Star Wars and the #Diversity Problem

Pop Culture Discourse
Nov 5 · 14 min read

Star Wars has an issue with diverse representation. While seemingly none of entertainment media is safe from the terrors of ‘cancel culture,’ Star Wars is occupying a particularly intense pressure to diverge away from the typical white-male dominant model in Hollywood. This is because the message of diversity was a key tool in how the property marketed itself while unveiling their new brand subsidized within the Disney Company. It is because of this choice to invoke diversity in their initial unveiling that the issue has continued to haunt Lucasfilms Ltd. (LFL) to this day. While an exact date is difficult to pin down, it was some time between the 2012 Disney acquisition deal and the 2015 release of The Force Awakens, that the decisions were made to have the lead protagonists in the new sequel trilogy not be white men. And this is where the trouble began.

Perhaps LFL didn’t realize what they were getting into. Or perhaps they figured they would handle the issues as they came. But regardless of what they thought then of the diversity issue, time has consistently shown that they were and continue to be entirely unprepared to handle the responsibility that diversity carries, or to manage all the racism, sexism, and standard vitriol that tends to come along with it. Many are disappointed, albeit for different reasons, with the representation of Black and Asian characters that have been introduced in the sequel trilogy, while others experience the shift towards diversity as a threat and push back against the new characters. The current strategy employed by LFL appears to be staying silent and waiting while things blow over. However, this strategy is a poor decision, especially in today’s responsive and increasingly interactive media environment.

The most recent hashtags used to draw attention to the issue of representation in Star Wars has been #WheresFinn and #WheresRose. Both are in reference to two of the new characters created for the sequel trilogy, where Finn debuted in 2015 in Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and Rose appeared for the first time in Episode IIX: The Last Jedi. They probably won’t sound as familiar as the hashtag they are both calling back to: #WheresRey went viral in early 2016 and was a public response to Rey being left out of certain key merchandise items, in particular a Star Wars themed Monopoly game, and a toy figure set. The participation became so large for #WheresRey that several major news outlets covered the controversy. Hasbro’s official statement for her exclusion was that they didn’t want to spoil the ending, but many didn’t buy this excuse and made compelling cases for why, spoilers or not, representation of Rey in Star Wars Merchandise was important. Notably, Caroline Framke for Vox wrote about the hashtag,

“But even if you argue that Finn and Rey are equally important to The Force Awakens, it doesn’t make sense for Hasbro to omit Rey from Force Awakens merchandise, given her prominence in the movie. And it especially doesn’t make sense in instances where Finn is included but Rey is not. Doing so reeks suspiciously of sexism” (Jan 9, 2016).

Similarly, Joshua Rivera for GQ wrote,

“The omission of female superheroes in particular is an old problem, and one that’s become increasingly apparent and egregious over the last year, as superhero movies have gained popularity among men and women alike and featured women in more and more prominent roles. But you wouldn’t be able to tell from a walk down the toy aisle. Which is a real shame — these are movies for kids. Remember how their faces light up in the theater? It’d be nice if they could experience that in the toy store too. Both boys and girls” (January 5, 2016).

This avalanche of press coverage made loud enough what many had been already feeling: that our entertainment environment is simply better when more people feel included and can enjoy it with us. It was a moving and joyous experience in the months following The Force Awakens because although toy manufacturers had minimized Rey’s presence in some merchandise, it was loud and clear that people wanted things to change; They wanted more Rey.

The response to #WheresRey was so abrupt and powerful that while few official statements were released on the subject, it appears both manufacturers and marketers adjusted the ways they were portraying women characters as swiftly as is possible in toy manufacturing. When new waves of merchandise filled the shelves, Rey was not only there, she was always centered. Marketers had listened when the public said they would pay for Rey. Thanks to the veracity of the #WheresRey campaign, we no longer have to ask where she is because we know: she is front and center as the hero and protagonist.

What is probably the most perplexing aspect of the #WheresRey campaign is not how universal the appeals to inclusion felt, but how quickly they became irrelevant when they were applied to characters of more historically excluded demographics: notably the Black man character of Finn, and the Asian woman character of Rose. Because when reading those 2016 pieces about #WheresRey, it’s not difficult to imagine changing the name and categories to apply the argument to little Black boys and little Asian girls, but the impact has not been the same. The hashtag for #WheresRose has reached some level of prominence, however neither hashtags have approached the impact that the hashtag had for Rey.

And this is where the unfortunate part of the story begins: In an unequal world all is not fair in media, representation, and fandom. And hashtag campaigns, as well as people’s awareness of oppression in their entertainment media, don’t always match the severity of the representations in question. And by this I mean: the representations of both Finn and Rose have fielded a more hazardous environment from both the public as well as LFL employees than the exclusion Rey’s character experienced following the release of TFA. Yet many experience trepidation when it comes to speaking out about these other characters. Why might that be?

While this might come as a surprise to some, the #WheresFinn hashtag is not a new phenomenon. The first instances of the tag being used in regard to Star Wars began around the same time that #WheresRey did, in January of 2016, immediately following the release of the film. One Tweet published on January 9, 2016 mentioned both hashtags in regard to character placement on merchandise.

Written for the Star Wars Shadow Council this past October, contributor The Mandalorian Wolf wrote about the history of #WheresFinn by tracing the movement back to before the first Sequel Trilogy even released: to the time where Twitter users began the hashtag, #BoycottStarWarsVII, in response to the casting of Black British actor John Boyega in the role of Finn [x]. Daniel White Hodge and Joseph Boston also delve into this movement in their chapter, The Racism Awakens, where they discussed the swell of racism that was expressed throughout 2015 in response to a Black man being cast as a storm trooper. They write,

“You would have thought that God had rewritten the Bible and had now made up with Satan. Star Wars fan responses were an intriguing form of racism to watch. For many years racism had not been a topic of discussion regarding Star Wars, outside of the very limited use of Black characters by Lucas in the original trilogy and prequels. But when the first trailers for The Force Awakens began to emerge in 2014, some members of the Star Wars fan base simply lost their racial minds” (p. 78).

As White Hodge, Boston, and The Mandalorian Wolf point out, we as a culture have largely forgotten about this movement and the level of vitriol that was expressed at John Boyega’s expense. The Where is Finn? article shares many uncomfortable screenshots of posts across social media platforms that made clear the message that having a Black man cast in Star Wars was a direct threat.

It feels easy to forget this ugly mark in time. After all, those #boycottStarWarsVII advocates largely lost: The Force Awakens went on to be one of the highest grossing films of the time. Their so-called boycott failed to keep people from supporting the film. However, despite this apparent victory, the issue was never actually addressed by anyone at LFL or Disney. There was no public response to the outcry, nor were there any plans announced that would attempt to curtail such harassment towards the actors or characters in the future. The consequences of this absence of action is as far reaching as it is repetitive.

One of the consequences appears to be that the racist outcry against Boyega was somewhat effective; that these protestors may have gotten their message across to the creators at LucasFilm, and that they not only heard the backlash, they listened. The Mandalorian Wolf points out that Finn’s representation in Star Wars post TFA has shifted so dramatically from the initial marketing campaign, that the result appears to be exactly what the racists wanted: for Finn, the character played by a Black actor, to be pushed to the side and erased if possible. He explains,

“ From being one of the central characters in all of the marketing, merchandise, advertising, and basically present and in full view of everything ST related, to slowly being forcibly pushed way into the back and made small enough on posters, merchandise, and media coverage at times that you actually need to zoom in or hunt down a trusty magnifying glass to find him.”

Remember when Finn was marketed as the force sensitive Jedi of the Sequel Trilogy?

The effect of this progression, regardless of intentions from fans and creators, is clear: racists are made uncomfortable by the presence of a Black man in Star Wars, so to remedy this discomfort, his representations have been shifted to that of a less threatening side-character.

Most people don’t realize that there is an issue with Finn’s representation in Star Wars. Many have forgotten that John Boyega’s Finn was originally marketed as the lead lightsaber wielding co-hero of the franchise, therefore they fail to see the discrepancy between the marketing for the character now in 2019 and the original campaign launched in late 2014. The effect of viewing 2015-era marketing with present-day The Rise of Skywalker marketing is shocking. The character that began as a co-protagonist and was frequently pictured in the center frame alongside Rey has now been downgraded in the marketing to a side supporting character, that is if he is included in the montage at all.

The Juxtaposition of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy: “Where’s Waldo” for Finn, and later Rose. The image on the left caused particular controversy when initial leaked images had excluded both Finn and Rose. The artist later added Rose post hoc to the montage to address fans concerns with her absence.

This makes the narrative of the #WheresFinn hashtag complicated, and it takes on a history of it’s own. While the hashtag was used as early as 2016, it has been called upon numerous times since then in a plea to draw attention to the problematic ways the character is being represented in the franchise.

An example of the #WheresFinn hashtag being used as early as June 2016 in regards to the way he was being represented by LFL.

At best, people are unaware that there is even an issue. At worst, some misunderstand the history of the character and subsequent advocacy for antiracist representation. For example, a LucasFilm employee recently tweeted that the #WheresFinn hashtag was “designed to trivialize the very noble #WheresRose campaign.”* While he later apologized and retracted his statement, the implication was alarming. Was this a commonly held belief, that the two hastags, #WheresFinn and #WheresRose, only existed because of fan infighting and whataboutism? If this is the case, then it could hinder any awareness both hashtags seek to draw to the issue of racist representation by reducing both to petty fandom infighting.

But the fact of the matter is that the issue of Finn and Rose’s representation in Star Wars does not begin with the fans. It doesn’t even begin with hashtags. It begins with LFL, because just like when the company was silent on the racist backlash against John Boyega’s casting, so too were they silent when another actor became a target of racist harassment: Kelly Marie (Loan) Tran. After the second installment of the sequel trilogy was released, it was as if history were to repeat itself. Just like the backlash John Boyega was initially subjected to, now Tran and her character, Rose, were the target. The amount of online harassment she experienced on social media led to her decision to leave social media in the summer of 2018, and later spoke out about it the following August (x). Again, LFL and Disney were silent on the issue.

The history of the #WheresRose campaign is longer than most realize as well. After director Rian Johnson introduced Rose Tico’s character at the 2017 Star Wars Celebration Convention panel for The Last Jedi as “having the biggest new part in [TLJ]” fans were excited to learn more about the first Asian woman character to ever play a substantial role in the franchise (40:35). The problem was, aside from that initial introduction at the convention, she was largely absent from any and all promotional material leading up to the film. And while this led to some bittersweet jokes on social media, the truth is that less than a month until TLJ was due to come out and Rose still had yet to be featured in any kind of trailer or poster.

It did not go unnoticed that Rose was missing from TLJ promotional material.

This year, however, during the run up for The Rise of Skywalker, the final film in the new sequel trilogy, Rose’s absence gained more traction, more tweets, and more attention from mainstream media outlets.

The tag gained increased popularity, and many seemed to take notice. Many, except of course LFL themselves. And this is ultimately the crux of the issue: with those who have the power to shape the representations they distribute: The 2,000-ish people who work for LFL. And while analyzing the comparative popularity of various characters hashtags may seem tempting, at the end of the day it is a fools errand. A distraction, an assumption that there is only so much representation that can be doled out, and therefore we as fans must fight over it. This is false. Through their decisions and actions, the message shared by LucasFilm is that representation matters, but not all representations matter equally.

While it felt really good to experience the outpouring of support for Rey in 2016, a false goalpost was erected through the #WheresRey campaign: that a demographic is only deserving of respectful and abundant representation when they can justify it with brute popularity. This is, of course, silly! LFL has their own resources that they can dedicate towards investing in how they can best handle the task of diversity. Social scientists, media researchers, and racial studies experts exist and they are available for LFL to learn from. Yet LFL does not invest in this way. For Lucasfilm, diversity is a handy marketing quip that can be used to grab goodwill among consumers, but it’s not a goal actually worth working towards.

With so many hashtags being created for various characters in the franchise, it can be easy to become overwhelmed and lose sight of a larger picture. And that larger message is: Lucasfilm, Star Wars, and Disney, have a massive weakness when it comes to handling diversity for the franchise in a responsible, respectful, and most of all effective manner. If LucasFilm has actual policies on how they have been handling the racist backlash, it might do them good to share it, for no other reason than to reassure fans that there is a plan to begin with. The general consensus seems to be, ‘racists gonna racist,’ and that there’s nothing to be done about the situation than to ignore them and hope they go away.

To make matters worse, the lurking suspicion is not only that there isn’t a plan, but that those in charge at LucasFilm are oblivious to there being an issue with race and diversity at all. No one seems to realize that the call may be coming from inside the house, so to speak. In addition to managing racist backlash, the company has done nothing to demonstrate that they are committed to portraying their characters in respectful, dignifying, and antiracist ways. Of course, this is not to imply that anyone who works at LFL is a practicing ‘racist’, but rather that the cultural imperative of white supremacy permeates all of our lives, and if we aren’t actively fighting against the current of racism, we allow it to flow around us unimpeded. This is so important not only for everyone to learn, but it is paramount for a media production company — those that create our fantastical escapes and stories — to be aware of it and account for it. To date, LFL has demonstrated that this is not one of their commitments.

I would like to conclude and leave you with two final thoughts: The first are the words of Darlena Cunha, who wrote for Time about #WheresRey in 2016. But I want to alter the quote a little bit, to see how our perception changes when we adjust the demographics of the appeals:

“When [Finn] toys are not in stock, or worse, when they’ve never been made, kids may internalize that to mean they must not be that important. Kids are fast to believe that what they like may not be in line with what they should like and to adapt what they like. No one wants to be the odd man out in their pre-teen years. And so, without public indignation, another generation is at the risk of growing up thinking [black men] [Asian women] simply aren’t as big a deal as [white men].

Little [Asian] girls need to see themselves as heroes. Little [Black boys] need to see that they can grow up to be powerful and good. Little [Asian] girls deserve a chance to imagine strength and perseverance in their own gender. They deserve someone to look up to.

Just as important, so do little boys. Little boys need to see that women are strong and fierce, and that women characters are just as magnetic as men characters. And they need confirmation of their inner monologue when they see a movie that shows just that. The merchandise should match that experience.” [x]

What is so extraordinary about this piece is that it’s not only true for Rey and little girls — It’s true for little Black boys to see themselves as heroes, and it’s important for others to recognize that a Black man and an Asian woman can be heroic. Positive representation does not end with gender, and the possibilities that properties like Star Wars could offer young children are prolific. It does no one any good to ignore the fact that some groups of people receive a disproportionate amount of positive representations while others receive little to none.

GE recently released a Star Wars themed advertisement portraying a young biracial girl finding representation in Rey’s character. The feeling of the ad is that when everyone feels represented, things become that much more meaningful. The problem presently facing Star Wars is the question of whether they will commit to diversity, or whether they are only invested in a specific type (White women) of diversity.

The recent Star Wars GE advertisement features a young biracial girl seeing herself being reflected back in Rey’s character.

Diversity is an issue that Star Wars has a responsibility investing in, because people repeatedly look to the property to understand themselves and their place in the world around them. Entertainment is a tool that can provide adventure and fantasy while at the same time delivering truth and meaning. So when will Star Wars answer the call to reflect more than one type of identity?

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