Minority Representation in the Star Wars Franchise

The term “Orientalism” has shifted its meaning over the past hundred years. Once simply defined as the study of Eastern society and cultures, the word gained new meaning when postcolonial scholar Edward Said published his work Orientalism in 1978. He redefines the word as, “a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident,’” (Said, 10) and as “a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient,” (Said, 11). However, Orientalist themes can be portrayed through lenses other than the traditional East-West dichotomy. These basic themes can be depicted with any two groups where one has been historically oppressed by the other and (often arbitrary) distinctions between the two groups are clearly defined in an attempted “othering” of a group. Essentially, the “Occident” are the oppressors while the “Orient” are the oppressed. Historically, this has been the case with men and women, whites and blacks, and white Americans and Native Americans.

Throughout this paper, I will explore basic themes of Orientalism through lenses of white American superiority and sexism within the Star Wars canon and how the portrayal of these themes changes as the series progresses. Using the Star Wars canon, these ideas can be related to broader race and gender representation issues in Hollywood and the film industry as a whole. Lately, there has been more attention paid to the representation of minorities and women in popular culture. Public calls for increased and stronger representation, such as the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite or backlash against movies in which white actors play characters of color, have brought to light issues that have historically been ignored. Plenty of literature is available on the historical pervasiveness of racism and sexism in media (Hughey, Eschholz), but very little is focused on whether or not it has improved over recent years.

Using the Star Wars canon as a lense, I will analyze the prevalence of broad Orientalist themes and how depictions of these themes have changed over time. By comparing various female leads, human characters of color, and power dynamics between human and non-human species throughout the Star Wars canon, I will illuminate themes of Orientalism that are still prevalent in the film industry, despite recent efforts for more representational equality.

It is telling of the pervasiveness of Orientalist sexism of the film industry that one of the most iconic images of a woman in any of the Star Wars films is Slave Leia. Captured and enslaved by Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, she wears only a metal bikini.

This hypersexualized image represents historical sexist notions that women have worth only as sexual beings, not as intellectuals. The Orientalist power structure presented here is between men and women, where women are “the other” and are distinguished from men by being viewed as purely sexual objects or as a means of reproduction. Another instance of this theme is with Padmé Amidala in the Prequel Trilogy. Her only contributions to the plot are as Anakin Skywalker’s love interest and as the mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. She dies immediately after giving birth, solidifying her role as only a mother and a lover, nothing more. This is again evidence of Orientalist themes of the objectification of women. Padmé is relevant only because of what her body can do, not her mind, making her an “other” and inferior in comparison to male characters in the films.

However, there has been marked improvement in the representation of women in the Star Wars canon. In the two most recent films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Episode VII – The Force Awakens, female leads are portrayed in a much more positive way. In Rogue One, Jyn Erso is a strong willed and independent character whose

contributions are vital in securing the plans for the Death Star for the Rebel Alliance. She never wears any hypersexualized clothing as Leia does in Return of the Jedi. Similarly, Rey, the protagonist of The Force Awakens, is an independent and courageous character whose body is not marketed as Leia’s is. She also heavily contributes to the plot without being romantically tied to a man, as Padmé fails to do. This change in the portrayal of women exhibits a shift in public thinking about representation and the media. As asserted by Eschholz et al., women are still under- or misrepresented in media, but, as shown with Jyn and Rey, there have been improvements in recent years. These changes in depiction begin to reverse the “othering” of women, but they must continue if these Orientalist notions are to be eliminated completely.

Race also plays a role in the Orientalist power structures of the Star Wars universe.  Historically, people of color have been treated as the “other,” and whiteness has become the standard to which they are compared. Beginning in The Empire Strikes Back, instances of what Matthew Hughey calls “cinethetic racism” begin to appear. Defined as “a synthesis of overt manifestations of racial cooperation and egalitarianism with latent expressions of white normativity and antiblack stereotypes,” Hughey’s cinethetic racism appears first with Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back  (Hughey, 1). After offering Han and Leia refuge, he subordinates himself to Darth Vader, a white man, and betrays the refugees to the Sith Lord. While this action may seem cooperative and innocent, it reinforces cultural Orientalist power ideals that people of color are subordinate to white people. This theme is apparent again in Revenge of the Sith, when Mace Windu attempts to arrest Darth Sidious. In this scene, Windu inexplicably loses grasp of what he has been taught his entire life as a Jedi and is depicted as uncharacteristically angry and less intelligent than the white Darth Sidious, both of which are common negative stereotypes for black men. While Windu begins the scene cool, calm, and collected, he becomes increasingly angry throughout the scene. In addition, Sidious depicts himself as a defenseless old man and is represented as the victim to the stereotypical angry black man. The directorial choice to have a feeble white man fall victim to an angry black man only reinforces Orientalist and racist themes of black aggression and criminality. This scene also depicts Mace Windu as less intelligent than Darth Sidious.

Sidious’s portrayal of himself as physically weak is a disguise, buying himself more time until Anakin arrives to rescue him. Windu knows that Sidious is one of the most powerful Force-sensitive beings in the galaxy, but is tricked by his disguise and seems to forget how dangerous the Sith Lord is. He hesitates to execute Sidious, allowing Anakin to incapacitate him and for Sidious to strike him down instead. This part of the scene illustrates the black man as less intelligent than the white man, another racist trope that is recurrent across many forms of media. The subtle, cinethetic racism displayed here furthers historical notions that white is the standard and that people of color are less than and “other,” perpetuating Orientalist divisions between the “Orient” and the “Occident.”

Similar to women, there has been representational progress for people of color, if not to a lesser degree. In The Force Awakens, Finn, a black character, is one of the lead protagonists. While it is important to acknowledge the importance of having a black lead, Finn is continually depicted as inferior to white characters. In the final battle of the film, Finn battles Kylo Ren one on one and is defeated handily, an excusable outcome

given that Kylo Ren is a trained Sith. However, after Finn is incapacitated, his white counterpart Rey attempts to fight Kylo Ren with much more success––eventually beating him. Finn, a former Storm Trooper, has more experience with hand-to-hand combat than Rey, a scavenger from the remote desert planet Jakku, making the outcome of the battle confusing. It is almost explicitly stated in the film that Rey is Force-sensitive, which would explain her competence in battle against Ren. However, there are valid and compelling arguments that Finn is Force-sensitive as well, which would render arguments that Rey was able to beat Kylo Ren because of her Force-sensitivity null. The outcome of this scene portrays the black character as inferior to the white one, highlighting modern Orientalist distinctions between the standard and the “other.” Even though there is a black lead in the film, more work is necessary in the search for representational equality.

Inter-species Orientalist power structures are also present in the Star Wars universe. This dichotomy takes the form of pitting humans against non-human species and is present throughout almost every film in the canon. Beginning in A New Hope, almost every single human is white, while the “criminal” Mos Eisley Cantina is mostly non-

human. This illustrates the Orientalist idea that to be white and from the West is essential to be human and that those who are not white are inherently inhuman, amoral, and criminal. In Return of the Jedi, the same idea is reinforced in Jabba’s Palace. A notorious gangster, Jabba the Hutt is the face of criminality in the series. His henchmen are almost entirely non-human, while the heroes he fights are almost entirely white, deepening the sentiment that whiteness is virtuous while non-whiteness equates to evil. A 2000 study by Dixon and Linz found that African Americans are significantly overrepresented as criminals on television news programs, which heavily contributes to the institutional ideas of black criminality displayed here. The portrayal of heroes as white and the lack of positively depicted human characters of color in the Star Wars franchise only builds on existing repressive cultural notions asserted by Dixon and Linz. Because the relationships between whites and non-whites in reality and humans and non-humans in the Star Wars universe have many parallels, such as white superiority in reality and human superiority in the films, by portraying non-humans as criminals, the franchise relays a message that non-whites are criminals––feeding into an already toxic Orientalist stereotype of black “otherness.”

In more recent films, however, non-human characters are portrayed in a more positive light. In The Force Awakens, Maz Kanata is portrayed as a kind and wise old being, helping the resistance to defeat the First Order. As the owner of the cantina on

Takodana and a former smuggler, Maz shares many similarities with problematic non-human characters in the series, such as Jabba the Hutt and Watto. However, she is not portrayed as a criminal, as she assists Rey, Finn, and the rest of the resistance by giving Skywalker’s lightsaber to Rey. This scene differs from the way non-human creatures are portrayed in Mos Eisley and in most other instances within the canon. Instead of being depicted as unintelligent or criminal, Maz Kanata is shown as wise and compassionate, a stark difference from previous films.

These expansive Orientalist attitudes present so often in the Star Wars film franchise are representative of a more extensive problem in the film industry as a whole. Misrepresentation of women and people of color in Hollywood only fuels the oppressive institutions that have treated them as “others” for so long. Though there have been improvements, there are still more actions that should be taken towards representational equality. Perpetuating Orientalist thought by representing historically marginalized groups as “others” maintains a status quo of inequality and injustice as well as contributing to the pervasive nature of damaging stereotypes. The oversexualization of female characters assists misogynistic ideas that women are only valuable for their bodies and that they are intellectually inferior to men. Cultural perceptions of white superiority are only strengthened when black characters are consistently depicted as less than their white counterparts. Racial homogeneity in human characters bolsters notions that white equals human and that those who are not white are secondary to those who are. These ideas are widespread in all of film media, not just Star Wars, but as one of the most recognizable movie franchises in the world, there is a moral obligation to work to reverse the damaging negative stereotypes that are so pervasive within their industry.

 

Works Cited

Hughey, Matthew W. “Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in ‘Magical Negro’ Films.” Social Problems, vol. 56, no. 3, 2009, pp. 543–577.

Sarah Eschholz, Ted Chiricos, Marc Gertz. “Television and Fear of Crime: Program Types, Audience Traits, and the Mediating Effect of Perceived Neighborhood Racial Composition.” Social Problems, vol. 50, no. 3, 2003, pp. 395–415.

Travis L. Dixon, Daniel Linz. “Overrepresentation and Underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as Lawbreakers on Television News.” Journal of Communication, vol. 50, no. 2, 2000, pp. 131-154.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Kershner, Irvin, director. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Twentieth Century Fox, 1980.

Marquand, Richard, director. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Twentieth Century Fox, 1983.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Twentieth Century Fox, 1999.

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Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Twentieth Century Fox, 2005.

Abrams, J.J., director, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2015.

Edwards, Gareth, director, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2016.

Lord, Emma. “Is Finn Force-Sensitive In ‘Star Wars’? Proof That Finn Is The ‘Awakening’ From The Movie.” Bustle, 13 April 2016.

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