# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/81 "2015-10-21T22:35:51Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Whether or not white fragility is significantly on display over Star Wars in the world at large, there is considerable white fragility on display in Rigamarole’s posts. Not in the least - I said from the beginning I’m going to see it anyway. I just don’t adopt the stance that is automatically assumed by most that there’s no such thing as racism against white people. ---
**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, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/82 "2015-10-21T22:51:55Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > The overwhelming majority of white men don’t care and aren’t threatened by this at all. There’s no “white fragility” at play here in any significant way. I think what **Acsenray** meant was what might more properly be called **“whiteness fragility”**. As in, there’s a widespread cultural perception that whiteness or white identity is somehow threatened by **any** decrease in the overwhelming dominance of white people in a culture. This isn’t based solely on a few racists complaining about nonwhite actors in Star Wars, either. Look at the barrage of jokes about renaming the Presidential residence the “Black House” when Obama was elected. Or the constant griping that wealthy developed democratic societies in Europe are “losing their identity” as soon as even a few percent of their population consists of Asian or African immigrants. There is definitely a pervasive attitude that if white people no longer constitute the vast majority and the accepted default within a society, whiteness itself is somehow under attack. **Which is not to say that most individual white people agree with that attitude** or feel significantly threatened by nonwhite people becoming more culturally visible. It’s not white _people_ that are fragile in this sense, but the cultural construct of _whiteness_ itself. (This is similar to the concept of “fragile masculinity” in which, e.g., a guy’s manliness is widely perceived as somehow threatened if he helps his young daughter put on fingernail polish or holds his wife’s purse for her momentarily, etc. It’s not _men_ as individuals who are being fragile here, it’s the cultural construct of _masculinity_, which is apparently so vulnerable that it’s put at risk by men doing even the most innocuous “traditionally un-manly” things.) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/83 "2015-10-21T22:59:07Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Not in the least - I said from the beginning I’m going to see it anyway. I just don’t adopt the stance that is automatically assumed by most that there’s no such thing as racism against white people. Who had argued that there’s no such thing as racism against white people? ---
**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, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/84 "2015-10-21T23:07:13Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Even just going by the “young” leads (Finn, Rey, and Kylo), one of them (Kylo) is being played by a white male. He’s wearing a mask, but he’s still a white male, in addition to the many other white males in the case (including Han Solo who it looks like will be playing a major role, and Max Von Sydow’s character, and Luke Skywalker, though he’s not in the trailer). But Kylo’s a _baddie_!! It’s UNFAIR to expect young white men to watch a movie in which most of the white male lead characters are either old or villains! How dare the filmmakers subject those poor guys to a major action/adventure movie without a young (handsome) white male hero-protagonist for them to identify with?! After all, YOUNG WHITE MEN ACHIEVEMENTS GEEKS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY WE BUILT THE SPACE PROGRAM ARGLE BLURGLE GRSSPTHGLLG SPLK. Seriously though, any over/under on how long it will take before one of these “white genocide” whiners publicly posts a “theory” about how increased racial/gender diversity in major action movie casts is contributing to spree shootings by young white males because now that they have fewer young white male heroes to identify with, they’re more likely to identify with villains? I’ll be **very** surprised if we make it to the actual opening of _Star Wars VII_ without any such steaming pile of crap plopping onto the internet somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/85 "2015-10-21T23:47:26Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I think what **Acsenray** meant was what might more properly be called **“whiteness fragility”**. “Whiteness” perhaps might be a better term, but I have encountered it as “white fragility” and it often comes up when white people declare that they’re being attacked or threatened or subject to racism whenever a discussion about race makes them uncomfortable—the idea that the most important thing in a discussion of race is to avoid saying things or saying them in a way that makes white people feel bad about themselves. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > I just don’t adopt the stance that is automatically assumed by most that there’s no such thing as racism against white people. There are some definitions of race that say that racism only happens when race prejudice is coupled with the political/economic/social power to make the disfavored race suffer. It’s a very specialized definition that I don’t find useful in general conversation. If “racism against white people” means only “prejudice or bias or bigotry against a person based on his or her being white” then yes, of course, there can be racism against white people. The question is when and why and how is “racism against white people” being brought up. As a social/political/economic phenomenon, racism against white people has no power in America. That is to say, there very well might be people who arbor racist attitudes against white people, but the practical effect of such racism is insubstantial. Most often, the idea of racism against white people is brought up as a kind of tu quoque or as an act of petulance. As an issue in discussions of actual harm to people, it is irrelevant, inconsequence, minutiae, and nothing more than a way to derail the conversation. It’s like the nonsense from a few months ago when a handful of people in Hollywood started complaining about prejudice against white actors merely because there were now a tiny number of successful shows headlined by non-white actors or production/creative executives. In the context of this thread, while it is theoretically possible that any film might show evidence of racism against white people, there is no reason to suspect such on the basis of a cast listing whose main characters are not white men, or all of whose characters are not white men. It’s a nonsense suggestion and one that does nothing but make a mockery of the issue of racism. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/86 "2015-10-21T23:55:35Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Not in the least - I said from the beginning I’m going to see it anyway. I just don’t adopt the stance that is automatically assumed by most that there’s no such thing as racism against white people. If there isn’t now, there will be soon, you just be you. Really, you are arguing that an affront to your sense of entitlement is racism; think that one through. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/87 "2015-10-21T23:57:43Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Really, you are arguing that an affront to your sense of entitlement is racism; think that one through. I never argued any such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Construct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/88 "2015-10-22T00:02:33Z")
Star Wars had an exclusively white cast and was a perfect example of what our culture should strive for: whiteness, crypto-fascism and hero worship. This film, however, is just the latest in a long line of Hollywood drivel pushing magical negroes and racemixing on America. The alt-right was totally correct to boycott it. Plus, it got us a ton of attention with virtually no effort. Seriously, a few hundred tweets turned into the top trending hashtag on Twitter. You all hate us anyway, this did nothing but spread our message and give us converts. Thanks, and we’ll be sure to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/89 "2015-10-22T00:11:44Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I never argued any such thing. Actually, you did. You said that > [@Rigamarole](#): > > A film with a huge target demographic of white males not having any white males in it is undeniably racist. In fact, there would be nothing necessarily racist about making a major action/adventure movie that had no white males in it. You are just so used to seeing white males massively overrepresented in such movies, and so invested in the notion that the default human condition in such movies is automatically white male, that the potential absence of white male characters seems to you like a horrible and deliberate insult against white males. In other words, you’re arguing that an affront to your sense of entitlement is racism. ---
**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 22, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/90 "2015-10-22T00:15:01Z")
> [@Construct](#): > > Star Wars had an exclusively white cast and was a perfect example of what our culture should strive for: whiteness, crypto-fascism and hero worship. This film, however, is just the latest in a long line of Hollywood drivel pushing magical negroes and racemixing on America. The alt-right was totally correct to boycott it. See, I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or serious. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/91 "2015-10-22T00:15:59Z")
> [@Construct](#): > > Star Wars had an exclusively white cast and was a perfect example of what our culture should strive for: whiteness, crypto-fascism and hero worship. This film, however, is just the latest in a long line of Hollywood drivel pushing magical negroes and racemixing on America. The alt-right was totally correct to boycott it. > > Plus, it got us a ton of attention with virtually no effort. Seriously, a few hundred tweets turned into the top trending hashtag on Twitter. You all hate us anyway, this did nothing but spread our message and give us converts. Thanks, and we’ll be sure to do it again. Ha-ha, you can’t fool me. I have it on good authority in this thread that the people who talk like that are just 4chan trolls pretending to be Nazis in order to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. I have no idea why you think that’s funny or enjoyable, but at least it’s marginally better than being an _actual_ hateful racist. See you at the _Star Wars VII_ opening night, **Construct**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/92 "2015-10-22T00:27:28Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Ha-ha, you can’t fool me. I have it on good authority in this thread that the people who talk like that are just 4chan trolls pretending to be Nazis in order to rile up anyone who gets riled at these things. [Oops.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=12615318) > [@Construct](#): > > For whatever reason, the United States can easily integrate Europeans but has not successfully integrated Blacks or Hispanics. I don’t want the United States to become another Brazil just to fulfill some fanciful progressive’s dream of a utopia free of White people. […] At this point, the best thing we can do, for a variety of reasons, is to the extent possible preserve ethnic homogeneity among all populations. > [@Construct](#): > > I know leftists hate white people and dream of a beautiful brown future > [@Construct](#): > > The conflation of democracy with The West will lead us to the abyss as we simultaneously destroy faraway lands in the name of freedom and democracy and then welcome the unwashed masses into our homeland. You know what, folks, I think he meant it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Construct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/93 "2015-10-22T00:29:52Z")
Heh. What’s ridiculous, though, is that you can see the [oldest use](http://topsy.com/s?q=%23boycottstarwarsvii&window=a&sort=-date) of the hashtag pretty easily and all of the people who started it are serious racists with thousands of rigidly on-topic tweets and histories going back years. It had totally serious origins. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/94 "2015-10-22T01:34:05Z")
> [@Construct](#): > > Star Wars had an exclusively white cast Bullshit, you white supremacist piece of shit pathetic liar. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/95 "2015-10-22T01:59:52Z")
> [@Construct](#): > > This film, however, is just the latest in a long line of Hollywood drivel pushing magical negroes and racemixing on America. You’ve got your terminology wrong. The Magical Negro is the old wise black guy with no other pressing concerns in his life than to dispense sage advice to mixed-up white guys and finally die a humble but noble death as inspiration to honky to go out and take care of business. John Boyega’s character looks like he’s too busy taking care of business himself to hand out fortune cookie wisdom to space stockbrokers having mid-life crises. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/96 "2015-10-22T02:08:43Z")
[John Boyega reacts to the new trailer.](https://video-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xaf1/v/t42.1790-2/12175098_1512717659052813_1689741510_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjMxMywicmxhIjo1MTIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidjJfNDI2X2NyZl8yM19tYWluXzMuMF9zZCJ9&rl=313&vabr=174&oh=561212d4687c4dd8e122cea7b477cb16&oe=5628655D) That’s adorable, he totally gets his inner 10 year old on, lightsaber moves and all. ---
**Author:** ![Construct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/97 "2015-10-22T02:34:57Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Bullshit, you white supremacist piece of shit pathetic liar. Wow, looks like I should’ve used a trigger warning. Care to tell me what vibrant individuals were in Star Wars (1977)? ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/98 "2015-10-22T02:47:36Z")
> [@Construct](#): > > Wow, looks like I should’ve used a trigger warning. Care to tell me what vibrant individuals were in Star Wars (1977)? You really are rock stupid, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Construct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/99 "2015-10-22T03:04:26Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > You really are rock stupid, aren’t you? I assume you’re chuckling to yourself “He doesn’t even know that Darth Vader was voiced by a black man. What a loser!” Again, Star Wars had white people, fascism, a hero with a thousand faces, etc. It was a great film and a great example of Western culture. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295/100 "2015-10-22T03:16:37Z")
**Contact** , I’m surprised that it appears to be news to you that the actor who voiced Darth Vader beginning with the original 1977 Star Wars, James Earl Jones, is black. So no, “completely white cast” doesn’t apply to that film, even if you only count the lead roles. In other news, popular garbage journalist Charles C. Johnson [offers his own take on the boycott](https://archive.is/U4GYP): > [@](#): > > ANALYSIS: Why #BoycottStarWarsVII Movement Trends on Twitter & They’re Right > > Star Trek is a productive [_sic_] of a white America _whether or not we want to accept it._ […] > > It was white and Jewish-American nerds that put us into space and yet it’s Guatemalan-born (Oscar Isaac), Mexico-born Kenyan (Lupita Nyong’o), and the British-born white girl (Daisy Ridley) and the British-born Nigerian (John Boyega) who get to fight for the Rebel Alliance. > > None of these countries even have a space program. > > Forgive me if this white nerd calls bullshit. […] > > One of the problems of the prequels is how unrelatable the characters were. Sure, part of the problem is the green screen but another unnoticed problem is the lack of Americans in the lineup. […] > > How about some American actors? […] > > Space belongs to the people smart enough to invent rockets and indoor plumbing. It belongs to a frontier people, thank you very much. And now the frontier is flooded with the Third World, drowning out the ambitions of those white nerds. Somehow this nativist rant manages to overlook the fact that the original 1977 Star Wars features the British Alec Guiness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the British Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, the British Kenny Baker as R2-D2, the British Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, the British Shelagh Fraser as Luke’s Aunt Beru, the British Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, the British Alex McCrindle as General Dodonna, the British Eddie Byrne as General Willard, and the British David Prowse as (the physical form of, as opposed to the voice of) Darth Vader. And AFAICT there are at least a dozen other British actors in the cast list in non-named roles. “Space belongs to a frontier people”? Apparently George Lucas didn’t think so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-boycotting-new-star-wars-film-on-racial-grounds/735295.md?page=6)