Predicting Rogue One's negative criticism

H.I.M. didn't have a problem with it and he hated aliens stunted-slimes. So there's that.

 

Well the point of bringing Thrawn into the argument is that, strip out Earthly politics of race and colour and you're left with purely descriptive.

I'm reminded about the recent black Hermione thing in the Harry Potter play. Star Wars canon is primarily visual now, with so much TV/comics spin off material and so much of the old EU books discarded. We don't need Luke's white skin describing in text - it's there on screen. With new characters, some indication of their skin colour helps with the visualisation, but isn't necessary. If, like Hermione, it isn't stated then the reader is free to ascribe whatever mental image they like. Like Hermione though, if your personal mental image is compromised by a future film Casting Director's mental vision, that isn't racism - conscious or unconscious - it's just a difference of opinion.

Star Wars (particularly the PT) does have some seemingly racial caricature/stereotype characters: Watto, the Nemoidians, Jar Jar spring to mind. These were clumsy, cinematic cultural references from GL's youth that unfortunately backfired (Ming the Merciless anyone?). GL failed to see the racism in the originals; he was a kid when he saw those Flash Gordon serials. It was not intentional racism. I think it would be hard to level that accusation at him.

 

You conveniently leave out a more in-depth description of Thane being short, red haired and big feet - which 1900's USA would have meant the exact same thing as your description of a lower-class Cienna Ree. So they do use description of other characters. In fact, the only time they describe Ree's skin is in comparison to her shabby dress, which you interpret as equivalent to 'black' or person of 'color', which I actually never did until I read the book and people were talking about it. Her identity was already established as she rode an animal and dressed the way she did and thought the way she did prior to to that description.

Yet, let's buy into your complaint about race being an issue as it relates to the novel:

You leave out how Ree and Thane's story is flipped into an interesting narrative. Thane, the privileged class member, becomes the revolutionary, and Ciena, of the lower class, chases aristocracy because of her belief in loyalty and the Empire's manipulation of the class system on Jelucan. Interestingly enough, it has nothing to do with race, but with the Empire's own meddling with class in its territories, much likes every European colony in Africa and Asia - divide and dominate native class systems. In that way, the race part, if it was purposeful, which you claim it is, represents an interesting commentary on imperialism that we rarely talk about - the beneficiaries of imperial powers becoming the imperialists themselves and committing the same and sometimes most horrible sins. Would you have Star Wars completely devoid of this socio-political commentary?? Star Wars, contrary to some OT purists, has never been devoid of socio-political commentary. And that twist, makes Lost Stars even more interesting now that I think about it - we get lost in enjoying the GCW and the romance, but I guess there's more there, if you're willing to make those real life socio-political connections and not just get blinded by the race card.

 

Voted for the over feminism etc. Typical people complain about Rey being the lead so two movies in a row should make'em angry all right

 

You wrote that at least twice now and seem to base your entire argument around it but it's just plainly 100% wrong!
Having read all of the new canon books I can say fore sure that

• Pretty much every even just minimally significant character gets at least the skin tone + hair color description. Often there is also something about eye color, facial features and clothing of course.
• Every imaginable skin tone has been described, by pretty much every suitable adjective and comparison to all kinds of colored objects at some point. Just from the books that you mentioned you had read there is for example in Twilight Company: Everi Chalis, who has "light skin" and "dark" hair, Thara Nyende who is "blonde" and "tanned", the main character Namir who has "light brown" skin and "very dark, smooth" hair and Captain Evon who has "dark brown" skin, "black but graying" hair and blue eyes. I could go on and on here.

I'm not sure why you (unconsciously?) chose to ignore every description that wouldn't fit your idea of a "black" person but they are there.

Also, you act as if describing the appearance of characters in books is something unheard of. Last I checked, at least vaguely describing characters you're talking about has been done since the dawn of storytelling. And making every character a completely blank slate without any features whatsoever is probably not the best way to go about preventing racism.


As for the main topic of the thread: R1 will definitely get all of the above listed complaints and is in fact already now getting them. There's just no getting around it with something as popular as Star Wars.

 

How were they racial?

 

Watto with a Jewish accent. The nemoidians oriental. Jar Jar the comedic subservient/incompetent/cowardly Stepin Fetchit clown; the hallmark portrayal of African-Americans in the "magnolia scented South" films from the Pre-war era.

 

for sure some criticism that it won't feel 100% like Star Wars and maybe confusion of general moviegoers why there is no Rey, Finn and Kylo.

 

I am a little worried about the film being shot using handheld techniques. As stated in Empires latest article, Rogue One will mix handheld scenes with the old style. I assume the handheld will be used for the majority of the heavy action sequences.

Now I believe Edwards used this style in Godzilla too, where it wasn't too bad. I think handheld shots can look great if pulled off correctly. There is a difference between shooting handheld and using shaky cam. I like the sweeping, up close look you can get using handheld, but cannot stand excessive shaky cam. If it is done anything like the new Bourne movie or the Taken films it won't be a good thing.

I'm hoping this isn't the case. What do you guys think?

 

Agreed!

 

I am not worried about "shaky cam" with this film. Edwards knows how to shoot, he won't mess this up visually. Will we be invested in the characters that we will ONLY see for one film? This is the ONLY concern I have with this movie, and it's a small one for me at that. This could be a complaint for some people, since it was a complaint made for Godzilla...which I loved btw.

 

Turns out I was right Except for Cassian.