ST Lupita Nyong'o (Maz Kanata) in Episode VII

As soon as you made a point of claiming that you were looking forward to seeing a black woman on the screen in a Star Wars motion picture, you left yourself opened to a counter by myself that many people of various demographics are looking for such reflective representation as well. I guess the blunt way of putting it is :get in line. SW’s humanity has been mostly represented by white people with a couple of black dudes thrown in for good measure. You are starting now to see Hispanics (or at least Hispanic males) so it is beginning to broaden. Understandably it may not be fast enough for many like yourself but it is getting there. In TFA there have been three black women who were cast although we don’t know for certain how they will appear on screen. Isn’t that progress?

Hmmm. The one drop rule is too extreme. How about whether they can pass the bag test instead? Would that be more acceptable to you? For future reference I’ll try to keep in mind that some of these actresses are not “black enough” for your taste.

In case you have been asleep for thirty years the only demographic that is overly represented in Hollywood films are white males. Even white females are underrepresented in major roles when compared to their actual numbers in western countries and how many movie tickets they purchase annually. Perhaps you were just pretending to be Captain Obvious by stating that black women proportionally aren’t getting their fair share of work in Hollywood (like virtually every other demographic). Really? Thanks for sharing that that bit of information.

All kidding aside it is a legitimate gripe about not enough roles and unfortunately it isn’t going to change overnight. But clearly change is happening nonetheless. JJ used more black actresses in TFA then all the previous SW directors had for the first six films combined. Again…progress. And that list of actresses I threw out as a sample is proof that black females are indeed getting important and even leading roles in mainstream films countering your doom-and-gloom narrative.

Get a grip already. I wasn't giving you a command.

I hope you will be able to overcome such a traumatic experience if that indeed happens. I'm guessing you were one of those folks who heard Nyong'o would be in the next Star Wars film and assumed not only that she wouldn't be a CGI-like character, but that she would likely be a kick-ass lead of the movie too.

 

Aw, I was just joking with my post.

 

So, is it confirmed that she'll be playing an alien? I had a faint glimmer of hope she's be Lando's daughter, but maybe that's cuz I just want Lando to be in there in some way. If not in FA, then at least in one of the other two. And she sounds like a great choice to carry on the Calrissian coolness!

 

There is no proof that Rose is Lupita, just lots of probable assumption. At least not yet. I am still holding out hope for even just one crowd scene where she is herself. The Leia's political rival rumor would be awesome, and I wouldn't mind her being Lando's daughter, either. But I've never even heard a real rumor that suggests it.

 

I also hope that Lupita is not Rose. I see alien and know she could pull it off beautifully, but still...

I had not heard about Leia's political rival and think that would be a fun role for Lupita to play.

 

The Political rival rumor came from Kyle from the cantina. It was quite a while ago he said, and I don't know that he's been proved right yet on anything. But he said what I want to hear so I still want to believe him.

 

I think the whole political rival thing was just something someone made up. But it sure would have been interesting.

I'm okay with Lupita being Rose. She has an ENORMOUSLY important role in the movie if so.

 

Too bad, would have been the perfect role for her! *sad face*

 

1) This is a thread about a black actress and a black woman. I don't need to mention other ethnicities in this thread. There is a thread about diversity in Star Wars and I have been very vocal about Hollywood discrimination against women and non white men. So your point is moot.

2) Black people don't have a white mother or a white father. Bi-racial are not black. It's a fact, unless you can explain to me why people who are genetically equally black and white are ultimately black. Don't answer me it's called white supremacism and hypodescent. And if you think that Hollywood don't make a difference between black and bi-racial women you are quite naive.

3) We know who to main characters are and none of them are portrayed by other black actresses. They will probably have a blink and you miss it role. So how is that progress when Hollywood has been doing that for ever in order to tick a few diveristy boxes.

4) Since when is it outlandish to expect that when an actor is cast in a movie he/she will appear on screen? And this is Starwars, most characters are badass.

 

I agree with you're other points, but for you to say bi-racial people are not black is ridiculous. If you are biracial and you identify yourself as black, that's your right. Just ask Barack Obama.


Hollywood are really beginning to take notice of black actors and black audiences thanks to the success of the following:

Scandal
How to get away with murder
Blackish
Empire

 

Wrong, in genetics color can skip a generation, so in case a grandmother or grandfather had a different color, it could skip one generation.

 

Obama can identify as a blue unicorn if he wants to, it doesn't change the fact that he came out of a white womb. Biracials are not black. it's not an insult, nothing wrong with being biracials. Just like it takes two white people to have a white baby, two Asians to have an Asian baby, it takes two black parents to have a black child. I will never embrace one drop rule and hypodescent.

 

No thread of ANY actor/actress on this board is excluded from any poster making references to people of another gender, race, ethnicity. Period. Stop trying to make up new rules and conditions that satisfy your specific sets of criteria. Yo don't own the thread, therefore you don't make the rules. If I or anyone else want to make comparisons by referencing people from different backgrounds you will simply have to accept it, ignore or it or better yet come up with a more legitimate argument that doesn't come across as some desperate hissy fit.

I'm from America, friend. we've been doing that for centuries. That's why people like Frederick Douglass, August Wilson, Halle Berry and Barack Obama have been checked in the "Black Box" (and personally checked themselves in that box). Other countries may feel different. Younger generations may feel different. But I'm going by my perspective thank you. There is no white supremacy affecting my thinking, only a sense of pride in my diaspora.....even if some members don't "completely" qualify.

And by the way the vast majority of actresses I listed did not have a white or a non-black parent. But I guess if there complexion were too light for your tastes or they weren't 100% African, you are dismissive of them. Hence my reference of the bag test...although you are coming from it from the opposite end of those who used it in the past. Pity.

So when I saw JJ's Trek films and there were no black males that had a meaningful role, should I have not considered those movies to nonetheless be progressive considering how JJ increased Uhura's importance by making her the female lead?

So by that logic if JJ had cast a black female lead in TFA but there weren't any black or Hispanic males in important parts that would have been satisfactory for you? That would make the film diverse in your eyes? If so you come across as a bit of a hypocrite who not only fail to acknowledge JJ for being the the first to cast black actresses in SW films as a sign of progress, but don't seem to care that by casting people of color as 2/3 of the main characters he helped hollywood take a huge step forward. If all you care is the status of your favorite actress or if progress to you is only measured by what roles black women get, then, yeah I suppose I understand your bitterness.

Because Star Wars is a franchise in which half of its most prominent characters were played or voiced by performers whose true appearances were never shown on screen. Hello?

 

Forgot to add but it was too late to edit it in....I don't think JJ must check off every possible box before he gets the thumb of approval in regards to making a film truly diverse. That would be an impossible task. But as long as we see things improving across the board for EVERYONE shouldn't that alone be cause for celebration?

 

This is a new one. Why am I not black because you say so? My Father is white, but my Mother is as black as Lupita. Either way that's a pretty ridiculous statement , because I can guarantee you one thing, White people don't consider me white despite my heritage.

 

President Obama is physically "black," and self-identifies as "black," and so he is black. It is not immediately evident that he is biracial, so if people didn't know him (and for most of his life, he was not widely known) they would most likely treat him as a black person (which for a good chunk of his life, meant that he may have often been treated unfairly). And even now that most people know he is biracial, he is mostly treated as a black man. He tells his own stories of shop-keepers paying special attention to him, and people locking their car doors, as he walked by. He's been treated by society as black, and so he is black. And he accepts that.

Your opinion on whether or not he is black is of no consequence, really.

 

Bi racial is only a term to express that you are indeed mixed with multiple races , but it's no where near a designation, I wish me and my siblings could've just had a little disclaimer on our backsides when we were younger that said, "Treat with Caution: Bi racial" but it doesn't work like that, in the real world you're categorized by your skin color first and who you are second. Might not be like this for everybody , but for some of us it's a reality. I'm comfortable with who I am so it's no big deal at the end of the day.

 

No one gives a crap on whether you embrace it or not. That's just you being your ignorant self. The point is, biracials can identify themselves as whatever they want! YOU don't get to decide on what they are or what they're not.

 

He is not physically black. Any Kenyan can see see he is mixed-raced from a miles away. He is not treated by society like black. Mixed raced black benefit from a certain amount of white privilege. From mixed raced women being considered as more beautiful to darked skinned men getting harsher prisong sentences than their light skinned counterparts. Studies also show that a majority of Americans identify Obama as mixed raced first
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...s-not-black-heres-why-that-pew-poll-is-wrong/

 

How is being factual ignorant?
You are the ignorant one embracing racist hypodescent and other one-drop rule.

 

I think President Obama is the authority on whether or not he has been treated as a black person in America. And based on his own writings, he seems quite convinced that this is how he has been predominately treated. And he has accepted that, and self-identified as black. It's part of his identity. Your opinion on it really doesn't matter at all.

This is not a scientific discussion. Yes, President Obama is of mixed race parentage. And many Americans, both those with very dark skin and those with very dark skin, have mixed race backgrounds, whether they know it or not. But tomost Anericans, President Obama looks black. And so he is primarily treated that way. And this has shaped President Obama's identity.

That is beyond dispute.

 

Careful. This is straying dangerously close to boiling point and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Discuss the topic in a civilised manner and not each other.

 

Predident O

President Obama is not a black man, he's lived the life and struggle of a mixed raced man. The truth is that in a society that values whiteness the closer you are to their phenotype the more privileges you get. I have never claimed that mixed races people don't face racism but they also benefit from a certain amount of white privilege. An exemple is dark skinned black men and women get harsher prison sentence than light skin ones. Back to Hollywood, just search Black British Actresses in google - 90% of them are mixe raced. It's as much a coincidence as the 90% lead roles given to white men. Hollywood is more comfortable casting actresses like Gugu Mbatha-raw than someone like Viola Davies who by the way has talked numerous times of the discrimination she faced as a dark skinned black woman. People feel uncomfortable talking about race and colorism in society but it's a reality.