Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/15/muppets-but-not-asians.html
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It’s twenty years later, with a whole slough of SF films in between, but did Delaney ever review the Fifth Element-- or Valerian?
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In a bit of foreshadowing for future Disney Star Wars installments
As opposed to say Lucas’s final attempts that included a panoply of weird racial caricatures.
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Lucas needed to Roddenberry that shit up…
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This is such a good example of thoughtful criticism that can like something in the whole, but still talk intelligently about a facet of that thing that could be better.
Also, it is never not funny when someone with a tenuous connection to the sports world throws in that direction.
shouting to the other room
Hey, what’s the name of the a famous sports team in the Midwest?
looking at an atlas
Lemme check…how about Minnesota…Ag?
typing
That doesn’t sound real, be sure to check whether that’s a thing before we publish, ok?
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Well I just wouldn’t be doing my job as an internet pedant if I didn’t point out that Star Wars isn’t the future… “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”
</end well actually>
But yeah, his point is spot-on otherwise.
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“It would even be more interesting to the guys at Minnesota Ag.” That was a bit optimistic, as it turns out. Cultural focus is guarded jealously. As we’ve seen, going from 97% cultural dominance to 90% cultural dominance is considered genocide.
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There’s too much conflict in the Star Wars universe. Where’s the lack of conflict that comes from living in a post scarcity society?
(I recently watched “Chaos on the Bridge.” It was not kind.)
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We would rather deal with racism indirectly, by showing discrimination against robots than actually show different races.
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3 parsecs for the Kessel run is absurd. The boast was that the Millennium Falcon could do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. A Parsec is a unit of distance, not time, and the Kessel run is a twisty-turny fight through a field of black holes, thus the boast of a shorter distance being a big deal.
FOR THE RECORD.
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Oh, pedantry, you fickle, fickle mistress.
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When the first Star Wars movie came out, I was reading books like The Left Hand of Darkness. I was a 12 year old SF purist. I always saw Star Wars as kind of a modern take on Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. Old timey space opera with no real substance. Star Wars always valued form over substance, and that trend has only intensified. Like Delaney says, and he is one of the true greats, it’s a delight to watch, but if you’re looking for any kind of depth, forget it. Thats what I always liked about Star Trek. Groundbreaking cast, a broad spectrum of races represented, women play a key role, Kirk gets it on with freaky aliens. And you had some REAL writers doing the writing, poking holes in societal norms, questioning traditional values. Star Trek is subversive. Star Wars is establishment, man.
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Oh yo’re right! Phantom Dyslexia strikes again. Fixed.
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Delaney nailed Star Wars accurately way back at the start. Rian Johnson did a lot to amend for some of the issues Delaney points out, and got (unjustly) excoriated for it.
Thanks for sharing this- it is a delightful read!
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The Empire is modeled after nazis, no?
Maybe they just murdered everyone that didn’t look like them?
Doubt that Lucas gave it that much thought, but…maybe?
Wonder if Lando was an attempt to diversify the galaxy?
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If they had more women on it, it would lessen the impact of Princess Leia’s heroism. If women had been common, she wouldn’t be larger than life, and nobody would talk in terms of “Princess Leia hair” (I did two months ago to a nurse).
But to nitpick a nitpick, the world is more than white, black and yellow. What about red? Sixty years ago Andre Norton had native people in her SF juvenile books. And let’s not forget that Star Wars itself has in recent years been dubbed in Navajo, something that requires a strong language, but also enough interest in the film among Navajo people.
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In a cyclical universe, the past is the future.
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