CNNÂ is reporting that a social media movement is calling for fans to boycott Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, due in theaters December 18.
While most fans lauded the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, a small faction has attacked the films ethnic diversity, labeling it as a ploy to promote white genocide. Though lead by a small faction, the boycott has gained national media attention due to the #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag that trended Monday on Twitter.
One Twitter user called for the boycott of the movie “because it’s nothing more than a social justice propaganda piece that alienates it’s (sic) core audience of young white males.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens features new courageous lead characters, played by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, as well as some familiar faces from the original trilogy. Boyega is African American, while Isaac has Guatemalan and Cuban ancestry.
The #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag was then taken up by supporters of the film’s diversity who mocked the racist sentiments of the hashtags originators.
Director J.J. Adams spoke of the need for diversity in the Star Wars Franchise in an interview in San Diego last year saying, “I think it’s important people see themselves represented in film. I think it’s not a small thing.”
This controversy demonstrates that these so-called Star Wars “fans” are not well versed in the franchise’s history. Even the earliest Star Wars films had leading black cast members. In fact, the character Darth Vader was voiced by African American actor James Earl Jones. Billy Dee Williams starred as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Samuel L. Jackson played Jedi Master Mace Windu in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999). All of these characters were wildly popular with fans.
For information visit CNN.
This post was written by Reginald Calhoun. He is a senior Mass Media Arts major at Clark Atlanta University. Follow him on Twitter @IRMarsean and on Instagram @Les_geaux_jawn.
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