Why Inclusion Is Important to Star Wars

Sabina Graves
Movies Star Wars
Movies Star Wars

As a multi-generation spanning franchise, Star Wars has captivated audiences through George Lucas’ original trilogy, his prequel series, animated television, and the films released by Disney. For fans of every age, there’s a Star Wars era they grew up in that’s theirs. What’s so special about Star Wars is — for all of its Space Opera glory — the stories at their core tend to reflect societal issues of the world we live in. It’s what has made the franchise so relatable. It’s why inclusion is important to Star Wars.

As stories evolve, however, the hands that get to tell the stories have not, and that factors into the worlds we love being told through the same gaze. Recently, steps have been taken to include more women and people of color in the Star Wars universe, but this inclusion has come with backlash from a vocal sub-group of fans.

The Original Trilogy

With Princess Leia, made iconic by the legendary Carrie Fisher, Star Wars stood out for diversifying the hero team on the big screen at a time where princesses were usually damsels. Fisher’s performance imbued Leia with the confidence to go toe to toe with anyone she shared a scene with. She gave little girls someone to see themselves in and her spark inspired a legion to command the spaces they existed in because she did just that. Tarkin, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Chewie all learned that she wasn’t easily intimidated or subdued. Even when facing the pain of insurmountable tragedy, Leia pressed on to keep the resistance alive. In the original films, Leia was joined by only one other woman, Mon Mothma (Caroline Blakiston), whose character only really got expanded on the smaller screen.

In Empire Strikes Back we were introduced to Lando Calrissian, brought to life by Billy Dee Williams, who took a character whose archetype was supposed to be a gambling smuggler, but instead brought a performance that subverted that with his charm, swagger, and his sweet cape.

Williams and Fisher truly elevated their roles by making sure every line delivered was memorable, every choice deliberate, to give women and people of color great characters to look up to in cinema.

The Prequels and Prequel Era Shows

The prequels gave us great new characters, including Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala with her ride-or-die handmaids (RIP teen Rose Byrne and probably Keira Knightley), Jay Laga’aia as Gregar Typho, Temuera Morrison as Jango Fett, Daniel Logan as Boba Fett, and Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa.

With Sam Jackson, we finally got a black Jedi and a few female alien members of the order. The fact that he got to pick his own lightsaber color and that his personal lightsaber is inscribed with Bad Motherf**k*r is legendary. Also, Windu had the sense to catch on to Anakin’s problematic self, but no one listened to him. And Padme Amidala? Sure, aside from the poorly developed romance, she was an elected CHILD QUEEN. A figure who stood against those who would let her people die and called for new leadership. In the following films, she’d go onto become a senator and actively work in the fight against tyranny.

There are so many more of these stories within Dave Filoni’s animated Clone Wars and Rebels shows. We got more of Padme, introduced to Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, Luminara Unduli, Sabine Wren, and Hera Syndulla.

Disney-Era Star Wars

With The Force Awakens, we got Rey, our first force-sensitive protagonist played by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega as the Stormtrooper turned Rebel Scum Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Maz Kanata voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, and Veronica Ngo as Paige Tico.

The Last Jedi, the film which introduced Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) and Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), was a major box office draw in 2017 as a female-led family film. In a recent study by the Geena Davis Institute, in 2017 on average, films with female protagonists grossed over $148 million, compared to for male-led films which grossed $107 million. The Force Awakens was followed by Rogue One led by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), and also boasted an inclusive cast with memorable performances by Diego LunaRiz AhmedDonnie YenJiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker. It’s still a massive move for showing a universe where folks can see themselves.

The Force Awakens final box office total was $2.068 Billion dollars, with Rogue One bringing in $1.056 billion and The Last Jedi following at $1.332 billion. The box office totals alone prove that there is interest in diverse Star Wars films.

Future of Star Wars

Female-led and inclusive films have proven time and time again that they’re a box office draw. However, not every corner of the Star Wars universe celebrates diversity. Solo: A Star Wars Story was a clear step back into something safer.

Solo felt more conservative as it seemed to focus only on fan service. It didn’t show us anything new about Han or Chewie and it answered a lot of very predictable questions. Solo had the opportunity to expand the Star Wars mythology with characters like Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), Val (Thandie Newton), L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Enfys (Erin Kellyman) and Lando (Donald Glover). Instead, these characters only got one or two scenes together before dying or splitting off into another part of the story. Lando and L3’s relationship, the most interesting addition to the backstory, was cut short by “fridging” her into the Millenium Falcon. Val deserved better and could have been the one to survive Beckett, instead of just dying to serve his motivation, and Qi’ra’s turn would have been more earned had she been more fleshed out. Hiding the character of Enfys made no sense either. Solo didn’t quite break $100 million on its opening weekend, which proves that the film truly did alienate a large amount of Star Wars fans.

So what’s ahead for Star Wars? The franchise has proven that diversity is important. Will we see that trend continue in Episode 9, despite the backpedaling in Solo? With J.J. Abrams returning to direct Episode 9 and the addition of second unit director Victoria Mahoney — the first woman of color to direct on a Star Wars film — hopefully, Star Wars will continue to push forward with even more inclusivity than we’ve seen before.

“That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” – Rose Tico

Sabina Graves