# People "boycotting" New Star Wars Film on Racial Grounds **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295 "2015-10-20T23:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/21 "2015-10-21T04:48:45Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Maybe not, but I’d pay good money to see Tarantino direct a Star Wars movie. For real. The guy’s all about '70s cinema, right? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/22 "2015-10-21T04:49:05Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s a troll from the 4chan board /pol/, well-known (among the people who know these things) for being full of people who pretend to be Nazis to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. Most of them aren’t pretending. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/23 "2015-10-21T07:55:49Z")
Racist is as racist does. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/24 "2015-10-21T08:53:01Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Most of them aren’t pretending. Yeah, anybody who voluntarily invests the time and effort to make up the sort of racist spew quoted over at the [We Hunted the Mammoth blog post on this topic](http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2015/10/20/racists-trump-fans-and-chuck-c-johnson-join-together-in-boycottstarwarsvii-crusade/#more-18518) is not functionally distinct from actual racists. At best, they may be indulging in a sort of Schroedinger’s Racism, where racist remarks are either kidding/trolling or sincere depending on whether or not they get a negative reaction. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/25 "2015-10-21T11:31:27Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Poe’s Law, man. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Well, he was a dick. And the Raven was a crappy poem. What sucks is that “The Raven” _could have been_ a great poem, but Poe caved to political correctness and made the Raven black. This is why, whenever I see a studio trying to play into “diversity” b.s., I always say “That’s so Raven!” ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/26 "2015-10-21T11:35:15Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > What sucks is that “The Raven” _could have been_ a great poem, but Poe caved to political correctness and made the Raven black. > This is why, whenever I see a studio trying to play into “diversity” b.s., I always say “That’s so Raven!” Bravo. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/27 "2015-10-21T11:48:08Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > For real. The guy’s all about '70s cinema, right? I’m not sure I’m up for lingering close-up shots of Carrie Fisher’s feet. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/28 "2015-10-21T12:07:00Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Yeah, [good white people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temuera_Morrison#/media/File:Tem_Morr.jpg) like Temuera Morrison! > > Canon is something like: cloning was used to create an army quick, but by the time of the original trilogy they were mostly hired normals, with a small clone group. It makes sense (in a nerd rage way) to complain about him not looking like Morrison if you didn’t understand the fact, just as it is to complain about siblings being different races in the Fantastic Four, but any somewhat legitimate complaint is drowned about by the racist crazies who are louder. I feel that people keep missing the joke. So now I’m going to [explain it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Unchained) and ruin it entirely. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/29 "2015-10-21T12:29:14Z")
It’s unfortunate that due to racism “The Force Awakens” will only make $1.4 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/30 "2015-10-21T12:30:08Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s a troll from the 4chan board /pol/, well-known (among the people who know these things) for being full of people who pretend to be Nazis to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. They think it’s just massive amounts of fun to see all the Outrage!!! (fake and real) over what a bunch of people on the Internet say. Except many (most ?) aren’t even pretending and are doing it on a “ha ha, only for serious” basis. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/31 "2015-10-21T12:32:48Z")
Once upon a midnight showing, while the trailers still were sowing Operatic space scenes, glowing long ago and far away, While I applauded future viewing, still inside my thoughts were stewing O’er white genocide accruing, ruing cultural dismay; “’Tis a marxist trick,” I muttered, “forcing such diverse display “Long ago and far away…” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/32 "2015-10-21T12:52:38Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I feel that people keep missing the joke. So now I’m going to [explain it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Unchained) and ruin it entirely. Yeah, I totally missed it. _slow clap_ ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/33 "2015-10-21T14:04:33Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > the stormtroopers are not clone > > the prequels aren’t canon Right on the first sentence, wrong on the second. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/34 "2015-10-21T15:45:38Z")
Never mind that there is a black guy in the movie. Did you see the women? When are white guys going to catch a break? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/35 "2015-10-21T15:50:06Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Right on the first sentence, wrong on the second. I see an 800 post long fight getting ready to start. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/36 "2015-10-21T16:08:49Z")
Black Stormtrooper!? Why, the one last thing remaining a white guy could count on is getting the part of a Nazi, until now. ☹ And talk about your white genocides, they only go around blowing up the white people planets. No one would blow up the yoda people planets or Hut people because that would be “racist.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/37 "2015-10-21T16:25:02Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s unfortunate that due to racism “The Force Awakens” will only make $1.4 billion. What? You’re not counting in the toys? ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/38 "2015-10-21T16:29:04Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s a troll from the 4chan board /pol/, well-known (among the people who know these things) for being full of people who pretend to be Nazis to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. They think it’s just massive amounts of fun to see all the Outrage!!! (fake and real) over what a bunch of people on the Internet say. Definitely my take, that it is mostly manufactured outrage. In the original series you had Lando played by Bill D Williams, not to mention James Earl Jones doing the voice of Vader. I’m too young to know, but I’ve never heard of any complaints about either of them. Leia was obviously in a leading role (though essentially the only woman, with Mon Mothma being the only other woman), and even though she starts out as the archetypal damsel in distress (by needing to be rescued), she was always a strong character, being that she only got captured by being a leader in the rebellion. There’s some diversity in the prequels, but, well, there’s obviously some racism complaints there, notably Watto. Regardless, a big theme in Star Wars is that all these different races are able to work together. So here, seeing a strong female lead… it just sort of seems like she’s potentially a mash-up of Luke and Leia, so not all that different from the original trilogy. And, with the running theories that Kylo Ren is either her brother or cousin, and probably not pure evil himself, it’s not much different. So, between those two, Finn and Poe, we’re not even all that different from the original cast in terms of diversity. So, yeah… almost certainly just manufactured outrage, getting blown out of proportion by people in the media, or a handful of racists, trying to ride on the wave of Star Wars hype following the trailer. Especially since this same issue has come up similarly since Boyega’s casting was announced. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/39 "2015-10-21T16:40:04Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s a troll from the 4chan board /pol/, well-known (among the people who know these things) for being full of people who pretend to be Nazis to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. They think it’s just massive amounts of fun to see all the Outrage!!! (fake and real) over what a bunch of people on the Internet say. I saw someone on Facebook describe this as being “too good to be true” when she heard that this was just douchebags trolling instead of douchebag racists. It was as though she was disappointed that people weren’t the awful racists she was hoping that they were. There was also a story about a guy who committed suicide because of the black characters in the new Star Wars that went viral for awhile yesterday despite being obviously fake, but everyone so wanted to believe that it was true. I thought this was odd. There was this genuine desire to be outraged. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/40 "2015-10-21T17:02:08Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > I saw someone on Facebook describe this as being “too good to be true” when she heard that this was just douchebags trolling instead of douchebag racists. It was as though she was disappointed that people weren’t the awful racists she was hoping that they were. There was also a story about a guy who committed suicide because of the black characters in the new Star Wars that went viral for awhile yesterday despite being obviously fake, but everyone so wanted to believe that it was true. > > I thought this was odd. There was this genuine desire to be outraged. Have you never been disappointed that an outrageous story wasn’t true? It’s not a desire to be outraged. It’s being sad you can’t point and laugh at the stupidity. Like when I found out that Sarah Palin didn’t actually say that stuff about seeing Russian from her house. Yes, it was nice that the VP candidate wasn’t that stupid. But it would have been hilarious if it were true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295.md?page=3)