han in the film. i thought he was perfectly integratd. And I loved the interaction of Finn and Han.

I'd love ro see Finn build his character with an eye to their brief relationship.

 

And yet when you bring the subject up about Japanese anime characters with European features, defenders will dismiss you as an idiot who doesn't get that those are actually Japanese features or some other nonsense.

By the way the first Japanese trailer for TFA took clips directly from that introductory teaser trailer of TFA, but it excluded Finn too. It had the shots of Rey, Poe, Kylo and BB8. But zero Finn. It's more than a pattern, and I too have gone on record years ago stating KK and Lucas Film were not the ones making the decision on that front. But they do have enough clout to intervene and tell those behind the advertising in Asia to do better in terms of marketing Finn's image. Doesn't seem like they made an attempt at this but who knows for sure.

In defense of the Japanese in regards to this latest commercial, its not as if Lucas Film gave them a lot of options in terms of Finn's image in the lone trailer.

 

And your last sentence is why a part of me fears we'll barely get Finn in the October English trailer as well.

 

Agreed they've got awesome detail.

 

Or evolve into a shark. He's called Finn, right?

 

Which seems to take us right back round to the idea that Finn's brand of masculinity is what is the problem for some people. For me, the fact that there hasn't been a character with quite the same traits and outlook as Finn is a good thing. And I'd totally dispute that he's closest in tone to Jar Jar Binks. In fact, I'd say that the character he's closest in tone to is Han in ROTJ, or to go a step removed, Indiana Jones in the sense that he's always just slightly out of his depth.

Regarding the "being useful in a fight" thing, the dynamics of the story plus the inherent nature of his being a stormtrooper means that he's essentially pretty much a grunt or a villainous redshirt at the start, and it's not important for him to be the best in a fight, it's important for him to find something to fight for and to actually do so - which he does.

Anyone comparing Finn to Jar Jar must have not watched to the end of TPM or TFA because in TPM there was a Jar Jar who pratfalled his way through a battle against battledroids that ended with him surrendering just before all the droids were shut down, while Finn did what amounts to the equivalent of the stormtrooper who bangs his head in ANH taking a lightsaber to a faith against Darth Vader, against all odds, to protect his friend, and fighting valiantly. It's very weird how the people who seem to be campaigning from a stated position of wanting Finn to be respected are the ones who utterly diss the character themselves, ignoring everything good about him.

 

Why wouldn't they need LFL to sign off on the edits though? The material belongs to them. I guess it's a fight they don't necessarily want to fight whether they agree or disagree with the edits--which either way I find unfortunate.

I wonder how his poster for PR2 will look in the the Japanese and Chinese markets.

 

I would imagine that, for better or worse (and possibly worse) things like teaser edits for different locations are delegated to people who are experts in marketing, and that perhaps the assumption is that if existing footage is what's used, local marketers are the experts on how to package it in a way that works in different locales, so the signing off is done at a local level. Or, something like locations are sent packages of promo footage, music, fonts, style guides etc, and left to their own devices to package it.
I suspect that if it were to blow up and become a big thing, it could potentially become a big deal and Lucasfilm would then have to address it, but I do think a sense of proportion is needed here - this indicates a potential problem in Japanese culture, and a pandering to that by local marketers. It doesn't hint at what Lucasfilm really thinks of Finn, or of institutional racism at Lucasfilm or anything like that

 

So increasing Rey's bust size and/or reducing her image to match that of Rose while making images of Luke, Kylo and Poe the focal points shift the proportion? Or would that that too be chalked up as cultural?