The Force Awakens
This is Star Wars for the politically correct times we live in. In the original, fighting was for men. White men. Women were just cheeky princesses in need of rescue, or maternal figures like Luke Skywalker’s kindly aunt (who was mercilessly killed by Stormtroopers, demonstrating how evil they were). In this new movie, the two main characters who fight against the Empire are a hot babe (played by 23-year-old British actress Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley) and a black guy.
The Stormtroopers have been humanized. In the original movie, you never saw who they were underneath their armor. The black guy is, apparently, a reformed Stormtrooper. This change is actually a good change; it gives the movie more nuance instead of being just a simplistic good guys/bad guys setup where you feel no remorse for the tens of thousands of Imperial military personnel killed when Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star. (Of course the Death Star did blow up the planet Alderon, and someone deserved to die for that [unless you are a leftist-liberal type who doesn’t believe in capital punishment], but the vast majority of personnel aboard the Death Star were just conscripted shmucks with no say in that decision.)
I have a theory that the black guy is actually Luke Skwyalker’s son. But wait, how does a white guy have a black son? Well, this will just each us about how race is not a biological reality, just a social construct. Does that mean that the hot babe could be Chewbacca’s daughter? OK, let’s not get crazy here.
* * *
Some commenters are saying they will refuse to see it because it’s too politically correct. I disagree with that philosophy because it would mean denying yourself ALL modern entertainment media. You’d have to restrict yourself to old movies and reading old books. And even the 1939 original Buck Rogers mini-movie had a female pilot (although with the conservative message that the future became dystopian because the people of the 20th century were too soft on “lawlessness,” allowing the criminals to take over).
Lion of the Blogosphere 
On Thursday I watched the final installment of The Hunger Games – It was a long, tedious slog.
There’s only so much silly girl power that anyone can stand.
At least JLaw didn’t shoot down an attack jet with a bow and arrow,
like she did in the previous Mockingjay Pt 1
On the other hand, at the conclusion, Pan-Am (read: ‘Muricuh) winds up with a Black woman president.
So, it’s truly liberal’s wet dream.
I’m guessing that Disney’s new Star Snores is going to be more of the PC same.
Nedd Ludd
November 21, 2015 at 11:55 AM
More like the Force Stinks!
JS
November 21, 2015 at 11:57 AM
…and drinks malt liquor.
destructure
November 21, 2015 at 2:38 PM
Daisy Ridley’s cute, sure, but I wouldn’t say “hot”. Regarding her character, Rey, if they want to be realistic, they would have cast a woman in her early thirties (even if Rey is supposed to be what, like 20?) because living in harsh desert conditions would age her considerably. Also, an early 20-ish woman in that environment would already be hitched and with a child or two.
I do like the “Stormtrooper with a crisis of conscience” theme, though,
I, for one, am excited, however, but I’m really, really hoping they don’t overdo the overused and unrealistic “girl power” crap.
markus
November 21, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Not hot enough for you. OK.
LOTB readers have very high standards.
Dave Pinsen
November 22, 2015 at 2:56 AM
Of course we have high standards, you prole.
Don’t conflate neoteny with beauty. Daisy Ridley will age poorly. She has a man face with a huge forehead.
Anon
November 22, 2015 at 8:45 AM
We do at that. I though D.R. was cute but scruffy but I like cute but scruffy. Insert Nerf herder joke here. Also here character seems to give off a “lone” wanderer/outcast vibe . Its not really suitable for female characters but eh. I don’t have any strong urge to see this movie though, its looks OK but it doesn’t seem that exciting and frankly I’m too old to be much into Star Wars.
As far as avoiding most modern media, its not a bad thing to do. You won’t miss much. Most TV is unwatchable (The blacklist is a small exception) and when the best things in are mostly reruns of Flipping Vegas or Ice Lake Rebels you know you have a problem.
A.B Prosper
November 22, 2015 at 2:33 PM
Anon: Had to look her up on IMDB. I’d say you’re right, based on this: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm538568960/nm5397459?ref_=nmmi_mi_all_evt_15
Titus
November 24, 2015 at 9:57 AM
Check out the video at the bottom of this article with the title ‘race isn’t biologically real.’ Calibrated to satisfy the intellect of Buffoonis Americanis. Note the part in the middle where, when explaining why race has no biological significance but medical doctors use it anyway, the narrator explains, treating it as incidental, that they just want to know where you ancestors came from. See, no significance in that.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=voxdotcom&utm_content=friday
Curle
November 21, 2015 at 12:33 PM
It’s true that Woodrow Wilson was pretty racist. And he was a Democrat. It was a time when the Republicans were the party of the smart people and the Democrats represented dumb Southerners.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 21, 2015 at 12:51 PM
And he was a Democrat. It was a time when the Republicans were the party of the smart people and the Democrats represented dumb Southerners.
Except Wilson was a really smart Southerner. Contrary to stereotype there were quite a few of them.
Rifleman
November 21, 2015 at 2:09 PM
He REPRESENTED dumb Southerners.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 21, 2015 at 2:46 PM
You know he was elected from New Jersey, right?
ScarletNumber
November 21, 2015 at 3:12 PM
Nice spin. But Wilson went to Princeton, was president of Princeton and governor of New Jersey. He won 40 states including New England (except for Pennsylvania and Vermont) running on a progressive platform and won 2 terms as one of the most progressive presidents in history. He created the Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Antitrust Act and imposed an 8 hour workday on railroads as well as reintroducing the federal income tax. In short, Wilson did everything that “smart yankees” today jerk off to.
destructure
November 21, 2015 at 3:22 PM
I’m for removing anything named after Wilson because he was a progressive. But Hamilton and Jackson should remain on the currency, as well as any building or memorial named after them.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 21, 2015 at 3:46 PM
Under Wilson’s presidency blacks started migrating out of the South to the North. In 1920 the population of Alabama was 38% black. By 1990 it was only 25% black. This trend is characteristic for the entire South. Up to Wilson the Republicans and northern politicians had, for the most part, stopped blacks from moving North. The ultimate result of this depopulation of blacks was the economic rise of the South in the 1970s (and the corresponding economic decline of the rust belt).
Curle
November 21, 2015 at 5:41 PM
What’s funny is that the Empire will have a stormtrooper commando named Captain Phasma, and she’s a female soldier. So apparently the Empire buys into feminism too.
Honestly, I doubt I will watch the movie. I can’t stand the Marvel movies churned out every year, and it looks like this is the model that Disney will adhere to in making these new Star Wars flicks. That and the Girl Power! really turn me off.
Sid
November 21, 2015 at 12:48 PM
“Some commenters are saying they will refuse to see it because it’s too politically correct. I disagree with this philosophy because it would mean denying yourself ALL modern entertainment media.”
The problem is that it just doesn’t look very entertaining. I mean, Harrison Ford coming back as Han Solo is the only part that appeals to me, and the 2008 Indiana Jones movie was about as bad as the prequels.
Sid
November 21, 2015 at 3:01 PM
I enjoyed Avatar, this could be just as enjoyable. (On the other hand, I hated JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot.)
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 21, 2015 at 3:09 PM
I enjoyed Avatar, this could be just as enjoyable. (On the other hand, I hated JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot.)
Avatar sucked. Still I’d rather have James Cameron direct Star Wars than Abrams.
Cameron once upon a time made great scifi movies before he went “artistic” after Titanic. Abrams has never produced anything watchable.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 21, 2015 at 4:11 PM
No one is going to cry about you, or others, not going.
It’s called entertainment. The Hollywood big-wigs want to make money by telling a story. That story today incorporates a wide audience.
GCM
November 22, 2015 at 11:02 AM
“The black guy is, apparently, a reformed Stormtrooper.”
Doubt it. He probably just infiltrated the group. Blacks these days can only be protagonists, not antagonists.
Brendan
November 21, 2015 at 12:54 PM
Maybe Luke Skywalker will have become an Evangelical and adopted an African baby.
Hermes
November 21, 2015 at 1:02 PM
Man this film is gonna flop bad. The whole market for it was White guys and there isn’t a single White character that is male for the core demographic to identify with. This JJ Abrams must be an Anti-White fuck to bomb this movie this way. Black actors are box office POISON for the overseas market and that’s where half the revenue for movies come from now. Everyone in India and China are NEVER going to see a movie with a black guy lead. That’s TWO BILLION CUSTOMERS this asshole lost just with one character! Strangely the bad guy is a follower of Darth Vader who didn’t have an apprentice and was trying to recruit Luke. This weirdo carries the burnt corpse of Vader and his suit around in his ship. This is going to be the worst Star Wars film ever. Disney may not even make another one if this bombs as bad as I’m thinking it will.
Joshua Sinistar
November 21, 2015 at 1:48 PM
Most Star Wars fans are the kind of betas who, even if Republican, don’t see color and have nothing against a black male lead paired with a white female.
You’re crazy if you think it won’t be the biggest movie of the year or maybe since Avatar.
Personally, I spoiled the film for myself when looking to see if the black guy and the white girl share an interracial kiss at the end. I haven’t found the answer, but I won’t be paying to see the movie. I might pirate it later on.
JohnBeck
November 21, 2015 at 4:56 PM
.”The black guy is, apparently, a reformed Stormtrooper.”
How he managed to turn from the “dark side” is an exercise for the alert viewer.
BracketCreep
November 21, 2015 at 3:17 PM
So every other person discussing the trailers is talking about what a great mystery the film still is and presenting tentative theories for how the disparate elements shown to the public actually fit together. But you’ve got it all figured out. Good for you.
Lloyd Llewellyn
November 21, 2015 at 3:18 PM
It is as if a million nerds fell quiet in disappointment and changed channels at once. Though the parody potential does seem considerable.
Glengarry
November 21, 2015 at 3:57 PM
There is a line in the trailers where Rey tells Han Solo that she “heard the stories” and Han replies with “that really happened” or something similar. I really don’t understand why an event that happened, what, 50 years ago would be treated as some kind of legend. The war between the Empire and the Rebellion was like WWII.
This movie looks terrible. A storm trooper with a conscience? The storm troopers were clones built from the DNA of Boba Fett. In fact, Storm Troopers were initially the army of the Galactic Republic, eventually co-opted when the Empire took over the Republic from within. They were not evil people conscripted into the Empire’s military.
With the Empire destroyed after Return of the Jedi, why would there be any storm troopers at all? Whatever control they had over the clones would’ve disappeared or the clones would have been destroyed and disbanded, or at least re-purposed to serve the restored Republic.
It’s too bad because I like JJ Abrams’ reboots of Star Trek. I really like the way he uses strings in his musical scores.
map
November 21, 2015 at 3:58 PM
Abrams’ first Star Trek reboot was good. The second one, which cannibalized Wrath of Khan, was garbage.
But 4 of the last 6 Star Wars movies were garbage anyway, so, chances are, Abrams will improve that franchise.
Dave Pinsen
November 22, 2015 at 2:54 AM
I thought the second Trek was better than the first. Yes, it is Wrath of Khan-y but still…what a story to cannibalize!!!
map
November 23, 2015 at 11:42 AM
Apparently in the Star Wars Universe no one remembers anything. It is the same issue in the original movie where Jedis, the “Old Republic” and the Force seem to have quasi-mythological status even though given Luke’s age only about 20 years can have passed since the Jedi were a major institution. Maybe people on Tatooine are particulary dense.
Peter Akuleyev
November 22, 2015 at 4:33 AM
I disagree. I can easily see why people would not know of the Dark Side, Jedi and the war of rebellion.
The entire galaxy was part of the Republic and then the Empire. A galaxy is massive on a scale that one cannot really fathom.
The entire war between the Rebellion & Empire hinged on only three major battles.
There were 5 people who could use the force at the begging of Star Wars, 4 of them died during the course of the movies.
In an incomprehensibly massive galaxy, there were three major battles, all the Dark Side users of the Force died and only one Jedi remains…of course their history has faded into myth and legend!
When one considers the population a galactic civilization must have, as a percentage of that population, it is clear that hardly anyone was involved in the three major battles and extremely rare is the individual that could claim to have met the living Jedi.
This all begs the question, how could anyone know of the war, the Dark Side and the Jedi at all?
I disliked JJ’s Star Treks mostly because they did not feel like Star Trek. I hope he doesn’t screw this up.
ibejeph
November 23, 2015 at 6:15 PM
“In fact, Storm Troopers were initially the army of the Galactic Republic, eventually co-opted when the Empire took over the Republic from within. They were not evil people conscripted into the Empire’s military.”
The end of the Clone Wars animated show (which is considered canon) hints at what happens to the clones and the newer animated show Rebels (also canon) confirms it: the clones were mostly killed off and at the time of Rebels, which is just before New Hope, Stormtroopers are just regular people. I assume just farmboys looking for adventure.
Mike Street Station
November 24, 2015 at 6:01 PM
You’d have to restrict yourself to old movies and reading old books. And even the 1939 original Buck Rogers mini-movie had a female pilot (although with the conservative message that the future became dystopian because the people of the 20th century were too soft on “lawlessness,” allowing the criminals to take over).
Movies have been horrendous for 20 years. From actors, scripts, dialogue, plots, lighting, and camera work, everything about them is across the board worse.
Even special effects nosedived thanks to CGI replacing physical models, puppets, stuntmen, and pyrotechnics; compare CGI Yoda to puppet Yoda. It’s surprising to watch special effects from the 1980s and some of the 1970s, and realize even B-horror movies seemed more tangible (and more original) than today.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 21, 2015 at 3:58 PM
I agree CGI sucks compared to well-done models and sets. Models create much better and more realistic backdrops and environments. While CGI just looks like a video game. Only problem is that you can’t really do a lot of dynamic and action sequences with models. Once you start moving models and puppets and pieces around a lot, it starts looking like a bunch of toys on the screen and kills the effect. If they didn’t use CGI, maybe they would have figured out how to do very dynamic action with models by now. Or maybe CGI will get good enough in the future so that it doesn’t look like a video game.
Tom
November 21, 2015 at 10:38 PM
Only problem is that you can’t really do a lot of dynamic and action sequences with models. Once you start moving models and puppets and pieces around a lot, it starts looking like a bunch of toys on the screen and kills the effect. If they didn’t use CGI, maybe they would have figured out how to do very dynamic action with models by now. Or maybe CGI will get good enough in the future so that it doesn’t look like a video game.
It’s made movie directors lazy and stupid. When a scene depended on real materials that ate up a large percentage of the budget, directors were forced to devote more thought to how the sequence would be executed, photography, comic book sketches, timing, choreography, what the best angle and lighting options are, among other things.
Because of CGI they have no idea how to shoot scenes (the camera is constantly moving back and forth in an ADHD-like way), how to maintain pacing, transition from scenes, and on.
How convincing dynamic sequences with models are depends on the quality of the models. I’d imagine that CGI might be able to augment the effect of physical models, animatronics, etc., at least until CGI is realistic enough that it doesn’t make everything look like a cartoon. At some point CGI will reach that level but it’s not there yet.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 22, 2015 at 7:30 PM
This really isn’t true. The best special effects houses combine practical and digital effects. You can’t do a Marvel or a Star Wars or Star Trek movie well without combining these effects.
Problems come into play with speed, where the effects sometimes exceed the ability of the human eye to process.
map
November 23, 2015 at 11:51 AM
This really isn’t true.
Disagree. Digital effects 20 years were like physical effects: expensive. That expense led to intelligent use of how they appeared on screen. Now that CGI is cheap and can do everything at least badly, directors have become stupid with how they plan them out.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 23, 2015 at 7:27 PM
And why hasn’t Disney re-released the original theatrical trilogy yet?
The Undiscovered Jew
November 21, 2015 at 4:27 PM
You can download it for free from Pirate’s Bay.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 21, 2015 at 5:22 PM
You can download it for free from Pirate’s Bay.
But the quality of piracy downloads varies.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 21, 2015 at 6:26 PM
Screen Junkies has a trailers spoof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegJQPIzfs4
Robert
November 21, 2015 at 4:38 PM
Was this gal a character in the movie perhaps?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3327413/Student-diversity-officer-allegedly-tweeted-kill-white-men-set-quit-claim-bullied-union-president.html
Curle
November 21, 2015 at 5:29 PM
There was nothing PC about the movies I had mentioned a few posts back. TV is for feeble minded. Incidentally, Rome was trash, I was out in 10 minutes. Can’t beleive you watch it
Yakov
November 21, 2015 at 6:13 PM
Unreleated, check out this multi-culty ad for transit in Minneapolis:
Straight white male count: 0
Only straight guy in that montage is a Somalian immigrant. And the enormous fat woman with arms that provide a massive canvas for tattoo artists…
Some Guy
November 21, 2015 at 6:36 PM
Do you think a white straight male cannot figure out the transit system and when to use it and when not?
Yakov
November 21, 2015 at 7:51 PM
It’s Minneapolis. White males don’t ride transit, they drive cars.
don't suicide bomb me bro!
November 21, 2015 at 9:56 PM
Look I know all of you are big fanboys of Han Solo and Harrison Ford was a great actor, but this guy is 70 years old now. A 70 year old man flying a spaceship is just sad. And he still has that crappy Millennium Falcon that Luke said was a piece of crap. Wouldn’t you think he would have upgraded after being a hero and a general in Return of the Jedi? Couldn’t somebody else have flown this thing?
Disney killed half the fanbase by telling everyone that THE ENTIRE EXTENDED UNIVERSE is no longer official continuity~ WTF? Why piss off all those fans that paid all that money for books and comics by killing off all that great material? They are talking about releasing a movie every year. Couldn’t they have used any of those books to please the fans? This is just going out of your way to piss off the fanbase.
Joshua Sinistar
November 21, 2015 at 7:09 PM
I’m not much of a Star Wars fan (though I’ve seen all the movies so far), but it’s pretty common for studios to allow fan fiction but not include it or acknowledge it in their official movies and books, etc. Heck, William Shatner has written Star Trek fan fiction that hasn’t been included.
Dave Pinsen
November 22, 2015 at 2:50 AM
It’s not the fan fiction. It is destroying the continuity of the movies.
map
November 23, 2015 at 11:52 AM
“Disney killed half the fanbase by telling everyone that THE ENTIRE EXTENDED UNIVERSE is no longer official continuity~ WTF? ”
To be fair to Disney, it wasn’t just a business decision, it was a creative decision too. The extended universe just about covered centuries after the end of the movies and it would be impossible to do movie sequels unless they just decided to film the novels.
Mike Street Station
November 24, 2015 at 6:06 PM
This commenter won’t be watching this episode/version of SW because the franchise needs to be retired already. SW is the McDonalds of movie franchises. Enough is enough.
don't suicide bomb me bro!
November 21, 2015 at 7:10 PM
It’s Star Wars. It will make lots of money. Scifi fans are more into special effects and worldbuilding than identification with characters anyway…
Now the all-female Ghostbusters? I expect THAT to flop.
SFG
November 21, 2015 at 8:41 PM
What’s funny is not just that they picked a no name black guy for the role. But apparently they were looking for the most simian looking black actor they could find.
My theory is that it turns out that Star Wars is actually set on the Planet of the Apes.
Tom
November 21, 2015 at 10:11 PM
“In the original, fighting was for men. White men. Women were just cheeky princesses in need of rescue, or maternal figures like Luke Skywalker’s kindly aunt (who was mercilessly killed by Stormtroopers, demonstrating how evil they were).”
I dunno. I seem to recall Princess Leia running around with a blaster gun or some such nonsense. Also, she escaped Jabba’s sexual enslavement by strangling him with a chain! A very progressive, womyn’s-positive message.
martinslag
November 21, 2015 at 10:44 PM
Leia also demonstrates sexual agency by selecting the alpha Han over the ponderous beta Luke. The main arc of the Star Wars saga, in fact, is one of moral relativism: Han Solo, an interstellar drug smuggler and dangerous criminal, is favorably portrayed as a sexy, swashbuckling, wisecracking rebel; while Darth Vader, a megalomaniacal mass murderer, is ultimately feted as a hero in a fireside ceremony on the forest moon of Endor, if memory serves…
martinslag
November 21, 2015 at 11:10 PM
Luke and Leia, are also, you know, brother and sister.
Lamb
November 22, 2015 at 4:20 AM
“I’m from Alderaan. It’s kind of the Mississippi of the galaxy.”
Glengarry
November 22, 2015 at 1:06 PM
Like when she shoots the stormtrooper with her tiny derringer-blaster (a full size blaster would be too heavy for a woman to wield). Then the stormtroopers stun her (it would be un-chivalrous to kill a woman).
Toad
November 22, 2015 at 1:33 AM
“reading old books”
Nothing wrong with that, in fact it’s prole to read the newest stuff and not be able to read, say, Gibbon or Thucydides. With movies it’s a little different, since technology evolved, so we get special effects that were not possible 30 years ago. Style might have reached its height with Goethe and George.
However, I don’t consume pop movies, or pop culture at all. Heck, I don’t even use a mainstream OS, I don’t read mainstream authors, so why would I want to watch a PCish movie for the ignorant masses who want nothing more than small little mulattos with an IQ of 80?
Friedrich
November 22, 2015 at 12:35 AM
I have no idea what people see in these movies. Granted, I only watched a few minutes of the first one. The acting sucked (way too much cheese). I understand they’re supposed to make nine of them, so I’ll wait until they’re all out on Blu-Ray or DVD, sit down on my couch on a lazy Sunday, and then not watch any of them.
Vince
November 22, 2015 at 1:16 AM
How does a black guy have a black son? With a black woman, duh.
Sheila Tone
November 22, 2015 at 10:17 PM
You’d have to restrict yourself to old movies and reading old books.
Um, yeah. I pretty much do exactly that.
Tarl
November 23, 2015 at 7:52 AM