How Disney Missed an Opportunity to Keep Star Wars Relevant.
Blog Post — June 23, 2021
THE SCRIBBLE —
We are more than familiar with the premise of the Star Wars franchise.The Jedi, the Empire, the "force," etc... Star Wars is the second highest-grossing movie franchise of all time. Only the Marvel Cinematic Universe edges Star Wars by a mere $9,000,000,000 plus change (I say that sarcastically). There's not really much of a competition considering Walt Disney Studios owns both Marvel and Star Wars franchises, and profits from keeping both realms relevant.
The tricky thing about relevance though, is understanding the need for change and the best timing for "roll-out" of change. Popular culture and popular values are constantly in flux. If you want to ensure that your product is valued by the masses, its imperative to watch and learn from social trends. Not just the short-term fads but the long-term direction and momentum of cultural values like justice, free speech, and diversity. I would argue that Disney passed up an opportunity to improve on both the current state of societal affairs, and the momentum of support for racial justice that has developed over the last six decades.
Disney has an enormous platform and influences billions of people around the globe daily. Without question, Star Wars is one of Disney's most influential franchises. The Skywalker saga in particular has resonated with popular culture since 1977. Although Disney did not purchase Lucasfilm (originator of Star Wars), until 2012, Disney surely did it's research before acquiring the rights to Star Wars. They recognized the power of this cinematic franchise and successfully leveraged this asset to strengthen the Disney brand. What I'm curious to know is what Americans and the rest of western society love so much about Star Wars?
Although the subject matter of Star Wars can be summed up to "good vs evil," There is something more ulterior that speaks to the viewer. Yes, there is wonderful puppetry, ground-breaking sound and visual effects, sci-fi and fantasy, but remember, art always imitates life. Star Wars is known for an abundance of alien characters but let's take a closer look at the human-protagonist family found in every episode; The Skywalkers.
Consisting of 3 distinct trilogies (9 films in total), the Skywalker saga tells the Skywalker family story (Luke, Princess Leia, Anakin, etc...). But what's more interesting is that their saga is the focal point of the entire Star Wars universe. Every development in the Star Wars series follows what happens to Luke, Leia, their father Anakin, and every other Skywalker. No matter what takes place throughout the "Galactic Republic," each event is framed by how it affects the Skywalker family; a privileged, entitled, yet dysfunctional lineage with a sordid past..... and yes, of the Caucasoid persuasion.
So what's so powerful about this Skywalker-centered classic? We see that George Lucas developed a winning formula for Star Wars with action, suspense, drama, sci-fi, and even a little horror all rolled into one block-busting series. But what if we removed the whiteness of the Skywalker's family drama from the recipe? Lets say the human-protagonist family were Asian, Black, or Latinx? I would argue that every other element combined would not be able to gain the same level of recognition for Star Wars without reflecting the dominant (white) culture.
It's an exclusionary, systematic process that finds it's roots in the birth of our nation. Simply put, White society loves to watch it's own story on the big screen. It's logical for Disney to cater to it's customer base and yes, they are an entertainment hub that capitalizes on the creative works of George Lucas (Creator of the original Star Wars), Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios president), and other producers. So from a business standpoint, It's makes sense to produce what your customers want to purchase.
If Disney's research tells them to cast traditional, westernized characters (white), that's what they will do because money talks. But staying relevant requires more that just protecting profits. You have to 1. watch the present, 2. learn from the past, and 3. predict the future all at once. Unfortunately, Disney didn't do the best job of #3 when it released The Rise of Skywalker (2019). To Disney's credit, #3 is truly the most difficult to perform but not getting it right will cost you.
Disney is not as relevant as it could be because it failed to give artistic voice to the current social climate, Disney could have made their platform "matter." In 2015, Disney took a step forward with Finn's debut in The Force Awakens. Finn (John Boyega), a black character who played a major role in the first installment of the sequel trilogy, was a move towards relevance. It showed that Disney was paying attention and that black lives mattered enough to play a starring role in a 40-year movie tradition that previously ignored diversity in staring roles. With The Force Awakens being the the first installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, there was ample opportunity for Finn to be written in as a legitimate Jedi.
Instead, Disney decided to diminish Finn's potential and follow the path of least resistance by making Rey Skywalker the only focal point. This was disappointing for those who have been paying attention to the Star Wars franchise ever since Samuel L. Jackson played the role of Jedi Master Mace Windu in The Clone Wars (2008) prequel. Disney had an opportunity with the final Skywalker installment to bring conscientiousness to its viewers in the era of Black Lives Matter. Movies have been speaking to the "spirit of the times" since the beginning of cinematic arts. Just look at Wizard of Oz (1939) or Do the Right Thing (1989).
Even John Boyega spoke out regarding Disney's misstep in his Fall 2020 interview with BritishGQ. Boyega was apparently hopeful for an expanded role as "Finn" in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Even though he is destined to move on to bigger and better roles outside of Disney, Boyega had this to say: “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side.”
By no means am I ignoring the financial importance of the "bottom line" or browbeating Disney for not being the world's moral leader in entertainment. What I am saying is that the reward for making your platform matter may at times be intangible but it will always be relevant. Fortunately Disney, by the grace of Marvel Cinematic Universe, got it right with Black Panther. We'll see if they continue to bend the arc of justice and expand their relevance with BP2. We're all watching Kevin Feige!
