Along with anticipation and excitement for the new Star Wars movie there has also been a minority of movie fans expressing racial and sexist comments towards two of the films leading actors John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Ever since the first teaser trailer released for the film in which Boyega’s character Finn was the first actor you saw some fans hated the prospect of a black protagonist in a Star Wars film.
Boyega has always been upfront and defended his casting in the film (as he should), speaking with EW he had this to say: “We see through the eyes of children that they’re not talking about race the way we grown folks are. They’re not talking about color or how much melanin is in someone’s skin. That should teach us something. We’ve been having a continuous struggle with idiots, and now we should just force them to understand – and I love the way I just used Force there, by the way – just force people to see this is the new world. There are loads of people of different shades and backgrounds. Get used to it”.
The pair of actors knew what they were getting into as Ridley says here: “John and I had a conversation last year and we both knew that was how it was going to be. He was going to be the black guy and I was going to be the girl. I think neither of those things could ever be a bad thing”. It’s disappointing that issues of race and sex are still brought up when the majority of people wanting to see the film don’t care what race or sex a character in Star Wars is, they just want to see a good movie and not get bogged down by ignorance and hate for nothing at all.
#Peace.Love.StarWars
