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

[Schadrach]

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.

As I understood it, the original storm troopers were all clones of the same white guy, but that didn't last too long after the clone wars, so that even by the start of the original trilogy that's not exactly true. By Episode IV, Fett's clones aren't even a majority of Stormtroopers.

Since this is set a lot of years forward of that, I don't really see a problem. The lightsaber guard that's useless unless the saber itself is made of materials that have never been confirmed to exist outside the EU canon that's been discarded irritates me far more.

Just don't get me started on the funtionality of crossguards.

Crossguards are wonderful, useful things -- unless an attackers blade will slide through it like a hot knife through butter. Since things like ultrachrome and songsteel are EU, that means that the way that guard is designed is *really* stupid.

 

[Winnosh]

I'm disappointed on two levels...

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

Ditto; when I saw the trailer, I was hoping (still hope?) that the hero starts off as a storm trooper. His story arc from Empire to Republic would have been interesting. The arc from random-faceless-meat-shield-#247003 to hero would have been fascinating too. The prequels, Clone wars, a lot of the EU and this new Rebels series all seem to put a lot of emphasis on Chosen One, or at the least some 'the force is strong with this one' unknown guy/gal who blossoms into the Jedi who is key to something major. Always super-special at the core, either way. But the original Star Wars had two hero tropes, after all: and the self centered jackass smuggler who turns into a reluctant hero muddling along the best he can made for a great story.

And hell, even if he's not a storm trooper, that latter type of trope could still happen in some form or other if he's just one of the random rebel meat-shields that always seem to get mowed down by the dozen whenever the heroes make a sortie (seriously, I always feel sorry for those anonymous guys, especially when the heroes celebrate at the end. Do you know how many Bothans died so you could get your bonfire and happy ending, assholes!?!) Not a Chosen One, a Captain He's-Just-So-Good Kirk, or a soon to be discovered Jedi. Just a guy who has to claw his way through the story the hard way. Yeah. I still hold out hope. The actor has a good face/expression for that in the two seconds he appears. Mark me down as cautiously and guardedly intrigued.

Yes I loved Stormtroopers, always defend them in arguments as the badassess the are. I really hope that he's some random trooper that we follow on an adventure.

 

[ash12181987]

I actually wouldn't mind a black stormtrooper... but I don't think John Boy-er... the character we are talking about (Sorry, can't spell his last name) is a Stormtrooper. I'll bet anything he is actually a goodguy disguised as a stormtrooper.

Now, as to not minding a black stormtrooper, where does it say the Empire doesn't want black people being stormtroopers? I mean, from the extended universe, we know that all stormtroopers are not clones, Davin Felth for example (The "Look sir, droids" guy) was naturally born. All we ever get that is frowned upon, is non-humans, and Lando Calrissian, Mace Windu, and colonel Panaka are all listed as human. The only reason we never see faces, is that Storm troopers are meant to be the faceless horde. Really not seeing why this should be an issue anyway though...

SO yeah, he's not a stormtrooper, he's most likely in disguise. Further, it shouldn't matter canonically... or really at all.

 

[Skeleon]

Erm. Yes, the article is right that he might simply be wearing the armour as a disguise.
But even if he is an actual soldier: The Empire is all about promoting humans (or whatever we call the beings that look like humans in that galaxy far, far away).
And once their clone reserves (from the prequel trilogy) dried up - at least as far as I understand it - they started hiring and conscripting other humans into their army ranks (already the case in the main trilogy with clearly non-clone officers and the stormtroopers having different, variable voices).
And when that dried up even later on (now entering extended universe stuff), they finally started adding humanoid aliens.
So I see zero problems with having a black human as part of the stormtroopers as long as it takes place either during or after the main trilogy when the clone reserves are running low and other humans are added in. As far as I'm concerned, plenty of the stormtroopers we saw gunned down might've been something other than white. We can't really tell, because... that white thing on their heads? Those are their helmets, not their faces.
Gee, we have the dumbest controversies.

 

[cleric of the order]

The original Lightsaber designs were obviously very Kendo inspired. But they have added some flair and differentiation with individual characters since. Count Dooku's Lightsaber in particular was a fencing blade and hilt, reflecting Christopher Lee's skill as a fencer. Darth Maul obviously pulled from a different weapon tradition. As did Ashoka Tano and Ventriss in the Clone Wars.

Let's be honest Lightsabers are inherently stupid weapons. Cool but stupid. They are just a means for visual story telling. Once you accept that they exist, the specifics are simply window dressing and allegory. The European style hilted long bladed Lightsaber probably tells us more about the weilder than the technical aspects of how it is used. It implies they are playing up the character as a Knight or a Crusader of some sort. Someone questing for some holy grail perhaps?

I have to wonder about that.
The Jedi where already linked heavily to the Sōhei to begin with (I know they are better known for their use of the naginata, but the point is buddhist warrior monks).
they could be doing some universe restructuring, this could be a sign that since Luke was the only jedi after movie 6 his school of thought might be vastly different.
Or a sign of cultural changes over the last 30 years.
Are they restructuring the use of the force, making it more western dogmatic/mystic veiw as opposed to eastern mysticism sort of veiw(Gnostic reinterpretation would be fucking cool).
Are we going to see some philosophical war undertones, if they are invoking Kotor, 1 & 2 (mostly 2) that would be awesome.
Are they trying to homogenize the roles, is the lightsaber just thoughtlessness.
Is this jedi a crusader in common terms, a brute, a limper (fro the black company books, cool guy, wouldn't die no matter what) of the new movies.

 

[Dogstile]

I think this will have as much effect as Heimdall being black in the Thor movies.

That one I could understand as Heimdall was incredibly white. Like, not even skin is kinda dark white, he was white as hell. If he was black in the lore/comics and they replaced him with a white character, they'd be people shouting "whitewashing".

With this? People on the internet were just confused because its not really common knowledge that the empire started recruiting non-clones. I didn't really read outright racism (aside from one or two trolls).

 

[jabrwock]

Simply a byproduct of not being able to hire Octomom in the 70's. The solution was for them to always be in uniform, and have the voice masked to sound as identical as possible, but not so identical the audience can't tell them apart. You could probably cite canon the says otherwise, but since they're only accepting the movies that leaves a bit of a gap for citing it.

In the 70's, Lucas clearly didn't intend for them to be clones. Otherwise he would have done voiceovers to give them all the same voice. That wasn't added until the "special editions", in an attempt to retcon that STs were all clones.

So it depends which version of "canon" you want me to quote. The movies as they were up until the 90's (where they have different voices and heights)? Or the movies post-90's (where some have the same height, and most have the same voice)? Or the 'new' canon, which includes the cartoon where they show recruits training to be STs who clearly aren't clones?

 

[ryukage_sama]

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

He looks sweaty?

We're lacking any of the context for the scene,so any commentary is a waste of digital space.

 

[Schadrach]

This is edris alba playing hymdall all over again. These "critics" are just closet racists spouting the usual bullshit. Fuck em all.

Meh, there's a meaningful difference between "random soldier or perhaps disguised spy" being played by a black actor (because in canon, a majority of Stormtroopers weren't Jango Fett clones by the beginning of Episode IV) and a white comic book character based on a Scandinavian deity dubbed "the whitest of the gods" being played by a black actor. Hint, canon is a thing, and some folks don't like it being disregarded for no good reason (others only care when it's a white actor being cast).

Also, you spelled his name wrong. Idris Elba played Heimdall. Vowels are important, yo.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

"white people master race"? really?

anyways i did see people bitching about him and honestly, who cares? really who fucking cares?

in the prequels the republic's army are a bunch of clones, but FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND (and im a star wars noob here so i might be wrong), that is no longer the case in the original trilogy, theres no evidence the empire is racist, if anything they discriminate agaisnt others aliens i think, but not among humans, plus the original films and the prequels had black characters

im my opinion is completely worthless to complain about this

 

[faefrost]

I'm disappointed on two levels...

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

Ditto; when I saw the trailer, I was hoping (still hope?) that the hero starts off as a storm trooper. His story arc from Empire to Republic would have been interesting. The arc from random-faceless-meat-shield-#247003 to hero would have been fascinating too. The prequels, Clone wars, a lot of the EU and this new Rebels series all seem to put a lot of emphasis on Chosen One, or at the least some 'the force is strong with this one' unknown guy/gal who blossoms into the Jedi who is key to something major. Always super-special at the core, either way. But the original Star Wars had two hero tropes, after all: and the self centered jackass smuggler who turns into a reluctant hero muddling along the best he can made for a great story.

And hell, even if he's not a storm trooper, that latter type of trope could still happen in some form or other if he's just one of the random rebel meat-shields that always seem to get mowed down by the dozen whenever the heroes make a sortie (seriously, I always feel sorry for those anonymous guys, especially when the heroes celebrate at the end. Do you know how many Bothans died so you could get your bonfire and happy ending, assholes!?!) Not a Chosen One, a Captain He's-Just-So-Good Kirk, or a soon to be discovered Jedi. Just a guy who has to claw his way through the story the hard way. Yeah. I still hold out hope. The actor has a good face/expression for that in the two seconds he appears. Mark me down as cautiously and guardedly intrigued.

Does he realize he is really a Jedi when he miraculously starts actually hitting the targets he's shooting at?

 

[faefrost]

The original Lightsaber designs were obviously very Kendo inspired. But they have added some flair and differentiation with individual characters since. Count Dooku's Lightsaber in particular was a fencing blade and hilt, reflecting Christopher Lee's skill as a fencer. Darth Maul obviously pulled from a different weapon tradition. As did Ashoka Tano and Ventriss in the Clone Wars.

Let's be honest Lightsabers are inherently stupid weapons. Cool but stupid. They are just a means for visual story telling. Once you accept that they exist, the specifics are simply window dressing and allegory. The European style hilted long bladed Lightsaber probably tells us more about the weilder than the technical aspects of how it is used. It implies they are playing up the character as a Knight or a Crusader of some sort. Someone questing for some holy grail perhaps?

I have to wonder about that.
The Jedi where already linked heavily to the Sōhei to begin with (I know they are better known for their use of the naginata, but the point is buddhist warrior monks).
they could be doing some universe restructuring, this could be a sign that since Luke was the only jedi after movie 6 his school of thought might be vastly different.
Or a sign of cultural changes over the last 30 years.
Are they restructuring the use of the force, making it more western dogmatic/mystic veiw as opposed to eastern mysticism sort of veiw(Gnostic reinterpretation would be fucking cool).
Are we going to see some philosophical war undertones, if they are invoking Kotor, 1 & 2 (mostly 2) that would be awesome.
Are they trying to homogenize the roles, is the lightsaber just thoughtlessness.
Is this jedi a crusader in common terms, a brute, a limper (fro the black company books, cool guy, wouldn't die no matter what) of the new movies.

It's possible they may be fleshing out the Sith and giving them a more Medieval Western feel? The whole "rule of two Master and Apprentice" thing as well as the more modern concept of the Inquisitors, and the Emperor sitting atop a hierarchal structure in a quasi religious way. (And no I am not saying Palpatine = the Pope. Just that it is an interesting Sci Fi approach to contrast structures. Much like Battlestar Galactica did with their religions.) kind of has a bit of that sort of feel. And that would also play into the Old Republic games lore a bit.

Oh and I just realized I missed one of the more interesting non Samurai / Kendo Lightsaber variants. The most recent one, which probably has more clues to where they are going. The Imperial Inquisitor from the Rebels animated series. Once you get past the spiny gimmick of his blade you realize that when he actually uses it to fight, it is a western style Cavalry Saber.

 

[Pebkio]

I... don't think that is, or if it is... should be, the main criticism for the black stormtrooper. This is supposed to be taking place 20+ years after Hitler's Germany Palpatine's Empire.

No the real complaint is that Lucas already retconned all the stormtroopers as clones. Clones of that one guy. Who isn't black (not saying he was white or anything). Then again, the tweet didn't address the black stormtrooper thing. Are you sure you're not reading racism into most critics? Beause the biggest complaint, that I've heard, is over that idiotic lightsaber.

Maybe the tweet was actually:

"We're going hamfisted on religious iconography... get used to it"
or
"None of this will take place in space... get used to it"
or
"Star Wars will just be, entirely, a series of 5-secsond notalgia clips... get used to it"

 

[Ukomba]

Somehow I doubt skin color really matters when you have other species to be racist against.

"Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because ? what with trolls and dwarfs and so on ? speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green." - Terry Pratchett

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

Who's seen him in anything? Is he a sucky actor? (like, say, Common in Hell on Wheels) Are we going to want to consign him to the Jar-Jar bucket for making us feel sorry we saw the film? He's already kind of being a dick by with the whole "get over it" business (way to make the movie about yourself, no-name actor) and honestly, like so many others, I give more of a damn about the roller-ball droid and the slit-your-own-wrist lightsaber.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I don't get what the big deal is, maybe the Empire has been working to recruit more humans? Personally, I'm hoping for the "Stormtrooper with awakened Jedi powers" angle, that sounds like an interesting way to go...

 

[Entitled]

Wait so being confused about a Stormtrooper not being a Jango Fett clone makes you racist now?

No, but making comments like "WTF are niggers doing in ep VII" definitely does.

 

[jabrwock]

Are you sure you're not reading racism into most critics?

"Oh gawd, why does JJ have to appease the diversity crowd/push the diversity button?" (paraphrased)

Bitching about diversity in the US is "code" for "why is there a (non-white) person in the place of my pre-conceived notion that this character should be white for some reason".

From there it just gets silly (like pointing at the half-Maori actor and saying "See? HE was white! So are all his clones!")

 

[Kittyhawk]

Shouldn't be surprised by this really. SW fans know that as the Empire crumbles or shakes from the Rebel ass kicking, their clones will gradually expire with no access to Kimino knowledge and tech that made them, which the Empire stole for the Emperor and then destroyed (or something like that).

Once the clones begin to expire, as their main reason for existence was to take out the Jedi Knights, the Empire remnants need to hire from the unwashed civis of various planets to boost their forces and not lose ground. They'd offer a tempting package for many looking for some adventure and good pay, but would be more open to rebel spies (or even latent Jedi) getting in their ranks. This stuff is going to make Episode 7 really interesting, much more than those prequels were.

December 2015. Can hardly wait, but lots of other good flicks to see until then.

Storm troopers can be anyone, with the Emperor and Vader gone. And only picky fools will have issue with that.

 

[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?

Yawn, "I'm the most liberal, look at me I'm so offended", "no no, I'm offended too, aren't we both so open minded?"

It wasn't meant in a derogatory sense, quite the opposite; it's this kind of posturing over nothing that makes people switch off when it really matters.

Which is why I said "bothered" not "offended".