TV Discussion Homosexuality in Star Wars Television

@QUIGONMIKE

Yeah, it's one thing to not agree with homosexuality, but do not start trying to bait or troll other people because you don't agree.

 

Good lord...

 

Human characters with major/semi-major speaking parts in the first two trilogies (the focal point of each trilogy in bold):

Qui-Gon Jinn
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Anakin Skywalker
Palpatine
Dooku
Luke Skywalker
Owen Lars
Tarkin
Han Solo

Padmé Amidala
Shmi Skywalker
Leia Organa

Mace Windu
Panaka
Lando Calrissian
Jango Fett


Add to this that almost every non-human speaking character is male.

I'll just leave that there for you to ponder.

What are you even talking about? Has anyone in here argued that Star Wars should focus on sex or sexual preferences?
I get that you want things to occur organically, which is what we all would like, but you know, every time a character is established as being or doing something, whatever it is, the brains behind the story have made a deliberate choice. Cliegg freeing Shmi to marry her - choice. Luke's foster parents being a man and a woman - choice. Leia hooking up with Han - choice. Jabba forcing Leia into a metal bikini - choice. Anakin and Han teaching us that "no" sometimes means "yes" - choice.
None of these things just happen, nothing is purely organic. The trick is to make it appear, on screen, as though it just happens. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But that's not the point. The point is that inclusivity matters and that it needs to keep expanding. And that it will keep expanding, no matter how much we argue about it in this thread.

 

I guess if SW remains a good, entertaining show then thats what I care about. We can all choose to watch it or not. If it meets our needs then we watch. If not, we skip it. There is so much content anyways that anyone can find a good chunk of content to watch and enjoy. All good. Lets leave it at that. Im done pondering this stuff because it never goes well. It ends up too far one way or the other.

 

As usual with these topics, its hard to come across how you'd like to without it getting off track. Sorry. Alls I want is good star wars content as its mostly been up until now. I use it to escape and to be entertained. Thats all. Im not homophobic. Everyone knew how much Han and Leia loved each other and they never went overboard with affection on screen so in essence their sexuality wasnt featured either. Stay with whats worked. Right?

 

Like I said, hard to say what ya mean here and have ti come off right. Go ahead and have whatever characters you'd like in Star Wars. Just dont go overboard or make it about that just for the sake of it. I hope that makes sense. I didnt mean to imply I didnt want gay characters in SW. I dont personally see what it adds but it also is true that it shouldnt detract from it either. So yeah, whatever has to happen. If its good content then I'll watch. Period!

 

I removed that from my post, my bad. No one did. Hence, removed.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

@QUIGONMIKE

Please don't double post. I'm aware that you removed it, but I would also recommend that you don't bring up NSFW subjects on these forums as that also goes against our rules.

 

I'm tired of hearing this. Same-sex couples are no more "sexual" than heterosexual couples. To say otherwise implies that same-sex love isn't really love, just lust. Which is blatantly untrue. If you have no problem seeing a man and a woman with feelings for each other, then you should have no problem with a man and another man or a woman and another woman being romantically interested in each other. And I don't know how you can't see why representation matters for a group that are only now starting to see themselves represented prominently in media.

 

Always this defense "it's a fantasy". It's not pure fantasy. I loved Star Wars as a kid because I identified with Luke, earnest whiny nerdy kid who wanted to grow and learn, but also white, blonde and straight, and a bit short, I identified with that, even though they didn't give Jedi classes at my school. And many girls identified with Leia, (but I don't think they made them any favors with the slave bikini scenes, they were someone else's entertainment). The "cool" people at school felt more for Han.

I definitely feel that there should be points of identification for all kinds of people, art without points of identification, what is it?
Math rock?
Also, gratuitous hetero injection is everywhere, was there ever a hetero scene in the Indy movies that didn't feel kind of tacked on?
(all IMO, of course)

 

I dont see what I said implying that same-sex love isnt love. I just felt if the sexuality of the character isnt featured or highlighted then it ends up not mattering. There are plenty of characters in film where we dont really see them in a relationship and have no idea about the preferences. It doesnt help or hurt the movie or character though. Something like that.

Sorry - gotta push back here: Leia in the Jabba palace outfit represented all that was good in my early years. . Just having some fun here, dont hate me.

Nah, there shouldnt be any reason for any strict math but having some LBGT characters shouldnt be a problem. I never rallied against such a thing. I just didnt want it to be the main focus of a character because thats not what Star Wars is to me. Lets see how it plays out or what they do.

 

A story always reveals something about the standpoint of the writer and writing process - and this will not be all-inclusive because it is one story, at one point in time, based on a small group's ideas (or even just one powerful person).

And that is to be tolerated/enjoyed. The OT, PT and ST are pretty much heteronormative space opera. (And probably other kinds of normative story-telling too - e.g., mostly white folks). And as regards hetero relationships, they were not written brilliantly let's face it...

Anyway, having other kinds of voices and perspectives (e.g., more women, LGBTQ, BAME) in the space opera would be brilliant. This means having more diversity in the writers and manufacturing of a good SW story - not merely writing for novelty.

And such stories created in this way may better connect with the actual diversity of the audience, and connect differently for others.

SW can keep its space opera core, and it can have its mythic elements, but SW can be updaed for the 21st century.

(Thank you, L3...)

 

eye feel star wars shined when the relationships just didn't exist .. yeah han and leia flirted but they werent all married like in the sequels .. han and chewie probably shared a few cold nights together .. kenobi and the wretched liam neisen spent a lot of time alone with their lightsaber training .. even the sith always had a young apprentice like prince putting out albums by his girlfriends cuz he could .. what was great is that for the most part it had none of that mushy romantic family baby crap until the prequels came along .. i say nothing ruins a great show quicker than when they put babies in the movie .. ugh .. and yeah that includes muppet baby yoda and bb8 .. but yeah .. forcing relationships and families into all the extra crap that came kinda took a lot of the fonzie or han coolness factor out .. is mando 3 gonna have diaper changing ?? i think everything works better when it is subtle .. gay or strait or whatever .. i mean .. just try to watch mad max .. its everywhere

 

Personally, I don't think Disney have the ##### to do a full-on same sex relationship with humans in the SW galaxy. I think we will get it (already had it, actually, in Resistance), but for now I think it will be non-human in nature.

 

I think it'll happen soon, in one of the many series coming our way, mostly because there are just so many and there will be countless new characters as a result. The comics and novels are at this point normalizing gay relationships at a healthy rate. And other genre shows are doing the same. At this point, SW and other genre properties are just pretty comfortable with it as are general audiences. The so-called fans who *aren't* comfortable with it? I think the creatives at this point know that there's no point in even trying to please those people. Even if (for whatever reason) SW doesn't just go ahead and put a same-sex couple onscreen, the toxic fandom will still get upset about some other random supposedly "SJW" stuff anyway, such as the very existence of Rose Tico or half a line of dialogue from Lando that threatens their masculinity, or whatever the **** else taps into their reptilian brains. In the face of that, I sometimes have to admire the restraint of the LFL creatives for not going "you know what, screw it, everyone's canonically gender swapped now, deal with it".

 

We had that like 1 second shot in TROS that is literally it when it comes to the live action movies or shows

 

Just had a quick browse through this thread as it's near the top of the forum, very sad to see some homophobia, but not surprising.

I'm a 32 year old straight white man, one of the most influential figures in my life is my 85 year old Great Uncle - he is a gay man and has always been out and proud - this is despite it being illegal when he was a young man; in fact homosexuality wasn't legal in the UK until he was in his 30's!
I've the upmost admiration for the strength of character and courage my Great Uncle has had to show throughout his life to just be his authentic self.

It's crazy to me that in 2021 we're still discussing about if/how gay characters should be represented. "not agreeing" with homosexuality is homophobia, make no mistake.
Personally I'd loved to have seen a Poe/Finn romance in the sequel trilogy and I'm really hopeful that eventually Doctor Aphra gets a live action outing and they don't just sidestep her sexuality. I wasn't a fan of the shallow tokenistic homosexual kiss at the end of TROS and it was even more disappointing that LFL/Disney decided to edit it out for certain audiences.

Star Wars is for everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or religion.