Posted on 08/07/2002 12:52:17 PM PDT by 1bigdictator
Cultural Wars: The Multicultural Menace
By Frederick Meekins
Part of the appeal of the Star Wars saga no doubt arises in the struggle of its protagonists against a pervasive tyranny literally of galactic proportions. It seems that same spirit of totalitarianism may be seeping off the big screen and into the down-to-earth world of everyday life.
In his commentary "George Lucas: Closet Racist," columnist Gregory Hand examined the ludicrous response by the diversity racket protesting "Attack of the Clones," the latest installment of the popular series. While these sentiments might gain a hearing in the press as they did in the Detroit News and notoriety for academics of questionable sanity, such statements actually reveal considerable ignorance of the Star Wars narrative. It might be best if these professional agitators actually tried to understand the intricacies of the Star Wars universe instead of looking for an excuse to throw a racial hissy-fit.
Much of the criticism centers around the so-called clone army that become the infamous storm troopers in ensuing episodes. Fans learn in "Attack of the Clones" that this army is composed of replicants engineered from the bounty hunter Jango Fett.
But this protest is not the result of putting genetic engineering in a bad light. Instead, it is about minority pandering and racial histrionics. Had Whites resorted to this degree of stereotyping there would have been an outcry louder than Chewbacca's growl.
One of the disgruntled complained that the Fetts looked "totally Latino" and were thus a not-so-subtle slur against Hispanics. Such comments reveal a racial insensitivity that would make a Grand Wizard blush.
The actor portraying Jango is from New Zealand and actually part Maori, a group native to that island country. Seems these brown ones really all do look alike --- if we buy into the multiculturalist mindset.
These minions of political correctness are as two-faced as Darth Maul's double-edged lightsaber. In the past, racial beancounters nitpicked at Lucas for not including enough minorities in prominent roles. Gregory Hand points out that these so-called thinkers labeled the first trilogy "the Ku Klux Klan fantasy of the future". Now that Lucas has given minorities more pivotal parts, he's hounded endlessly for that.
It seems then that the sole purpose of these disgruntled racialists is that of perpetual bickering. For as good as Star Wars is, one would think the series to be the epic of their dreams.
To those on the left unable to see anything beyond human skin pigmentation, the protagonists of the Star Wars narrative are a collection of sentient species from across the cosmos. Admiral Akkbar from Return of the Jedi was essentially a giant talking lobster. Mace Windu is Black and head of the Jedi Council. What more do they want?
The Imperial forces, on the other hand, in the movies at least were exclusively Caucasian, and the only exception that comes to mind in the so called "expanded universe" is Grand Admiral Thrawn, the blue-skinned, red-eyed figure who steps forward in the Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire to lead the Empire several years after the Battle of Endor.
Of course, I guess the problem the multiculturalists have with the heroes of Star Wars is that they have all set their interplanetary differences aside in the pursuit of fighting for one common cause, namely either the preservation of the Galactic Republic or the overthrow of the diabolical Empire. In order to meet their standards of an acceptable fantasy, I guess Yoda would have to demand that everyone else adopt his own twisted sentence structure or at least receive a government subsidy to preserve his unique linguistic identity. Or perhaps the robots R2-D2 and C-3PO would lead a protest demanding that the galactic university establish a droid studies program or encourage others of their computerized kind to unionize for better wages and working conditions.
Much of this criticism surrounding Lucas' storytelling technique stems from his use of vocal accent and the parallels these might have in actual terrestrial cultures. What of it?
The movies are known as "Star Wars" after all. If not for the conflict and tension reminiscent of our own geostrategic situation, would anyone watch these movies? Frankly I'm not going to dish out seven bucks to watch what would amount to PBS in space with Darth Oprah imposing interstellar sensitivity training upon all falling beneath her control.
Applying these radical complaints to other cinematic genres, you could never make another war movie for fear of some minority group being offended. Already this mindset is seeping into other films. In The Sum of All Fears, as interesting as the multinational fascist conspiracy was when its leader pontificated on the state of the world today and his own philosophy of history, it was reported that Tom Clancy's original vision was altered to spare typically delicate Arab sensitivities
Often we are told movies must graphically depict sexuality outside of marriage and other similar forms of debauchery because these things go on in the real world. So do conflicts between nations and assorted political entities.
Why should we care if Jar Jar Binks is a Caribbean caricature or that the Niemodian Trade Federation metaphorically represents the threat posed by Asia's growing power and influence? No one cares that Emperor Palpatine is supposed to be based on Richard Nixon, that Darth Vader is a failed Christ since he was born of a virgin, or that --- if you take these hyperracial heuristics to their logical conclusion --- that the Empire could be taken as a slur against Whites.
If all these people have to worry about is some movie most watch to see the dogfights in space or Yoda doing a back-flip, things must be pretty good here in America after all and the only way for them to take control is to pull a Darth Sidious and manufacture the crisisses propelling them into power.
Copyright 2002 by Frederick B. Meekins
Articles submitted in the "Readers Write" column reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Suppressed News.
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I’m calling for Mr. Lucas to make the hero of the next installment one of Jawanese ancestry… and in a wheel chair too.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
When I read about the supposed "Racial Stereotyping," that the columnists on the left were howling about, I TRULY thought it was satire.
I already knew the left is not the most logical bunch in the universe but THIS!?!?! It defies imagination. Note, I am not talking about this article but the people this article is talking about.
This is too funny!
Make Wedge Antilles and Obi Wan Kenobi gay, and Anakin's mother a lesbian.
Digitally replace the Maori bad@ss with Newt Gingrich.
Show General Veers getting dressed for battle with a black bra and panties.
Digitally replace R2-D2 with Stephen Hawking.
Digitally replace Carrie Fisher with a Balinese dancer in native dress.
Make Lando Calrissian an Inuit Indian.
Get rid of the Tuskan Raiders, substitute the cast of Cirque du Soeil.
Make Jabba the Hut 600 lbs lighter and cut the part where Han calls him a fattie.
Get rid of the hook-nosed flying junkman and replace him with Eric Cartman from "South Park."
Replace the Stormtrooper blasters with radios.
Replace John Williams rousing but Eurocentric symphonic score with jazz fusion and neolithic percussion instruments.
Dump the rebel alliance red/white color scheme in favor of the sexually inclusive rainbow insignia.
Make it clear that the Death Star(s) planet-killer weapon causes global warming rather than a really big explosion.
Have Luke's landspeeder be solar powered.
Ditto the lightsabres.
Strike Leia's PETA-offensive "big walking carpet" slur toward Chebacca and replace it with "plus-sized bipedal furbearer."
Have Obi Wan and Vader talk their differences out with Katie Couric, then hug.
If all these people have to worry about is some movie most watch to see the dogfights in space or Yoda doing a back-flip, things must be pretty good here in America after all and the only way for them to take control is to pull a Darth Sidious and manufacture the crisisses propelling them into power.
Telling people they are all helpless and hopeless and oppressed by all of society has to be one of the most cruel messages one can impart to another.
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