top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureJames Quinn

BLACKNESS IN THE STAR WARS FILMS


Inspired by the recent activities of the Black Lives Matter movement, and John Boyega’s heroic and heart-felt stance against racism with the riots, I thought it would be interesting to examine the kind of roles black people have been given in the Star Wars films, and whether they portrayed black characters in a fair and interesting light. As mentioned in my last blog post, black people and people of color used to not have as big a presence in genre-fiction and science fiction overall, especially in films and Television. Sure, there were people like experimental jazz musician Sun-Rah who made the film “Space is the Place” but those were largely the exception. Especially during the ’70s and ’80s, if audiences wanted to see a movie with a black protagonist, one would’ve gone to see a blaxploitation film like Shaft and Superfly. In genre-films they were very few and far between, which is why it’s interesting that George Lucas decided to cast major black people in his movies, but with how much depth and care is what we’re going to look at in this post.

For the sake of keeping it brief and because of only being a casual fan of Star Wars (could you tell?) I’ll only be talking about these characters as they are portrayed in the films. Mainly because I haven’t read a lot of the Star Wars expanded universe books and comics, but also because the films are seen more by general audiences. If someone would like to share some interesting facts about these characters to me in the comments or email, I’ll be happy to discuss them but for now, we’re only looking at the films. I also won’t be discussing James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. To not diminish Jones’ excellent performance, but in the Star Wars canon, Darth Vader is white. With all that out of the way let’s start with the first major black character in the Star Wars franchise; Lando Calrissian.

Lando Calrissian

(The baddest mother****** in the galaxy)


According to George Lucas, Lando was originally going to be a product of the cloning project which set off the “Clone Wars” mentioned in Star Wars: A New Hope. However, the idea was eventually scrapped and they settled for just making him Han Solo’s smuggling buddy from their younger years. Lando as a character is immediately introduced as a suave and charming man, flirting with Princess Leia and reminiscing with Han about their smuggling adventures which later got fleshed out in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Billy Dee Williams brings charisma and wit to the character that hadn’t been seen in the Star Wars universe so far. Remember those Blaxploitation movies I had mentioned earlier? It’s almost as if Williams was merely acting as if he was on the set of Superfly instead of Star Wars.

Lando’s character arc in Empire Strikes Back revolves around his portrayal of Han Solo and his friends to Darth Vader and the Empire. It’s clearly shown that Lando feels in danger as he is the administrator of Cloud City, and Darth Vader threatened to put his city under empire rule. To get rid of the empire out of his domain, Lando offers his old buddy Han to Darth Vader. In terms of where he stands as a black character, I suppose one could see him as an “uncle tom” turned good. Eventually, Lando does help Luke and Leia save Han Solo in the next movie Return of the Jedi after realizing that his friends and making sure the empire is taken down completely will cause more effective change for the galaxy than just shooing the empire away for the moment. Although it starts in a bad complexion to audiences (especially little kids) Lando wins his trust back by joining the rebellion and just being so charming.

Although Lando goes through a significant redemption arc in Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi mostly leaves Lando in the background as the writing largely revolves around wrapping up the character arcs of Luke and Darth Vader. Sure, Lando does help the rebellion blow up the second death star, but beyond that, not much is done with the character. I wasn’t able to find why Lando had a reduced role other than just to let the main characters have more screen time, but judging by snippets of interviews I’ve seen of Williams, he didn’t seem too excited about the character himself. In talking about his role in Star Wars, I’ve gotten the impression that he knows just enough to play his role and nothing much else. One can see in interviews that Williams didn’t put too much thought or pathos into playing Lando. Williams portrays Lando as another cool action figure in the Star Wars franchise. I’m sure he understands the significance of being a black man in Star Wars but doesn’t seem to have much passion for it beyond a popular role and a good paycheck. Hell, even when Donald Glover went to him for advice on how to play Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story, all Billy Dee Williams had to say was “I don’t know, just be charming.”, and so that’s what Glover did.

When playing Lando for Solo: A Star Wars Story Donald Glover brings the same amount of wit and charm that Billy Dee Williams did, but with a bit of a twist. Lawrence Kasdan and even Donald Glover had confirmed that Lando is a pansexual character. In the movie, it can be implied that Lando is somewhat flirting with Han when they first meet, but that immediately dissolves into the familiar friendly rivalry that was seen in the original trilogy. There is also an argument to be made that Lando’s pansexuality is apparent in his implied romantic relationship with the droid L3-37 voiced by British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Although Glover and Bridge do have good chemistry in the film, I question whether it displays pansexuality in a meaningful way. I wouldn’t put it past Lando to have a romantic relationship and even sleep with droids as technically that is portraying a form of pansexuality for types of life-forms organic or otherwise, but I don’t believe it’s as revolutionary for portraying pansexuality in the franchise. To me, Lando’s relationship with L3-37 has the same vibe as when Kirk hooks up with a green woman in the Star Trek franchise. Sure, technically Lando is having a relationship with someone beyond the gender binary, but it’s still with someone who has feminine traits. For me, it would be more radical if Lando was portrayed to have a romantic relationship with another male in the movie as it would further demonstrate his fluid sexuality. As it stands in the film, Lando’s pansexuality is only hinted at and implied, not confirmed within the canon of the Star Wars franchise, and unfortunately reflects the franchises’ negligent actions to not portray LGBTQ people in their films.

Mace Windu

(Mace WindWho???)


This section will most certainly be the shortest because I don’t have much to say about Mace Windu. It’s largely because Mace Windu doesn’t do much throughout a lot of the prequel trilogy. I understand that Mace Windu is an active Jedi in many of the battle scenes particularly with Jango Fett and Lord Sideous, but he doesn’t offer much as far as character depth. At most, Mace Windu is like the other Jedis in the Jedi council, which is they are there to discuss war tactics, politics, the fate of the Jedi Order, and the training of Anakin Skywalker. In short, Mace Windu is there to deliver a lot of exposition for the audience and look like a badass Jedi warrior. To not say that Samuel L. Jackson didn’t have some fun with the role as he requested George Lucas to give him a purple lightsaber in the films, but it’s one of his weakest roles. The blame for this would be George Lucas’s script and direction for the actors, as most of the characters in the prequel trilogy feel stoic and wooden in their performances. As far as significance to black culture, Mace Windu felt like another black body added for the sake of making the franchise look more diverse. I’m sure Mace Windu has a more interesting backstory in the expanded Star Wars material, but as it stands on film Mace Windu is bland.

Finn

(Wasted Potential)


When the second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, many black fans and myself included were excited to see that a possible black Jedi was going to take center stage in the sequel Star Wars trilogy. John Boyega was excited as well; just look at my boy's reaction when seeing the trailer:




Even within the movie, Finn was a fun and dynamic character and a breath of fresh air for a franchise that wanted to gain new fans. Finn is portrayed as a Stormtrooper terrified of the actions of the “Frist Order” and leaves the organization to fight with the resistance. Along the way, Finn meets Poe Dameron a fighter-pilot for the resistance and Rey a force-sensitive girl from a desert planet, both of whom Finn becomes good friends with. Throughout the Force Awakens, Finn learns the importance of fighting for what’s right and even gets to wield a lightsaber to defend his friends. From a black perspective, one could see Finn’s journey in Force Awakens as a black man breaking away from an oppressive force that shields his blackness from the world and asserts his free-will by leaving that organization. I remember thinking to myself before seeing the movie that it’s cool that Finn might be Luke Skywalker’s student as it would make up for the lack of a black presence throughout the rest of the franchise. So, one could sort of imagine my disappointment with how his character was handled in The Last Jedi.

The Last Jedi has many issues for me personally, but one of the biggest issues is how Finn’s role is not as interesting or engaging as his role in The Force Awakens. When Finn wakes back up from his coma, he’s sent on a lame-ass side quest to find a code-breaker and sneak into a First Order star-destroyer. Engaging enough I suppose, the overall plot around their adventure fails and Finn essentially learns the same lesson he learned in the last movie: don’t just fight for yourself, fight for others. There are scenes where John Boyega shines as Finn, but it just makes me want to see more of his character be involved in the main plot between Rey, Luke, and Kylo Renn. All those dreams of Finn becoming a Jedi seemed to be dwindling, and by the time Rise of Skywalker came out the sequel trilogy was concluded and dreams of seeing Finn as a great Jedi warrior were shattered. Finn in the Rise of Skywalker is relegated to comic-relief and support. Anything interesting that’s done with Finn in this movie is implied like when he had to tell Rey a secret, and just abandoned altogether when we don’t even find out what that is. J.J. Abrams came out after the movie was made to declare that Finn was going to come out as force-sensitive, but that doesn’t mean anything when it’s not in the movie. Finn had the potential to be a unique and interesting character in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but with each movie, his importance to the story kept getting smaller and smaller and that largely disappointed I and other black fans as well.

I also believe it is important to bring up the fan-theory or fan-support that people had for a homosexual relationship between Poe and Finn. I would’ve loved it if that were put into the films. The sequel trilogy was missing a great love-story that the previous two trilogies had and what better way to make it different than by having it be a gay relationship; on top of Finn also being a Jedi would’ve been a radical move on Disney’s part, but it appears that it was too radical for them to include. To not say that the only interesting direction to take these characters is to make them gay, but having them in a relationship would be more interesting than just having the two help Rey accomplish her goals. John Boyega is an incredible and charismatic actor, and I hope that in the future he can get roles that show off his talents.

YouTube reviewer Red Letter Media in reviewing the prequels once said that “black people don’t like Star Wars.” As ignorant and racist as that statement was, I can see what he was trying to say. Because of the lack of black people or even a black presence in the franchise, the Star Wars movies don’t seem to resonate with a lot of black audiences. The point of view that “black people don’t like Star Wars” comes from a limited view on the black identity in America as black people aren’t portrayed in the general media as being passionate about genre-fiction. Now, Afrofuturism and black people within genre-fiction are growing more and more popular, and many black fans are coming out and declaring their love for “geeky” entertainment; which is why the lack of a black presence in the Star Wars films can be a bit disappointing for me. As someone who came into the franchise late in life when I was 13, I didn’t feel any kind of way about it because I’m sure the writers and directors of Star Wars just didn’t have a black story in mind when making these movies. George Lucas and other writers and directors aren’t obligated to tell a black story if they don’t feel comfortable with it, but with a franchise as big and all-encompassing as Star Wars, it should make room for black creators to come in and express themselves in the same ways that Marvel and Star Trek allowed for people of color to tell their stories in their universes as well. The Star Wars franchise as of now is in a position where they can tell all kinds of different stories now that the “Skywalker” saga is concluded, and I hope that Kathleen Kennedy and the other owners of the Star Wars franchise allow a diverse group of people to tell their stories in a galaxy far far away.


I would also like to credit Robert Daniels of www.polygon.com for his piece on black characters in Stars Wars and inspiring me to write my own blog post on the subject as well. Check it out in the link below.

74 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page