'I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race'

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/john-boyega-interview-2020

by laurex • 6 years ago

26 8 6 years ago

gq-magazine.co.uk

syspec• 6 years ago

Relavent paragraph,

“I’m the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race,” he says, holding my gaze. “Let’s just leave it like that. It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you. Because you realise, ‘I got given this opportunity but I’m in an industry that wasn’t even ready for me.’ Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it]. Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, ‘Black this and black that and you shouldn’t be a Stormtrooper.’ Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I’m this way. That’s my frustration.”

Imagine boycotting a movie, because a character is black. Imagine messaging someone just to spew racist comments at them.

The mind boggles

commandlinefan• 6 years ago

Imagine being angry with everybody for something a handful of fringe lunatics said.

rumanator2• 6 years ago

I'd be pissed off if I had to fend off systematic abuse both in my professional and personal life because of my race.

I mean, people get pissed because passer-bys drop trash on their lawn. Now imagine that instead of trash you get death threats and insults and denigrating comments based on your race.

throw7• 6 years ago

The character and story writing for the sequels were terrible across the board. Daisy Ridley's character was total junk. Everything was forgettable. He's complaining about his character and look what they did to hamil??? Hamil himself was pretty infuriated.

legerdemain• 6 years ago

Could've taken more effort to acknowledge Kelly Marie Tran's experience. She also got tons of shit for being a person of color in Star Wars, and her character was basically shut out of the last movie in the trilogy.

bsder• 6 years ago

Yeah, this comment:

“I’m the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race,”

Is pretty insensitive given how much absolute shit she went through.

rumanator2• 6 years ago

To be fair, this was the first time I ever heard of Kelly Marie Tran. Meanwhile John Boyega was a household name.

0xy• 6 years ago

Disney removed him entirely from posters in China. Disney only pretends to support diversity, when there's cash on the line they're just as racist as old style Looney Tunes.

'I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race'

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