By Parfit
Article Reprint
Nearly a year ago, when the first official trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was released, it was met with the exact type of explosive reaction one might expect to accompany the latest installment of one of the most beloved franchises in cinematic history. However, a great deal of that fervor was directed to the appearance of what appeared to be a Black Stormtrooper. For some purists, the shot was controversial because, according to Star Wars lore, Stormtroopers were clones of a character named Jango Fett, who was played by a white male actor named Temuera Derek Morrison. As CNN reports, “later in the storyline, when [the Black Stormtrooper] would’ve lived, Stormtroopers were recruited from general populations — making a Stormtrooper of any race certainly feasible.” Beyond those rabidly faithful to the rules of Star Wars mythology, however, there was an initial undercurrent and then widespread tidal wave of racism, centered not only around the Black Stormtrooper, but Star Wars’ increased multicultural look, generally.