Star Wars' "Black Stormtrooper" to Critics: "Get Used to it"

[Steven Bogos]

Star Wars' "Black Stormtrooper" to Critics: "Get Used to it"

Rumored Star Wars Lead John Boyega (the black guy in the Stormtrooper armor from the trailer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138813-Star-Wars-Episode-VII-The-Force-Awakens-Official-Trailer]) lays the smackdown on criticism of his character.

So that Instagram account [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138813-Star-Wars-Episode-VII-The-Force-Awakens-Official-Trailer]:

"Thank you for all the love and support! The fan mail and fan art has added to my joy! Isn't it crazy that Star Wars is actually happening? I'm in the movie but as a Star Wars fan I am very excited. To whom it may concern... Get used to it. "

Critics of Boyega base their argument on the fact that the Empire is meant to be an analogy for Hitler, the Nazis, and the "Master Race," and thus having a black actor portray a Stormtrooper undermines that analogy.

However, I believe it's way too early to be jumping to such conclusions. We have no idea what kind of role Boyega will be playing in the film. Considering that he is rumored to be the lead, it's highly probable that he is simply disguising himself in Stormtrooper armor, ala Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in the Original Trilogy.

Furthermore, as much as it pains me to recall scenes from the Prequels, since Stormtroopers are originally clones of Jango Fett, who is a Maori, the "white people master race" analogy from the Original Trilogy has already been undermined.

What do you think of Boyega's appearance in the trailer?

Source: IGN [http://instagram.com/p/v_74BumSQS/?modal=true]

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[Metalrocks]

was first surprised since originally they are all clones from a white gut but since he is all alone and freaked out, i also guess he must have been undercover and somehow ended up in the dessert.
but otherwise, i dont care. as long the performance is good, thats what matters to me.

 

[Itchi_da_killa]

Holding on to the original analogies is a waste of time. Lucas screwed up most of his work with episodes 1-3. Everything is currently up in the air now that Disney has it. Disney doesn't really make great movies, and with Abrams; I have no hope.
On a positive note, it will be really good for a new generation of Star Wars fans.
Many older Star Wars fans, like myself are just yearning for the child-like magick we felt from episodes 4-6 when we were growing up, so we may never be happy.

 

[mysecondlife]

I honestly don't care.

But if someone asks him "Aren't you a little black to be a storm trooper?" I think I'll laugh out loud.

 

[TippiestRook]

Has John Boyega changed his name to black stormtrooper considering that title?

 

[madwarper]

What do you think of Boyega's appearance in the trailer?

Well, first and foremost, he's flexible. Seeing as he went from a bent over position to standing erect. Next, he's in the desert and has the ability to either secrete moisture through through pores, or at the very least have moisture spayed on him. Finally, he is corporeal, in that armor can be attached to his body without passing through him.

But seriously, what other type of impression are we supposed to get from his 2 second appearance in the trailer?
He didn't do anything, and we're only assuming that he's important because of Chekhov's gun.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Even assuming that they go with the Empire being racist in addition to nationalist, speciesist, sexist slavers - stormtroopers are cannon fodder, wouldn't you prefer it to be inferior races getting gunned down en masse?

 

[Cartographer]

was first surprised since originally they are all clones from a white gut but since he is all alone and freaked out, i also guess he must have been undercover and somehow ended up in the dessert.
but otherwise, i dont care. as long the performance is good, thats what matters to me.

Are you somehow implying that Temuera Morrison is white, or are you referring to some EU factoid about Stormtroopers?

 

[Brian Tams]

Has John Boyega changed his name to black stormtrooper considering that title?

So I'm not the only one who's bothered by the title?

 

[Steven Bogos]

Has John Boyega changed his name to black stormtrooper considering that title?

So I'm not the only one who's bothered by the title?

Hey there. It's a common practice in Journalism to substitute someone's name for a description appropriate to the story, especially if the person is not especially-well known.

For example, "Nintendo President" instead of "Satoru Iwata".

"Elsa Actor" instead of "Indina Menzel"

That said, I can understand how the title may have bothered some, and have adjusted it accordingly.

 

[Therumancer]

I've commented on this before, for the most part I don't give a crap, thematically The Empire and it's "Nazi analogy" was supposed to be about human supremacy, being anti-alien more than about anything ethnic within humanity. An Alien showing up in imperial uniform would be the big issue as opposed to a black guy. The EU defined things where The Empire went out conquering and subverting planets and then conscripting large portions of the inhabitants into the military and then sending them out to attack other planets (getting the dangerous guys away from home, and keeping them under control as they mix up the conscripts). The old "Tie Fighter" strategy guide (I think it was) had some short fiction explaining that the main character was supposed to be conscripted from one of the world's conquered by The Empire and one of his friends had become a Storm Trooper. Likewise while it was a matter of bad writing, Luke was both wondering in the first movie about fighting with the Rebellion, and wanting to head off to "The Academy" to train and get off Tatooine, which at least implies there is some recruitment going on, and as we've already seen The Empire has no problem dealing with people based on skin color as it was more than willing to subvert Lando as opposed to just flat out killing everyone and taking over Cloud City so I see no reason why if someone of color wanted to join their military there would be a remote issue... now if a Twi'lek wanted to do it, that might be a problem.

Of course the reason why I say "for the most part" is because one of the first things they did when announcing this new series as to toss literally everything outside of the movies into the rubbish bin, which means that by definition all Storm Troopers are going to be clones of Jango Fett, which of course means you can't have a black dude, or a white dude, or anyone who isn't specifically Jango Fett who is a Maori (as the article points out) inside one of these armor suits.

Now, common sense dictates that perhaps some things from the EU survived in some form, and that yeah, The Empire is recruiting humans. That would make sense on a lot of levels, including why the Storm Troopers in the original trilogy were incompetent compared to the clones from the prequel, not all of them had some of the skills of the universe's greatest mercenary and bounty hunter. Likewise as The Empire cements it's power and pursues an increasingly anti-alien agenda it's quite possible they might not want clone troopers to keep being manufactured as they are the result of alien science (created by "The Cloners"). The storm troopers in many cases being a bunch of conscripts with fancy armor and minimal training would explain a lot, while still acknowledging there is a core of very dangerous clones out there as well.

Of course I think this trailer was race baiting to get attention, which worked, as a huge song and dance was made about "abolishing everything not from the movies" which would imply all Storm Troopers being clones, and then the first thing they do is show a black dude in Storm Trooper armor which makes zero sense given previous statements. Sure with context and embellishment this could have been explained and worked around, but when people complain all they are getting is a "get used to it" which is kind of inflammatory, and is probably intended to be so it will generate more conversation.

I mean sure the guy could be disguised as a Storm Trooper, or even an actual Storm Trooper recruited from some planet or other The Empire conquered or opened a recruitment office on, which is something they could specify since they have certainly brought this on themselves by dogmatically claiming only the previous movies are canon, and it would probably actually help to smooth some things over above and beyond this issue itself.

Basically I think the idea was to start a race war for publicity, and it's being treated that way in response given that goal. In reality I think a lot of Star Wars fans see this as being similar to if we saw a zombie shambling along in Storm Trooper armor which for these purposes would be the same thing, as it would be implying something from the EU happened (Death Troopers series) which granted is more ridiculous than non-clone Storm Troopers due to recruitment and conscription, but the point is that both have been declared equally non-canon.

 

[Dendio]

Even assuming that they go with the Empire being racist in addition to nationalist, speciesist, sexist slavers - stormtroopers are cannon fodder, wouldn't you prefer it to be inferior races getting gunned down en masse?

It's pretty unnecessary ( and down right wrong ) to call his race inferior.

Clearly the people behind this movie know how to get others talking about it

 

[Kameburger]

Seems totally cool to have a storm trooper as an actual character for once. Probably one of the most under developed groups in the Star Wars Universe (hell even the Dark Forces series didn't exactly elaborate much). So I think it's cool. That being said, I'm not quite sure why this was the opening shot in the trailer... The trailer kind of ramps up quickly but starts by trying to say "hey look how practical all these effects are!" "No CGI here!" then proceeds to sort of say OK here's the CGI stuff.

But I also never got the master race analogy to begin with, sure there were some parallels to the Nazis, but I never really got the impression that StarWars even really ever making the jump to "Master Race" at least not until the prequel trilogy, and even then as you pointed out, that "Master Race" wasn't exactly white...

But good for John Boyega though, I'm looking forward to seeing whatever it is he might be doing on Tatooine.

 

[FogHornG36]

Even assuming that they go with the Empire being racist in addition to nationalist, speciesist, sexist slavers - stormtroopers are cannon fodder, wouldn't you prefer it to be inferior races getting gunned down en masse?

It's pretty unnecessary ( and down right wrong ) to call his race inferior.

Clearly the people behind this movie know how to get others talking about it

He wasn't calling them inferior, its the point of view of the empire.

 

[Saulkar]

I tried to find a reason that his race would bother some people but I ain't found shit!

 

[Platypus540]

Technically, there were already canon black stormtroopers (Empire was only racist toward aliens. They were somewhat sexist toward humans though). Although I guess EU doesn't really count anymore, so... whatever. Someday this kind of thing won't be a big deal and we can all be much happier.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Hasn't there been a large timeskip and the emperor being dead for ages?

Why would anyone be criticizing this right now when we know so little about the story? This project is so up in the air and the teaser had so little info that its hard to say anything about this movie apart from it will exist at some point.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I tried to find a reason that his race would bother some people but I ain't found shit!

Spoiler: People of Colour make the best Stormtroopers in my opinion.

OT: People have been treating the Empire as an analogy to Nazi Germany or America or whatever. I think the EU had an explanation that Palpatine phased out the cloning in favor of recruits/conscripts to make his army less suspectable to bio-chemical warfare targeted at a specific gene-pool or something.

If he's the lead simply disguised as a Stormtrooper? Fine. If he's an actual Stormtrooper? Excellent.

I guess we'll just all have to wait a year.

[sup][sup][sup]Why do I get the feeling we're going to have minor explosions of Star Wars threads/news posts throughout the upcoming months...[/sup][/sup][/sup]

 

[Tanis]

Considering the 501st was really the last 'pure' Storm/Clonetrooper...
With a whole host of Terran and non-Terran races being mixed into them via cloning and your basic recruitment drive...

Yeah...
Anyone crying about 'there's a black guy', clearly hasn't done much in the way of reading of books/comics or playing the games or even watching the cartoons.