The Cinematic Evolution Captured in Star Wars
Written by Beatrice Galvan
Star Wars has been around for decades, and the nostalgia that ties some fans to this saga is part of what made this franchise so successful. The saga first started in 1977 with A New Hope and is still making stories set in a galaxy far far away to this day. As time changed, so has the industry, and with a film franchise that’s been around as long as Star Wars, you can see that shift in these films alone. After all these years, Star Wars continues to stay relevant through the times because they’ve been able to grow and evolve alongside their viewers.
Right from the very start, the creators intended to make these films for people of all ages regardless of their gender or ethnicity, but let’s face it, this franchise lacked and still to this day struggles with diversity. Even a majority of the Star Wars fandom’s demographic is older white men. In a franchise whose cast and creative team are historically dominated by white male writers, directors, and even actors for years, it’s hard to break that cycle. It’s 2021 and we are just now starting to see a breakthrough in these films.
In an industry and genre that is heavily dominated by men, it was only fitting for a white man to be the frontrunner of the entire trilogy back when the film made its debut with A New Hope. However, as the years went on you could slowly see the evolution of women in cinema in Star Wars alone. Princess Leia was no longer a damsel in distress like in the first film— in fact, in the new saga that started in 2015 with The Force Awakens, she is the leader of the Resistance and now referred to as General Organa. Star Wars went from a boy who grew up dreaming about leaving the comfort and familiarity of home to join the intergalactic war, to a story of a girl who grows up in a war dreaming of returning to that comfort and familiarity of home. Though both want different things, they still sought after that sense of belonging and purpose. Despite how similar Rey and Luke are the franchise did a full 180 when making a woman the new protagonist of the films and considering the constant backlash of women-led films, there were definitely some concerns over the success and future of the new trilogy. Despite everyone’s doubts, the new trilogy still did phenomenal in the box office; with The Force Awakens grossing over $2 billion globally, The Last Jedi bringing in $1 billion, and The Rise of Skywalker bringing in another $1 billion as well, Star Wars was breaking glass ceilings. With Star Wars embracing leading female roles in their franchise, it helped make them widely accepted in cinema because shortly after The Force Awakens we slowly started seeing more and more female-driven films (Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, etc.).
Though it’s great that the Star Wars universe now has a wide range of strong leading ladies, the movies were still lacking racial inclusivity. Although having POC characters like Finn, Poe, and Rose was a big step, they were heavily marginalized within these films. Sure these characters were there, but the representation was totally absent. None of their stories were ever truly told, they were overlooked, pushed aside, and for some characters like Rose (played by Kelly Marie Tran) and Finn (played by John Boyega), they were totally erased. Which came as a shock to many, since Disney heavily flaunted having POC characters as part of the main cast. After the latest trilogy’s final film, The Rise of Skywalker, fans expressed their frustration by trending #DoBetterStarWars on Twitter. John Boyega even shared his frustration with the lack of representation in his interview with GQ in 2020, stating:
“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. [But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up,”
Perhaps they used Boyega and his character, Finn, as a learning experience because President of Lucasfilms, Katherine Kennedy, has been promising more Star Wars stories created by more women and people of color for quite some time. With the conclusion of what is referred to as the Skywalker Saga, Kennedy is now fulfilling those promises with the first female-directed Star Wars film, Rogue Squadron, and Waititi’s film that will be the first person of color to direct in this franchise. And that’s only the beginning, The Acolyte and The Bad Batch are co-written by women; Lando and Kenobi will both be written/directed by people of color, and Visions will open the door to more non-American creators. The only project to still fit that white, male mold that makes up most of the history of Star Wars is Andor’s creative team. Nonetheless, Lando, Andor, and Ahsoka will revolve around non-Caucasian leads. With Star Wars taking such big steps in showing a wider range of representation with the creative team and actors, hopefully, more companies in the industry can start taking action as well.
Now of course having a woman as the new protagonist, and people of color playing more important roles behind/in front of the camera there is bound to be some backlash. Despite the angry incels claiming Star Wars is no longer what it used to be, Kennedy stood her ground in an interview with The New York Times,
"I have a responsibility to the company that I work with. I don’t feel that I have a responsibility to cater in some way. I would never just seize on saying, 'Well, this is a franchise that’s appealed primarily to men for many, many years, and therefore I owe men something.'"
There’s no doubt that Star Wars is widely loved and favored by many. It continues to evolve and set the bar higher with every project that’s released. It has become the blueprint creators and film companies strive for. These films will forever leave an impact on the film industry and pop culture. With that being said, Star Wars is the pinnacle of cinema— a prime example of just how far the film industry has come but also what it can improve on.
Photo Sources:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-wars-force-awakens-script-826738/
https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/news/star-wars/147767-star-wars-machete-best-movie-viewing-order.webstory