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

[Quellist]

Stormtroopers may have started off as clones but that doesn't mean by the final days of the empire they were still 100% clones, its highly unlikely the Empire would refuse to recruit regular humans who wanted to fight for them.

Beyond that i think people should stop trying to read too much into something thats primarily entertainment.

 

[NickBrahz]

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.

By the time a new hope started there wouldn't have been any of the original clones as storm troopers, right after RotS the cloning facilities on Kamino was destroyed, and they started to employ normal people, mainly humans to be troopers, they did have new sets of clones but they were of multiple people and only made up a small percentage of troopers, so any race and gender combination you can think of, they were stormtroopers.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

My only thought was that the way he popped in plus his expression were rather silly and made the trailer look more like a parody than the real thing.

The trailer opening is basically a jump scare, whether we like it or not.

LOUD NOISE.
BLACK MAN APPEARS ON SCREEN LOOKING BEWILDERED.
WE TRY NOT TO LAUGH AT THE GOOFY SHOT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE MAYBE RACIST.

Seriously, though. What the hell is with people forgotting that EVERY SINGLE CLONE TROOPER WAS A SEXY MAORI GUY? Are Maoris not "black" enough for the internet? I know the clones are long gone and these are normal recruits, but what is wrong with people? Have they even SEEN the prequel trilogy?

 

[Shiftygiant]

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.

Clones weren't white, they were Maori. Its in the article. Also the Stormtroopers are not clones, they were mainly conscripts and volunteers.

To the OP: I'm baffled about the 'Analogy means no non-whites'. Wasn't the empire against other races joining their ranks, not other ethnicity? Granted that was something mainly expanded upon in the old EU, but wouldn't it still have had some relevancy to the discussion?

 

[zumbledum]

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.

really? is that a thing? it doesn't scan very well , the empire was never racially motivated , the clone troopers were just tools for the sith, ok the sith race pure bloods believe they are the only race that can be real sith , but as none of them ever featured in the films and the emperor is clearly a different race , that analogy fell apart somewhere at the start of the first film made.

the films have always been a conflict of ideology, not race. if an allegory has to be made i would of said the cold war standoff vs soviets and capitalists that was at its height during hte making of the original 3 was a better fit.

my thoughts on a black guy as a storm trooper are ones of indifference, its something that needs explaining for sure but it doesnt matter but as it has to be a good chance that hes just wearing it as a disguise its all a bit premature

 

[Erttheking]

I thought that they established that the Emperor stopped bringing in the Jango Fett clones as fresh troops after Order 66 because he didn't want an Order 66 to happen to him. I thought the Original Trilogy storm troopers were the clones of a bunch of different people and volunteer soldiers. A mix so that a huge part of the army wouldn't be too loyal to one person besides the Emperor.

And how do we know that all the storm troopers are supposed to be white when, you know, they never took off their helmets. Once. In the entire original trilogy.

Or is this a "Lando is the only black person in the galaxy" thing?

 

[Makabriel]

Who has actually criticised the trailer for having a black stormtrooper? Citation desperately needed.

Was wondering this myself.

I thought all the heat was about the Lightsaber with a crossguard..

 

[Erttheking]

In Star Wars Battlefront, it was already explained that the Empire continued to use clones(who aren't white) despite the rebellion at their cloning facility. To make sure that wouldn't cripple their steady supply of meat shields, they started recruiting more humans from everywhere in the Empire.

Since this takes place between episodes 3 and 4, it's technically still canon. Problem solved.

Actually it's not between 3 and 4. It's actually 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi. So...is the Empire still around? I thought that they had fallen by this point. Or is the war really dragging?

 

[Grabehn]

Ok... So, the Stormtroppers were NEVER clones in the original films, nor were shown as being of any specific colour, and someone "assuming" the Empire was some analogy to Nazis doesn't mean a damn thing. The only thing that's visible there, was that the Empire was "alien-free" and nothing else.

This right here, is one of the dumbest "nerd-rages" I've ever read about.

 

[Redflash]

I'm disappointed on two levels...

One by the fact that there are people out there who took issue with the casting, since as others have pointed out the Empire is anti-alien and therefore species-ist (its that a word?) rather than racist. Stop finding excuses to discriminate!

On a less unpleasant level I'm disappointed by the realisation that my own interpretation of the character's appearance in the trailer was probably wrong. I thought, 'Wow, a stormtrooper as a character! I wonder what his arc will be - does he go from naive militaristic patriotism to realizing how evil the empire is? How does he win over the trust of the others? This certainly implies there might be some halfway interesting storytelling in this film!'

But as others have pointed out it's probably just the bloody hero in bloody disguise

 

[llubtoille]

I honestly thought all storm troopers were black (or maori at least), being cloned from that dude back in the prequels.
Or did they run out of clones and start hiring real people?

 

[Frostbyte666]

Well I got the wrong end of the stick from the title I thought the article was talking about the armour colour which I admit I was against. But then it turns out its the trooper being played by a black man and I don't have a problem with that.

 

[RoonMian]

I really shouldn't be surprised... But I still didn't see that coming... I really don't wanna crank my cynicism level up to match the real world...

 

[Lovely Mixture]

I think the actor looks pretty dang cool. Though the trailer's presentation was kind of funny.

"There has been an awakening....Have you felt it?"
.....
(Stormtrooper jumps into frame with the "OH SHIT" look on his face)

I honestly thought all storm troopers were black (or maori at least), being cloned from that dude back in the prequels.
Or did they run out of clones and start hiring real people?

Probably addressed in this thread but I'll give my two cents as a former Star Wars fanatic.

As per the Expanded Universe, after the Clone Wars the Empire started recruitment programs (Luke considered joining the Tatooine Academy at some point in his life), additionally they sometimes clone the best recruits order to have a "model trooper" IIRC. In the Star Wars comics there were black Imperial Officers at the very least.

HOWEVER, because the Expanded Universe is no longer the official canon, we have no idea if they are going to include this bit lore.

We basically have a situation where Star Wars fans and Star Wars non-fans have no idea what the situation is in the Star Wars Galaxy.

The current bet is that Voyega's character is in disguise.

 

[shadowmagus]

This is a thing?

Really?

I mean, who has time to argue about the race of a Stormtrooper when there are serious arguments, like the inconsistencies of a laser sword wielded by space wizards to argue about.

 

[Karadalis]

The real question should not be about if hes black or white... it is: "Is he another anakin" because if they have another whiny emo ***** as the main character im calling bloody murder.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

This is a thing?

Really?

I mean, who has time to argue about the race of a Stormtrooper when there are serious arguments, like the inconsistencies of a laser sword wielded by space wizards to argue about.

I'm pretty sure 90% of the criticism (if there is any, which there probably is) is from Stormfront. We've even had black characters in Star Wars before
-Mace Windu
-Lando
-Padme's Bodyguard, Gregar Typho, who was probably one of the best characters in prequels for how little screentime he had.

The real question should not be about if hes black or white... it is: "Is he another anakin" because if they have another whiny emo ***** as the main character im calling bloody murder.

Now I don't have tons of faith in JJ Abrams, but I have faith that he knows what fans DON'T want.


The only problem I had with the trailer was that goddamn lightsaber hilt. Come on guys, you couldn't just have a regular hilt made of Cortosis?

 

[blackrave]

If you consider the prequels non-canon, the Stormtroopers were always black, we just didn't notice.

I'm somewhat miffed at the lack of a nose of the actor's smiley face.

^This

I was convinced that at the time of original trilogy most stormtroopers were conscripts, not clones.
So why such surprise?
Hell I'm pissed on both sides here
Side A: Oh, a black stormtrooper, how progressive. Let's bask in our own openmindness.
Side B: A black stormtrooper? Stop ruining Star Wars!
Me: You and you, go the fuck away!

It's like people on both sides barely know things about Star Wars.

 

[CrystalShadow]

... Seriously? Why is this even being brought up? Some people really seem to have some weird issues...

It's a black guy who happens to be a storm trooper. Big deal.

We know the storm troopers in the old republic were all clones, but we also know that probably wasn't true anymore in 'a new hope'

As for any supposed comparisons between the empire and nazis... So?

As far as I know, while I'm sure they probably were against black people too, it's rarely ever considered a primary issue given all the stuff they're known for.

And besides, why does an analogy have to be that literal anyway? In a series with dozens of alien species, surely there's plenty of ways to show a racist (or speciest, or whatever it would be called) organisation without having to blatantly copy real-world issues directly...

Does subtlety count for nothing these days?

 

[happyninja42]

I'm a little puzzled by the original comment from the actor of "get used to it." He's incredibly vague in who he is directing this comment at. It seems a lot of people are taking it to mean the "Stormtroopers weren't black!" route? But I dunno, maybe he's talking about the "a black guy is a main character" route? *shrugs* Seems an incredibly ambiguous statement to have as a news blurb at this point, without some context.

Personally I always assumed that after the Empire came into power, the military was open to any recruits, just like regular world military is. And that anyone could enlist, and that some would be best used as infantry, and thus you would have random people being stormtroopers. Makes sense to me