Spoilers Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Grading & Discussion

John Boyega continues to tell the truth about his (mis)treatment by those behind the Star Wars sequels in a recent GQ interview:

He's letting it all out, and its wonderful. Boyega has found his voice about the well-known (but ignored by many) racial tokenism / propaganda he suffered in Disney's Star Wars sequels. As I've said before, Boyega was the clear victim of race propaganda in film at the hands of Hollywood white liberals. In film business history, black makes were/ are often marginalized and/or clowns when they--unlike any other character (in what is not a comedy in this case) is not to be taken seriously, where he's not comedy relief, yet he stumbles about, usually setting himself up to be something, but trips his way into an often disregarded, disrespected position (except his one TFA deed--thanks to being in the stereotyped role as a sanitation worker), regularly misspeaks, and the chief character to have others show him up for being a fool. Again and again, Finn is the black clown, not--in what used to be Star Wars character tradition--to be one of the heroic trinity to truly break all bonds of any old self to be a hero--which for TPM Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padme, or ANH Luke/Han/Leia--happened several times over the course of their respective debut films.

This does not happen to Finn, as his one "moment" is a lightsaber fight where he's so easily outclassed, and ripped into unconsciousness, that it was clear he was there just to be the anger motivator for Rey to fight Ren, but he leaves TFA not truly joining the ranks of a growing hero as seen with the hero trinity of the previous trilogies' debut stories. In TLJ, Finn remains a black clown, as he's shocked into submission by Rose--who subsequently leads him by the nose throughout the entire casino disaster, removing any chance for the Finn character to grow into any sort of character of true self-respect self-determination (like Luke in ESB, or Anakin and/or Padme in AOTC). Even his suicide run in TLJ is--once again--taken away by Rose--he cannot even attempt to die a hero.

He's not the decision maker. He's not the true creator--or leader of missions, and as a bone tossed his way (I doubt anyone will get the emphasis on that), he has a pointless fight with Phasma which...no one was looking forward to, since the latter was completely undeveloped in TFA, and Finn as a sci-fi fighting hero does not exist. There's no build-up in a fight between an action figure design who happens to be talking on screen, and a walking racial stereotype.

The dominance in is in the form of runaway sanitation worker/stormtrooper Finn so incompetent, that he cannot escape one calamity after another without the help of a series of non-black characters all having a position and/or ability superior to his own. Adding insult to injury, one of his kind rescuers (Poe) gives this runaway his new name. I'm not pretending that the subtext of that entire relationship has no racial stereotyping influence, as TFA was not making any kind of commentary on slavery. This was about the perception of the black male lead.

Boyega adds:

Scared and sweating--like any black male stereotype from Old Hollywood, only its not old because its still happening.

White Hollywood liberals constantly sell themselves as the most progressive, open-minded collective on earth, yet you're never going to see a black character they created--a black male in particular (in film history's biggest franchise) treated in the same way as whites, not in being a full on black male with self-respect, and self-determination to add his actions to the story in undeniably significant ways as part of his steady growth.

GQ:

Boyega also recalls the backlash from those with racist, kneejerk reactions to TFA's trailer, when a Stormtrooper removed his helmet to reveal a black face, death threats he received for being in that role, and more, but that's to be expected--despite fantasy film/TV fans often chest-pumping that their group is more liberal/open-minded than other fans and/or social groups, that is and always has been a lie. For black actors / characters in White Liberal Hollywood, they face a double edged-sword with both sides cutting black people no matter what direction they turn to, with Disney/Lucasfilm's conscious mistreatment of Boyega and his Finn character mirroring the open-faced marginalization / ignorance / tokenism from Supergirl's showrunners and resentment from the self-proclaimed most open-minded/woke viewers toward Brooks' James Olsen character (specifically, the torrential flood of anti-Brooks arguments that he was "wrong" to be cast as Olsen, especially as a romantic interest for the white heroine) who was quickly and unceremoniously booted from that series this past season.

Hopefully, Boyega's life and career leaves this terrible chapter in his past, and he's able to go wherever his talent and desire takes him, but it was incredibly important that he hammer the truth into the headstone of Disney's Star Wars sequels, leaving that as a marker that will never be removed or rewritten by producers who repeatedly championed their socially progressive handling of the sequels...except in the case of the one, black male / so-called "main" character..

 

Finn was absolutely wasted potential. He is an amazing concept for a Star Wars character: a storm trooper who has a conscience and switches sides. But that's as far as they go with him. Instead of the BS time fillers they gave him, they could have exploited his knowledge of the workings of the First Order. The First Order knows this. This would be a nice way to give them an edge in battle in the climax of one or two movies. However, they don't seem to care. He's just a "traitor." Like Han, he could have be the one with the price on his head, leading to some very tense situations along the trilogy.

Then in battle, Finn can refuse to fire on his ex-friends. He may be programmed from birth, but he obviously is no stranger to friendship. He would be the first conscientious objector in the Star Wars film series, leading to friction in the Resistance and giving him some hard choices. Instead of him stammering around looking for purpose, have Finn spend the last movie freeing his fellow "slaves" and turning the tables on the First Order from the inside out. Rise of Skywalker was a crap film capping a cookie cutter trilogy.

I agree, having Poe "name" Finn was awkward and cringey. I would have preferred something along the lines of:

Poe: What's your name?
Finn: FN-2187
Poe: FN...? I don't like that.
Finn: Me neither.
Poe: Think of something else.

They get interrupted by the battle and when Finn meets Rey, she asks his name.

Finn: FN..F...Finn. My name's Finn. (softly) yeah. I like that.
That would have been a nice next step toward separating himself from his old life.

 

I'm glad Boyega spoke out about this. I hope he doesn't suffer any backlash because of it.

 

I hadn't really thought about it, but there really were a lot of missed opportunities with Finn. I enjoyed his storylines, but they really were the kind of stories that could have been done with any character, and didn't take advantage of what made him unique.

 

I'm a bit disappointed that he was treated so badly. You'd think this wouldn't happen but it's Hollyweird

 

I actually would think it would happen.

 

Agreed. I think Finn was just OK, still one of my favorite characters in the ST but certainly a lot of missed opportunities to explore with being an ex-stormtrooper defector.

 

I guess so but in such a way? What Boyega describes sounds terrible.

 

I've said as much--that he should have had a sense of his own identity as a captured child forced to be a soldier. That could have been a powerful story, but that was not Kathleen Kennedy's (and others) concern at all. Boyega and Finn were just a racial token only recognized to be the ever-used "flavor / diversity check mark" to prove how progressive they are, yet many black actors suffer in the entertainment business, already knowing that they are never the preference in most roles--just a tool. Its a shared legacy that is not contained in the borders of Hollywood. Black people have made the undeniable parallel between white liberal Hollywood's mistreatment of black people and the way America's Democratic party (led by white liberals more than anyone else) only show up to toss a bone to black people every election cycle, yet they will never have their need for ascension, recognition of true identity/history, only their condescending "we know best" / "you should be grateful to be tapped on the head" abuse, then--as Boyega experienced--pushed into a corner once his token purpose had been served. Neverending reality.

Of course, there's two sides to this coin, as the Kathleen Kennedys / white liberal Hollywood mistreatment would not be so entrenched if it did not have a like-minded audience to support through fandom & open wallets, which is why many of the most vocal SW sequel defenders of its sociopolitical messages share the producers' agenda, and willingly ignore the glaring problems of Finn / Boyega, because at the end of the day, his pain is not theirs. Just "shut up and check that token box while we champion our real agendas."

Those behind TFA knew what they were doing; they are all old enough to know how African slaves were forced to take on names given to them by those who captured them--even the most rudimentary educational system referenced that. They had Poe give the runaway slave his new name--right out the gates, a black male loses any chance to control his own identity--the heart of who he's supposed to be. No, he's whatever his "liberator" tells him to be. That's the Star Wars sequel's view of black people--males in particular. The last thing the producers were going to allow was a black male asserting himself--claiming his own identity/destiny, so he's a damned runaway slave given his name...and he was the Old Hollywood stereotype of a scared, panting black sanitation worker...who just so happened to be in stormtrooper gear.

Two reactions are possible: either white liberal Hollywood will suddenly jump on the bandwagon, trying to prove how woke they are by giving Boyega a series of opportunistic "we're with you, bros" , possibly casting him in self-serving (for the entertainment business) film, or they will simply skip over his name for consideration of roles--a punishment for Boyega shining a light on the towering BS that is the idea of white liberal Hollywood ever being an ally (or understanding) of black people--males in particular.

 

I don’t think the problem was in TFA...fundamentally he was someone who broke his conditioning to do wrong as a stormtrooper, then ran and lied, then found his truth and stayed and fought. The problem is, he was still running in TLJ, and whilst he had ‘stuff to do’ in both the remaining films, he never grew into the Han Solo Mk 2 he was supposed to be. They split that stuff with Poe, after they decided to keep him on. Remember, dude was supposed to die getting Finn out. That there is what changes the dynamic. If Finn then chose to stay ‘Finn’ because it was the nickname given to him by a person who died saving him...that’s a different story. But...they kept Poe, and Finn lost out because of that and the weak opening to TLJ.

 

Honestly, Poe should have stayed dead.

 

Yeah unfortunately true... "Woke" is just a buzzword sometimes with zero meaning.

 

Daisy Ridley mentioned in an interview today that the original plan for Rey's heritage was to be connected to Obi Wan in some way until TLJ changed it with the "you're nobody" and JJ and Disney came back with "no, wait, you are somebody! you're Palpatine!" as a way to tie up the saga.

So I'm only guessing here that she was a granddaughter of Obi Wan and Satine and I'm guessing that this idea was in George Lucas' original outline.

 

Having her be Satine's hidden child would have worked, since Satine would have kept that from Obi-wan since she knew he would take responsibility and leave the Order. Something she just wouldn't let him do. Even when they admitted they loved each other, she wanted him to stay a Jedi (it seems anyway).

Explaining that Obi-wan has a kid he didn't know about before the Phantom Menace with a noble woman we only see in The Clone Wars....that would have taken a little doing. But it might have been easier than what happened. (Your daddy was a failed clone of the most evil man in the galaxy, and was only actually about ten years old when your mother had you.)

 

Or if Obi Wan knew he had a child might add to why he doesn't flip out over Anakin having one.

This news also adds a new spin to "these are your first steps" line from TFA. I wonder if an Obi Wan movie might have planned to deal with the story....

 

Age would not have worked for Rey to be Satine and Obi-Wan's daughter. She would have been a grand daughter.

 

"Woke" is also super arrogant and condescending. "All other humans incl. people of other cultures now, were and are asleep."

"Benighted."

That arrogance and thought-policey-ness ( like some of the responses above to some actress talking covid) is why otherwise reasonable people opt for the One Who Shall Not Be Named. (I do not, just for the record.) Scold gets old.

I give the producers credit for the female protagonist. Love Rey, and Ridley's portrayal. But we see their deep-down not-get-it-ness, with Boyega's very incisive commentary. Why introduce characters of color just to shunt them aside?

 

If Obi Wan and Satine were Rey's parents, wouldn't that make Rey 40 to 60 years old by TFA time? Did Satine live past the prequel trilogy?

Would it make sense if Rey was Obiwans grandchild, the grandchild (mother or father) being hidden from Obi Wan by Satine?

When I saw TFA way back when, my first guess was Rey was Luke's child.

It's a shame the sequels were not planned better. I recently rewatched the sequel trilogy on 3D and it is not as cohesive/integrated as I anticipated it to be. I think the unfortunate passing of carrie Fisher also had it's part to play in the narrative we got on TROS. (Similar to how the tragic passing of heath ledger affected plans for TDK's sequel)

 

I think it's obvious that Rey was not Obi Wan's daughter. It would be granddaughter or something like that.

I thought she was Luke's daughter too. Luke's theme playing when she grabs his lightsaber using the force just before she battles Kylo Ren in tfa.

 

Please understand, I am a casual fan, and it is with no small trepidation I am now following a SW thread. Saw ANH in a huge movie palace in '77. Have seen all the movies, that's it.

Just what about the Skywalker saga needed completing? Why "episodes 7-9" instead of just making stand alones in that universe? (BTW I was super stoked for Rogue One, to partake more of that universe.)

Anakin/Darth has his redemption at the end of VI, "Tell your sister you were right about me." How nice! Seriously. Cue the Ewok with the shofar. End of saga.

But what needed wrapping up?

(Kind of like how I feel with Picard getting another season. He did his mission, got closure on a certain someone, and . . . we're good. Y'know?

Thanks.