Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian asked a pointed question about race in Star Wars on last night’s Saturday Night Live

Donald Glover was the host of the last night Saturday Night Live, and appeared in a sketch as his character in the next Solo: A Star Wars Story : Lando Calrissian. There, he asked a question that has been raised a lot about the universe Star Wars : where the hell are all the black humans in space?

In the sketch, Glover's charming Lando hosts the "first summit for all black humans" at Naboo, which includes only three attendees. It's a poignant blow to the lack of diversity in movies Star Wars .

The lack of diversity in the franchise is something that has already been noted when it comes to the franchise: In his 1980 essay "The Lost Races of Science Fiction" (reprinted in the critical biography of Gerry Canavan Octavia E. Butler ), science fiction author Octavia Butler pointed out that minorities were often ignored because they were supposed to be "escapist" fantasies, and that there is "the implication that a dew of blacks, Asians or others could turn history into some kind of racial statement.The only statement that could be imagined with such a sprinkling would be that between white and human people, tall and hairy people, lumpy and scaly people, people with tentacles, etc. ., were brown and human persons, black people, etc. This is not such a strong statement, unless it is missing. " A New Hope introduced James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader, but not fu e until Empire Strikes Back that Billy Dee Williams played Lando Calrissian, while a couple of parts went to Femi Taylor (dancer Oola) and Ronny Cush (rebel pilot Grizz Frix)

La Star Wars prequel movies did a bit more: The Phantom Menace featured Captain Quarsh Panaka (Hugh Quarshie) and Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), while The attack of the clones presented Jango Fett (Morrison Tease). The small advances of the prequel have not always gone well: George Lucas was harshly criticized (among other things) for the performance of Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks, who was seen as a strongly caricatured and stereotyped character.

With the new Disney installments, the debate about the race in Star Wars has heated up in recent years. There have been more visible roles for black and minority actors: Lupita Nyong gives the voice to Maz Kanata, while John Boyega plays a black first order assault soldier named Finn, which generated racism in some sectors . This has continued with the independent entries of the franchise: during the press tour of Rogue One the president of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy said CBR that the diversity and the fact of having a representative cast of the world population "incredibly important for Star Wars ."

Lucasfilm's intentions regarding diverse casting seem to extend to the next Solo: A Star Wars Story – somehow . Glover plays the iconic character played by Williams for the first time, but that cast also includes Thandie Newton ( Westworld ), while Paul Bettany's mafia boss, Dryden Vos, was originally played by Michael K Williams, before being replaced due to programming problems after the original directors of the film were fired. There is still more that the franchise can do to truly represent the global audience of the franchise.

Leave a Reply