Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens—non-spoiler discussion

[Impenitent]

So cool! I want to get one of these for my great nephew!

[Alatar]

Nah, this is what I want...

[Impenitent]

But BB-8 had personality!

[Alatar]

Does he fly? Huh? Does he? I don't think so!

[yovargas]

That thing's neat but....isn't it just a regular ol' RC copter with a Falcon shell?

[Primula Baggins]

"Just"? That is so cool!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think this can go in this thread.

[Primula Baggins]

<starts trembling internally and feeling a bit weepy and going OMG OMG OMG>

[River]

Trailer number three.

More Finn, Rey, and Poe. And Han saying something along the lines of "Yeah, all that actually happened." And Leia losing it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And then there is. Really.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... ook_151019

[River]

Eerily reminiscent of the freakout over a female lead in a Mad Max movie. And we all know how that turned out...

[Impenitent]

I can't respond to that hashtag. Must first come to terms with the stupidity and racism it represents.

[Sunsilver]

It made me laugh. This fan's comment just about sums up my feelings:

Lemme get this straight:
Wookies, Ewoks & Droids are fine but a BLACK PERSON is a problem?
Go home.You're Drunk.

Oh yeah, and not to mention Jabba the Hutt, and whatever race Jar Jar Binks was!

Edit: Jar Jar was a Gungan. And Lucas was accused of making him a racial caricature:

Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal described the character as a "Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit on platform hoofs, crossed annoyingly with Butterfly McQueen."[14] Patricia J. Williams suggested that many aspects of Jar Jar's character are highly reminiscent of the archetypes portrayed in blackface minstrelsy,[15] while others have suggested the character is a "laid-back clown character" representing a black Caribbean stereotype.[16][17] George Lucas has denied any racist implications.[18] Ahmed Best also rejected the allegations, saying that "Jar Jar has nothing to do with the Caribbean".[19]

In August 2015, George Lucas stated that Jar Jar had been based on Disney's Goofy.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jar_Jar_Binks

Geez, there's just no pleasing some people...

[Primula Baggins]

I think we're dealing with a bunch of Luke and Han and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn wannabes. The mystic powerful man. Through their filters, the mystic powerful white man, to whose mystic power any other description of being is a threat (so, "powerful"? Alrighty then).

I'm sad that this is happening, but I think they're basically the guys with their faces pressed against the glass. The rest of us will be enjoying something they apparently can't enjoy on terms the rest of us are happy to accept.

[Frelga]

Sadly not surprised. Same people were upset about the handful of Laketown extras in the Hobbit. In general, the angrier that termite heap gets, the more chances that whatever they are protesting is good entertainment.

[yovargas]

Poor, poor white people and their under-representation in big Hollywood movies......

I feel like I've been seeing that "white genocide" idea a lot of late. Such a strange, strange notion.

[Beutlin]

I on the other hand think that this The Hollywood Reporter article is merely a reflection of bad modern journalism. The premise of the article is such a nonstory really. Basically the author just informs us that there are people on the internet that like Star Wars and are racists. I am shocked, utterly shocked! I would have never believed that a hugely popular film franchise such as Star Wars would also attract racists and what baffles me even more is that these people actually have the nerve to voice their opinion on the internet. After all, the internet is known as a place of civil discourse where hate and distrust never became homely.

The Hollywood Reporter goes on to quote specific tweets. I mean this is what passes for journalism these days? There is also strong evidence that the hashtag reached critical mass via 4chan, so that’s that. Now, this might be a proper news story if there was as “Boycott Star Wars” petition which attracted 100K people or if someone prominent had come out as a Star Wars racist (lol) but as it stands today it is just one more of these “some-idiots-on-the-internet-do-not-like-a-certain-upcoming-pop-culture-product” stories. The same was true for “Mad Max” (which was not universally boycotted by all MRAs before it reached the news but got one article on a specific website) and arguably for the original black-storm trooper “outrage”. These news-cycle always work the same:

1. You have got a tiny minority of racists et al. who write angry articles, Tumblr posts, Tweets about an upcoming blockbuster.
2. These opinions are picked up by professional trolls such as 4chan and are raised in prominence.
3. Other Twitter followers eventually become aware of the “story” and voice their opposition to these racists et al.
4. Eventually the media, and sometimes even certain filmmakers, pick up on the story.
5. Everyone feels good about themselves: The racists for exposing “white genocide” (lol) and reaching a wider audience, the trolls for starting the whole controversy, the vast majority of “liberal” Twitter for criticizing racist Twitter, and the filmmakers for successfully politicizing their product to a certain spectrum of the audience (in other words, some people are going to see Star Wars now to battle racists.)

Twitter and other social media channels are for moral posturing and what is better for moral posturing than denouncing racists on pop culture.

http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/5400 ... s-habbenig
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-powe ... underdogs/
http://freebeacon.com/blog/there-is-no- ... ntroversy/

[yovargas]

A very good point, Beutlin. I do often forget how the internet really works these days and it's easy to fall in that trap.

I do contend that, anecdotally, it does feel like I've been seeing certain kinds of this stuff around more and more around the internet. The “white genocide” thing, but even more so the whole "feminists are the worst people in the world" thing. But you're right to say it probably doesn't ultimately mean too much at the end of the day.

[Primula Baggins]

Beutlin, there's more of the "white genocide" thing in American politics now, which is probably why an American entertainment newspaper spent time on this phenomenon. As far as I can tell, it's not so much the attitude becoming more prevalent as it is that its proponents have finally learned how to type on the Internet machine. They can promulgate their views more easily now than when they had to do it by making blurry photocopies and stuffing them under the windshield wipers of cars parked at shopping malls.

It is also fairly obvious to many, including me, that this has been building throughout the Obama presidency, as a gut reaction to the sight of a non-white man in the most powerful position in our country's government. This, along with other demographically caused social changes such as acceptance of LGBT people, is apparently a sign that our entire culture is headed for destruction ("cats and dogs, living together!").

[Frelga]

If this were a voice of a "tiny minority", Trump wouldn't be leading GOP candidate polls.