I finally watched Episode 7 within the last couple months or so. I fuccs with this review/disccussion from Tariq Nasheed Tariq Nasheed Talks About The Racism In The New Star Wars 7 Movie Dude has had me rolling laughing for the last 30 minutes. Most of the Black podcasts I listen to & folks I follow on Twitter didn't even really bring up these issues back in December/January when they discussed or reviewed the movie. Looking back at it, They just seemed to be happy to have a Black person as the co-lead. EDIT: Follow up podcast after that review: Tariq Nasheed-12 Years A Space Slave
I think Finn's character was awkward, not very well balanced, and illogical in places but the commentary from Tariq is overstated, thus loaded with so many assumptions about gender, race and story narrative that, though I feel his instinct to disassemble culture in film, I found his rant boring and lacking in imagination and depth.
Fuck I'm not about to watch a 2 hour movie review about the 'racism' in Episode 7. ANyone who bit the bullet, please summarize his points.
The racially questionably depiction of Finn is something that rubbed a lot of Black folks The wrong way. In my opinion Finn's "space slave" demeanor and emasculation was a by-product of the filmmakers attempt to create the ultimate female hero. Hollywood has taken a lot of heat in the last few years for their depiction of female hero's. Some very vocal people have demanded that more movies have their female characters be more than just love interests and sidekicks. So as a reaction to the demands, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy made sure that Star Wars episode 7 was designed from the ground up to make Rey (the female lead) the exact opposite of a damsel in distress. Unfortunately the writers of the film had the erroneous belief that female characters can't be badasses unless she has a nincompoop as a male companion. So because of their over-correcting of female character movie tropes, they "inadvertently" overemphasized racist black character tropes.
And the easy fix for the writers would have been to put all the bad ass qualities that Finn is said to possess on the screen rather than in a novel telling his backstory, since that is the primary medium of the Star Wars saga for the vast majority of people.
I don't but it even in Ghostbusters at least buffoon Chris Hemsworth was still a strong good looking desirable guy he wasn't a complete joke even though his character was comedy relief. This shit was deliberate.
The Force Awakens was a clunky, hastily constructed mess with talented actors able to rescue a largely ill-conceived plot structure and logic. That being said, calls of racists tropes, etc. seem kneejerk. Finn's character was originally written very differently by JJ and Kasdan - he was built to be more of a Han Solo type. But, according to JJ, the original shoot wasn't working so they let Boyega improv many of his lines to breath life into the dialogue, and as a result, they rewrote the relationship between Rey and Finn to reflect the dynamic the actors actually had on set--because the two got along so well on set. The rest of the script was filled in around that dynamic. JJ also (writer and director) fought the studios for half a year to cast Boyega in the role in the first place. This film wasn't an unconscious plot to undercut black men; it was a train wreck production that got very very lucky.
R2-D2 Actor Kenny Baker Dead at 83 Kenny Baker, who brought life to one of the most iconic robots in film history playing R2-D2 in the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequels, has died after a long illness. The Guardian reports that British actor Kenny Baker has passed away at the age of 83. Over the course of his career Baker appeared in movies such as Time Bandits, Flash Gordon and Willow, but he will be best remembered for playing lovable droid R2-D2 in the first 6 Star Wars movies. “It was expected, but it’s sad nonetheless," said Baker's niece, Abigail Shield, of her uncle's passing. "He had a very long and fulfilled life. He brought lots of happiness to people and we’ll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world. We’re all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime.”
RIP Kenny Baker... I remember that movie Flash Gordon, my dad took me to see it the year it came out. Brought back some memories.
By all accounts a great and kind person. I loved his performance in Time Bandits as well. R.I.P. http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/13/kenny-baker-dead-star-wars-mark-hamill-pays-tribute Star Wars Posted August 13 2016 — 3:44 PM EDT Mark Hamill and Kenny Baker have been comrades in arms in the Star Wars franchise since A New Hope hit the big screen in May 1977, and while the R2-D2 actor appeared in all six of the original films, he was a droid consultant on The Force Awakens. As the world morns the death of Baker, who died this weekend after a long illness, Hamill has paid tribute to his costar on Twitter. “Goodbye #KennyBaker,” he wrote along with photos of them together. “A lifelong loyal friend-I loved his optimism & determination He WAS the droid I was looking for!” The actor also retweed photos posted to social media of Baker from Time Bandits and with Star Wars castmate Carrie Fisher.
This is really interesting, but it doesn't help me feel better at all. So, they *accidentally* made him a near-buffoon? Based on his real-life friendship with this woman? Not cool.
The script was rearranged and Boyega's humor and responses to film scenarios were included in the final product. Originally, Rey and Finn were supposed to be more realistic (as SW goes) Finn, through the machinations of the plot, was supposed to break Rey out of a prison of sorts and they would bicker and fight with each other like Han and Leia would until they connected to the meta plot. The map to Skywalker was in the Bespin lightsaber--not BB-8. Essentially, a bunch of shit changed and since Rey was the (presumed) Jedi of the story, her story had to follow a certain trajectory; whereas, Finn could be ad-libbed into what many on this thread believe to be buffoonery.
