“Girl Power” – Kathleen Kennedy Speaks About the Importance of Women in the Star Wars Franchise

Kathleen KennedyIn a recent interview with The Guardian, Kathleen Kennedy adds more fuel to the fire on the speculation that Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey, will be the Skywalker of the new trilogy. While she doesn’t divulge much on the subject, her comments certainly reinforce the plausibility of this speculation held by many fans already.

 

 

In the interview, Kathleen Kennedy – the woman at the helm of Lucasfilm and producer of some of the best-known films of the past 40 years, from ET to Schindler’s List and Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park – also had much to say regarding the importance of women in the film industry, especially concerning the Star Wars franchise.

 

From The Guardian:

 

Kathleen Kennedy, one of the US film industry’s most senior women and the producer of the next instalment of the Star Wars franchise, has said that a new female character will be “extremely significant” to its plot in an interview in which she called on the industry to do more to promote women.

Rey Poster

Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, Kennedy told the Guardian that Rey would be “extremely significant” but refused to reveal more details, insisting: “I don’t want to spoil the story.”

 

Kennedy, one of the most successful executives in the movie business, also revealed that six out of eight of the people involved in developing the film were women and that 50% of her executive team were female.

 

“Having a balance of men and women in the room changes the story,” she said. “The dialogue, the point of view.” With the directors of the new yet-to-be released Star Wars films all men – JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow – Kennedy said she would love to appoint a female director for one of the spin-off movies also set to hit cinemas over the coming years. “There’s nothing we’d like more than to find a female director for Star Wars,” she said.

 

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Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

Jordan Pate (Hard Case)

Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

451 thoughts on ““Girl Power” – Kathleen Kennedy Speaks About the Importance of Women in the Star Wars Franchise

  • October 15, 2015 at 7:21 pm
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    Everyone is so quick to dismiss the idea that she might be Captain Needa’s granddaughter. Just wait and see…

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:02 pm
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      what makes u say that

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:09 pm
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        Because according to fan speculation, every new character needs to be related to someone we already know. Even if it’s a galaxy full of trillions of people on thousands of planets – everyone has to be someone’s kid, grandkid, cousin, uncle, sister in law, etc for some reason.

        • October 15, 2015 at 8:39 pm
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          its being true to mythology itself…everyone is related in many mythologies across the world. zeus is the father of apollo and so on and so forth. despite this, the whole theory that she is related to needa makes me vomit in my mouth

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:12 pm
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          yet star wars main saga is not about a galaxy of people but one certain family so it kinda makes sense that major characters are somehow related to the previous leads

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:57 am
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            The speculation goes well beyond the Skywalker family, though… Finn has to be Lando’s son, Felicity Jones is Boba Fett’s daughter, Hux is Tarkin’s son, and so forth…

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:31 pm
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        No I’m not. It’s just foolish to focus on the sheila number in a scifi movie.
        If it fits the story then let there be a zillion Sheilas if not then don’t make a fuss about it. Imagen Conan the barbarian where Arnold is replaced by Julia Roberts. Lame and stupid But hey there was Sheilas in the lead.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:34 pm
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            and you are just a white knight mangina I take it?

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:42 am
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            No, just a guy who doesn’t hate on a producer just because she’s a woman who talks.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:57 am
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            oh woow how heroic of you, I’m sure you will get some poon after this

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:17 am
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            Whatever happens tonight it will be better than being a pathetic human. I’m curious if you’d like to share those thoughts of yours with any female relatives you might have?

  • October 15, 2015 at 7:35 pm
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    “she called on the industry to do more to promote women.”

    It’s fantastic knowing leftwing social issues like feminism and diversity were put first in the production of TFA rather than merit as was the case in the Originial Trilogy.

    Having the best actors for the available roles would have have been a huge mistake, one which I’m thankful Kathleen Kennedy managed to avoid.

    • October 15, 2015 at 7:41 pm
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      And best actors for the role can not be a woman?!

    • October 15, 2015 at 7:51 pm
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      Gender and diversity can equal merit. You seem confused.

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:14 pm
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      So being a woman automatically makes you left wing? Being anything other than white makes you left wing?

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:34 pm
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      Say whatever you want. If Kathleen has the time to talk about equality is because she’s ten times better producer than Rick McKallum. She doesn’t need to get any merits because she owns them for years.

  • October 15, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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    How about gender is ignored entirely and actors, directors, etc. are hired based on their abilities. Same with race, ignore it and treat everyone equally. You can’t solve racism or sexism by discriminating against the majority

    • October 15, 2015 at 7:51 pm
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      Women are the majority.

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:13 pm
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        I like how you say that as if you know that the women *weren’t* hired based on Merit. The MRA is strong with this one.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:13 pm
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      Well, if a character is a female, I suppose they have to cast a woman to play that character, don’t they ? In that sense, casting cannot be gender neutral. It can be race neutral though and I’m pretty sure it was in Finn’s case (which automatically implies that Finn was not originally written as Luke’s or Leia’s son).

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:24 pm
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      The thing about casting is that being discriminatory and choosing someone based on how they look is EXACTLY what you have to do. The people you pick have to fit the vision of the story, and if your story features a young blond black woman, it’s hard to cast Granny Joan in that role. They have to look, sound, and feel right for the part. George Lucas went through hundreds of different actors before he finally settled on Mark, Harrison, and Carrie. And he didn’t even want Harrison at first.

  • October 15, 2015 at 7:46 pm
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    I’m not sure why it’s important that one of the directors be a woman. There are a lot less female directors than there are men, surely they should just choose the most suited director to the role. That said, Kathryn Bigalow might’ve been a good choice for Rogue One if they could’ve afforded her on the movie’s budget.

    Other than that, how far are they going to pursue other equality agendas? I haven’t heard anyone saying that there should be more Asians, or dwarfs or disabled people in cinema. Why is it specifically important that there are more (as in overwhelmingly so) women involved in Star Wars?

    • October 15, 2015 at 7:53 pm
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      And why not?
      Why is soo much important to you to have less woman in star wars?!

      • October 15, 2015 at 7:58 pm
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        His point is not to have less women in Star Wars. The point is that the best and most suited people should be hired, not someone of a specific gender/race just because they are of said gender/race.
        I have nothing against a female heroin, or dark skinned actors in Star Wars, in fact I support it. But I don’t want them to use a specific race/gender just for the sake of it, eventhough there might be better options.

        • October 15, 2015 at 8:03 pm
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          I get it but that wasn’t the case here. We know which actors were up for the role of Finn, it came down to Jessie Plemons and Boyega, and imo Boyega was the better choice. As far as Rey.. I believe they were always going for an unknown here and well, lets see how she does. If shes indeed playing a Skywalker it makes sense they went after someone who resembles Natilie Portman

          • October 15, 2015 at 8:10 pm
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            Not saying anything about the current roles. I’m also glad Boyega got the role, I like him.
            I was just answering to Lora who in my opinion turned the situation from a comment about chosing the best people suited for the role/part to a sexistic comment. To me it seems that Andrew just doesn’t want Lucasfilm to chose directors for the sake of their gender. Just chose the best available, female or male!

          • October 15, 2015 at 8:31 pm
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            I think so as well (in regards to choosing someone that resembles Portman). In fact, I’ll take it a step further (and please, as the old saying goes, don’t shoot the messenger on this one):

            I was listening to MSW’s spin-off podcast Rebel Grrrl and according to the hosts of the show (in a previous recording), despite the statement from JJ that the characters were created without someone of a particular race in mind, supposedly some of the people that they know of who auditioned for the part of Rey (due to them living in LA and having some connections in the acting community there), specifically the ones that made it far into the casting process, they told them that essentially the casting staff was looking for a white female to play Rey. Make of this what you will but that’s what I heard.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:51 pm
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            If there’ s a secret specification, known to just few, of specific characteristic of the auditioned actors, I don’ t believe we ever find out.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:46 pm
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            Indeed! It’ s the same with Obama. I spent countless times to argue with my friends that Obama did not win the electionor or the Nobel because of skin color, but they disagree with me….

    • October 15, 2015 at 7:57 pm
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      Because how many important female characters are there in Star Wars to begin with? Leia and Padme? It’s been a small issue thus far imo. Lets see a female Jedi or a hot shot female pilot. Lets make the universe feel bigger than just abunch of white guys and aliens running around.

      Rey sounds like a tomboy to me, so having her be the new Skywalker and “hero” sounds good to me. I’m also getting vibes that Phasma is the real badass, and Maz sounds like the new Yoda. I think it’s great.. Theres also Boyega who is most likely the star anyway so its not like its female centric.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:22 pm
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        ARE YOU SAYING THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH A WOMAN BEING A PRINCESS???? WITH LIKING PRETTY DRESSES??? WE CAN’T ALL BE FIGHT FUCK TOYS!!!!!!! WHY DO I HAVE TO “TOUGHEN UP AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN” TO EARN YOUR RESPECT????

        Are you starting to see the insanity in this gender politics BS? When you start talking about female representation, you quickly realize that there isn’t one representation of what it means to be female. Rey isn’t likely to be any more like me than Leia or Padme or Aunt Beru were. And that’s okay. If the character is interesting, their gender should be the LEAST interesting and relevant thing about them.

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:42 pm
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          Bravo, Reba! Let’ s fight for Leia’ s golden bikini! I know a lot of women who loves Star Wars and never complained about lack of women or strong women or whatever, they just sit and enjoy the show….

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:01 pm
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      Gee, I wonder why there are so many fewer female directors than male? I’m sure it has EVERYTHING to do with talent and nothing at all to do with a century of sexism.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:25 pm
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      Well there should be more diversity period. The simple truth is everything is still heavily weighted towards white males. And still, white males complain. It’s mind boggling.

  • October 15, 2015 at 8:17 pm
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    The more I hear about this female involvement stuff, the more it just feels like a marketing gimmick to get more super libs and women in seats. We get it already. Stop cramming the “strong female” stuff down our throats at every turn. It doesn’t mean anything anymore. Let the films/characters speak for themselves.

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:31 pm
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      Inclusion does change the story, and can help create characters that a larger demographic can identify with. And if we’re not telling stories that we all can be inspired by then what are we doing?

      Also nobody’s cramming anything down your throat. You came here & chose to read the article. Retire that phrase, it’s hyperbolic & overused (no matter who uses it, and I’ve seen it on the left & right).

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:38 pm
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        Good God dude. Involving females in creative processes is fine. I’m just talking about how it’s used as a MARKETING GIMMICK. I hate it when we judge male-made stuff based on their merits and not cause they’re men. So why is it that we can’t do the same because the director/writer is female? All of a sudden it’s a good thing because they’re female? Of course there are plenty of talented female directors/authors/etc., just don’t say that it’s automatically gonna be good because they’re female. I don’t care who is involved. Just make good films/books/etc.

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:23 pm
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          Who the hell is saying that! No one! It’s a false fear to hide your real agenda.

          • October 15, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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            What agenda?

        • October 17, 2015 at 3:06 am
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          “Just don’t say that it’s automatically gonna be good because they’re female.” – I didn’t see her say that, nor have I. Nor do I see how she’s suggesting inclusion is just a marketing gimmick.

          • October 17, 2015 at 7:59 am
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            It’s not the inclusion. It’s the same “strong female character” bullcrap every film company spews whenever there’s a female in their movie. It’s a marketing gimmick and it means nothing anymore. On the creative front, people will defend something just because the creator is female. The same way people will judge something based on the fact that white men are involved in it. Again, it’s awesome that they’re including women in the creative process, but it’s the whole marketing gimmick of “We have strong female characters!” that bugs me. It means nothing anymore cause EVERYONE uses it to describe their female characters these days regardless of the way the character is portrayed in the film itself. My point is, let the art speak for itself and don’t tell me that a character is “strong” because you say they are.

          • October 18, 2015 at 9:07 am
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            Yeah, you have no clue when it comes to understanding hegemony. Why is it that when white men make a film no one ever considers it as extraordinary? I’ll tell you why, it’s because they have always been given the privilege of being in positions of power. She wasn’t using female characters as a gimmick, and if she was then please site it. I find your whole argument to be fraudulent & ignorant. Have you ever worked in film? Do you have any clue what it’s like to be in a production meeting, much less on set? No. I didn’t think so. I have, and it’s run by men who control women. That’s the deal, so see it for what it is.

            “It’s a marketing gimmick and it means nothing anymore.” – You are wrong. It is not just a marketing gimmick. It means something to how the story is developed, and who is going to watch it. And those who watch will construct meaning based on what is presented. You are wrong, wrong, and wrong.

          • October 18, 2015 at 9:53 am
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            You’re obviously misunderstanding what I’m saying. I never said it was a bad thing that there are women in the film making process. Far from it. Diversity in storytelling is great. It’s that everywhere I turn there’s always someone hyping up “strong female characters” and female involvement as if it’s somehow supposed to make the films any better. It IS a marketing gimmick in the sense that it’s supposed to appeal to people who wouldn’t otherwise see the film, but if they mention that the female characters are “strong” and that a woman is directing it, they’ll be more inclined to see it based on those factors. This has nothing to do with what Kathleen Kennedy is really saying. I get that. It’s important for women to be represented in all forms of media. But it’s the attitude that it somehow makes the art any better that bugs me. If the film sucks and it was directed by a female or has a strong female character, the film still sucks. Again. Representation is important, the attitude that it will make the art any better is completely absurd. Obviously you didn’t understand what I was saying at all.

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:36 pm
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      i would disagree with you…if it weren’t for the lowest of the low promotion campaign for phasma. if i had a dollar for every time i hear strong female character or “subverting female stereotypes” in regards to phasma. i will be richer than bill gates

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:41 pm
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        I can’t wait to see Phasma. Gwendoline Christie is awesome and I can’t wait to see what she does with the character. You’re right though. There’s nothing about her as a character that’s being promoted and instead the fact that she’s a female villain. Again, let the art speak for itself and don’t give it a pass based on gender. That’s all I’m saying.

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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          Newsflash, the whole movie isn’t being promoted. I can understand why they wouldn’t want to reveal character plots. Especially ones with big roles that we know nothing about. When we do get a full trailer, it will likely not tell you much either, but at least we get to see more Star Wars.

          • October 15, 2015 at 9:35 pm
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            Well you’re not wrong there. But we still know a lot more about Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren than we do Phasma. All we’ve heard about Phasma is the same “strong female character” stuff.

          • October 15, 2015 at 9:38 pm
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            Actually, I’m kinda looking forward to Phasma. It’ll be kinda cool to see a Samus-esque character on the big screen, even if she suffers from Boba Fett Syndrome.

          • October 15, 2015 at 9:39 pm
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            That reminds me. How awesome would a Metroid movie be with Gwendoline Christie as Samus? She’s 6′ 3″ after all.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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            ^this. 🙂

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:21 pm
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      Oh yea, because the male dominated white privileged isn’t crammed down our throats daily! This should be mentioned and celebrated at every turn, if for no other reason to drive conservatives bananas.

      • October 15, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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        Go troll somewhere else. If you base your opinions based on someone’s gender and not the art itself, you’re a moron. I’m sick of this superficial bullcrap. Also, when I say “crammed down our throats” I’m talking about the obvious marketing gimmick of saying “girl power!” and “strong female characters!”. We get it. Women are involved. Now make something good. We don’t have this with male characters/directors. Yes they’re definitely more commonplace. But they’re not “crammed down our throats” in the same way. We base our opinions on that based off the merits of the films/characters and not because of their gender. If we want equality in this area, we have to treat it the same way. That’s all I’m saying.

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm
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        Hey, why you bring up the color? Where did I miss anything about color in the woman power statements?

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:37 pm
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        woooah why the hell do you hate white people so much?

  • October 15, 2015 at 8:38 pm
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    Yep… I’m gonna be sighing the entire movie….
    Just like with all the other feminist agenda films trying to bank on whiny women
    looking to feel empowered through false character stereotypes.

    • October 15, 2015 at 8:44 pm
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      Oh I see. If characters are male than that is not a stereotype. Every male character is always realistic.

      But if character is a woman that is a stereotype and unrealistic.

      Speak about sexism.

      • October 15, 2015 at 8:51 pm
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        Unrealistic?
        Never said that.
        Female characters in super power themed media always empower themselves at the cost of any/all male characters. By false I meant that they always go around preaching how men are lower animals than they are in films like these. It’s going to be what feminists deny at every turn, misandry. And then everyone is just going to expect that to be okay as usual because sexism against men is acceptable but not the other way around. Double standards Lora, you love em.

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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          You do realize the difference is females are very much still a group of people who face daily discrimination? You want white men to be treated like a discriminated against minority, but they’re not.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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            Rofl.
            Typical white knight response #6. Come to save the day? While being racist no less.
            I could show you some math but I’d be wasting my time. Your head is so far up a womans ass you couldn’t possibly find the exit.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:19 pm
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            Typical bigot response #1. Grow up Kev. The world doesn’t exist just for you and your buddies. Your bitterness will destroy you if you don’t embrace reality. I hope you can get over it and be happy one day.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:25 pm
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            This x 1000.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:16 pm
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      You have issues. Isn’t there a Donald Trump rally you can go to. Maybe talk about how your gonna make America great again.

  • October 15, 2015 at 8:45 pm
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    I’m so tired of this being mentioned and promoted. It’s just like racism.

  • October 15, 2015 at 8:46 pm
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    Can I just state that the text size on the mobile version of this site is pretty huge, leading to as little as 3/4 words per line reading in portrait view. Any chance you could reduce it to make it look more reasonable, maybe reduce the size of the margins as they’re pretty huge too.

    As for the story, in very happy to see far more of a female presence in this Star Wars Trilogy. No complaints from me, to complain would be ridiculous.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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      Best bet is to throw that into the Feedback board on the forums. More chance of one of the admins seeing it there than here. =P

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:03 pm
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    It never ceases to amaze me. Any time we run an article about a female cast member for one of the new films (or, god forbid, an article that mentions John Boyega in anything more than a brief, passing sense,) the usual suspects turn up and start Fox News-ing it all over town.

    Look, even Lucas himself was concerned about the fact that ANH ended up with a lily-white, almost all-male cast. LFL’s concern about diversity didn’t just suddenly drop out of the sky when Kathleen Kennedy took the reins. The Star Wars films have been moving in this direction all along. To seize upon this as an opportunity to launch into bigoted screeds is unbelievably small and petty, and I’d bet that when it comes right down to it, a lot of you who insist upon spewing this crap are actually a lot better than that.

    As always, though, if this kind of nonsense gets too far out of hand here, the staff will step in and deal with it. How about we ratchet down the sexist vitriol before it gets to that point?

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:07 pm
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      “even Lucas himself was concerned about the fact that ANH ended up with a lily-white, almost all-male cast.”

      It turned out pretty well though didn’t it?

      • October 15, 2015 at 9:19 pm
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        so did The Empire Strikes Back despite being ‘lumbered’ with having that black guy in it 😉 JEEZ!!! Do any of these racisst remember Lando for god’s sake?!!!

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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          on Bespin there are lots of Blacks dudes
          like there are many females in the other movies. So I really can’t see what all the fuzz are about.
          “standby ioncanon……… FIRE”

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:06 pm
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            Yeah but not many of them were leads.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:00 pm
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          They’re not racist, they’re tired of this being emphasized as the only thing that should matter in movies or that it matters at all, and that these are touted as the selling points for why the movie is good. There’s nothing wrong with a diverse cast, but this comes off as incredibly contrived and manufactured, with the artistry second. It comes off more as this is the mandate/edict that’s come down from the top and less this is what the creator’s artistic vision is, and that’s what makes it sickening. Every other article/interview about Empire Strikes Back wasn’t in regard to the fact that Billy Dee Williams was in it, nor was the marketing heavily built around this fact, although I digress as even then the lobotomized “progressive” media was still up everyone’s asses about it. It isn’t enough to just make a good movie with strong characters, acting, story, and special effects, no, the only thing that will satisfy these people is if everyone in every audience ever is “represented” on screen by a character who is just like them! Barf. Explains why those people have no creative ability of their own and have to siphon off the talent of others to morph it into whatever monstrosity that fits their political agenda.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:17 pm
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            Well the unwritten edict for many years in Hollywood was for white males to be the lead while women existed to be the love interest for the male leads and blacks were sidekicks .

            Why is it that you assume that this cast wasn’t the “artistic vision”? If Finn and Rey were white men would you assume they were chosen for their gender and race? Then why do you assume this now? Why do you assume the artistic vision would be a bunch of whites and that this was altered for some imaginary ” edict”?

            There will be more white male leads…Han is getting a movie, and ObiWan likely will as well.
            What is the problem?

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:31 pm
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            I would only assume that Finn and Rey being white men was an executive edict if it was being touted everywhere that there were white men in the film and if the marketing were built around it. Sub “girl power!” with “white male power!” and you’ll see what I mean.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:48 pm
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            Yet you choose to ignore the fact that it has been stated more than once that Finn wasn’t written for a specific race…Kind of flies in the face of your theory no? Wouldn’t they have brought only black actors in to read for Finn if they were intent on him being black? Why waste time on white actors? They didn’t care what race the actor was…They liked Boyega and hired him, end of story.

            You have chosen to believe what you want to believe and ignore the evidence that doesn’t line up with your already established viewpoint.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:00 am
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            Again, none of that has anything to do with the fact that the marketing for the film has been built around the fact that there’s women and non white guys, REGARDLESS of how they attained the role, and therein lies the problem and alone indicates an edict.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:11 am
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            You keep spewing this same bullshit…What marketing? A couple quotes from Kennedy doesn’t constitute a huge marketing campaign. Show me the marketing big man. Where are the “girl power” posters? I hear more from butthurt fanboys about this then I have from LFL.

            I’m calling your bluff…show me the gender focused marketing numbnuts.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:16 am
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            Guessing you’ve missed all of the “Girl power!” headlines and quotes from Kennedy, and the head honchos saying this is the intention over and over again. Google and the archives are your friend….or heck, take a gander at the article on which you are commenting.

            And “numbnuts”? Reverting to namecalling suggests that you are defensive, and therefore find my opinion valid. 🙂

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:36 am
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            I called you numbnuts because your bigoted, sexist ignorance is infuriating. Worst yet, you truly dont smell your own shit which makes it impossible to have any real debate. You have dug in too deep.

            Here goes..

            None of those things you cited are marketing unless LFL published those articles, which they did not.

            You don’t understand what marketing means. That invalidates your entire argument. An argument built on your proclamation that LFL is marketing this movie around gender and race. You cannot show me one thing produced by LFL to prove your point.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:13 am
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            I wish I could multi-like just for you explaining what the hell “marketing” is to this man who is so desperate to prove that his own sexism and MRA-butthurt isn’t the reason for everything he has spewed up and down these boards. Maybe he’ll come up with a new “reason” for his upset stomach now that you’ve pointed out his arguments have no basis in fact, but I imagine that’s not likely.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:19 am
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            Ah, it only took you four comments in to break out the “racist/bigot/sexist/insert-oppression-Olympics-champion-of-the-day” trope. I suppose I should be impressed that you held back that long.

            No, you called me numbnuts because you have a weak argument and it infuriates you that you know I’m right, and your fragile little world has been shattered around you by common sense.

            Every interview for the promotion of the film is part of marketing….duh.

          • October 18, 2015 at 9:55 pm
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            You don’t HAVE to build a marketing campaign around white men. They are the default setting, kiddo. It would be lovely if any of you scaredy-cats had any idea of what privilege is, but I guess you’re just doomed to embody it, instead.

          • October 19, 2015 at 9:36 am
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            Actually, I like myself just fine. In fact I’m so comfortable with myself that I am not afraid of my penis shriveling up just because women or black men might be involved in a movie series I like. Maybe you should work on that.

          • October 19, 2015 at 11:31 pm
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            Why would your penis shrivel up because of this? Manginas don’t have them to begin with, and again, it isn’t the involvement of non white men and women in the film that is the problem, it’s the claim that it somehow denotes quality and is important that is.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:18 pm
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            Here’s the thing. If TFA ends up sucking, THEN maybe you’ll have room to make these sweeping pronouncements about how diversity came first “with the artistry second.”

            Until then, you’re just making a load of pointless (and rather low-rent) noise.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:35 pm
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            Again, the quality of the film doesn’t have anything to do with the color and sex of the cast. You can still do a great story even with a cast as manufactured as this one seems to be. But regardless, this cast seems incredibly manufactured and contrived because they’ve gone to great lengths to point out the fact that they’ve cast certain kinds of people in the movie, when that shouldn’t matter at all let alone even be a selling point for the quality of the picture.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:50 am
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            And yet, what was the objection that you raised?

            “There’s nothing wrong with a diverse cast, but this comes off as incredibly contrived and manufactured, with the artistry second.”

            In other words you, without having seen any more of TFA than the rest of us, are pitching a bitch about the quality of the film taking a back seat to “contrived and manufactured” diversity.

            I’ve been watching drivel like this stink up the comments section on this site ever since the TFA cast was announced and a load of anonymous “deep thinkers” started bubbling their spit over the fact that one of the leads was black. It’s people like that who have been making the vast majority of the noise about the color and sex of the cast since then. The occasional comments coming out of LFL about the diversity of the cast have paled in comparison to the wall of idiocy that’s been coming from loud and proud bigots with something to prove.

            And the saddest part is, the threadbare old whining about “diversity” and “political correctness” that gets endlessly recycled in these discussions is far more dull and boring than it is offensive. It’s like being at a party where a handful of the guests have nothing to contribute other than to chirp out movie and commercial catchphrases that were already old and worn out years ago.

            C’mon man, give us your best “Where’s The Beef?” Or hey, how about that Eric Cartman impression that absolutely nobody wants to hear?

            That’s all it is, y’know. But by all means, continue to spam the discussion with it. You’ll “win the Internet” for sure that way. ;^)

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:46 am
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            Well, I stand by what I said. It does seem like the artistry comes second because all we hear every time there’s an interview is about how there’s non white males in the movie and “girl power!!!” over and over and over – with the occasional “Didja know we’re using PRACTICAL EFFECTS???” thrown in for good measure.

            You can blame the “secrecy” if you like, but this is all we continue to hear about the movie, nothing about the story or the characters, for whatever reason it’s perpetually disproportionate, and understandably has fueled the notion that this has been the chief concern and driving force of the “creative” minds behind the movie, when “diversity” isn’t something that should be a selling point for a movie at all.

            It’s easy to think this when all we hear are “we put a black guy in a stormtrooper suit and gave him a lightsaber and you better get used to it!” and “we really want to focus on female characters”….the only people this excites are trend-tards like yourself.

            But hey, you got to call someone on the internet a “bigot” today, your SJW buddies would be proud. 🙂

          • October 16, 2015 at 5:39 pm
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            “It does seem like the artistry comes second because all we hear every time there’s an interview is about how there’s non white males in the movie and “girl power!!!” over and over and over – with the occasional “Didja know we’re using PRACTICAL EFFECTS???” thrown in for good measure.”

            Evidently that’s all you’re seeing. IMHO, that says a lot more about you than it does about LFL or their marketing focus.

            And of course, there’s been plenty more than this coming out of LFL. No you’ve not been hearing a lot of details about the movie itself, and I know how frustrating that is. Personally, having read the ESB novel before I saw the film all those years ago, I’m all for having as unspoiled an experience as possible on opening day. But it takes a real desire to breathe life into a non-existent problem to take the lack of story leaks and twist it into a claim that artistry is somehow taking a back seat to some sort of “PC” agenda.

            I will say this, however. The site staff is very much aware of this particular comments thread and the nonsense that you and a few others insist on continuing to spam throughout it. I would very strongly suggest that you bear in mind that you are in somebody else’s house here on this site (as am I!) and that people don’t generally take kindly to having shit smeared on their walls by their guests.

            Take that as you will.

          • October 19, 2015 at 7:38 am
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            Umm…I’m seeing that because that’s what we’ve heard about the film: girl power, oh look a black guy, and practical effects (not-prequel-itis).
            What is the name of this article? Just take a gander up there at what you’re commenting on and let me know if it says the same thing for you that it does for me. Is the phrase “girl power” present or not in your version? Because we need to make sure it isn’t just me seeing this….
            “Take that as you will”? Well, you pretty much called my comments shit, and are probably a few one syllable words away from calling me a Nazi if the conversation persists. But I will say it’s hard to act surprised at shit flinging when something you want (Star Wars) is being treated like a toilet. Take that as you will.
            The girl power campaigns are what’s rubbing myself and others the wrong way. Whether there has been a hundred different articles and interviews pertaining to all sorts of things being done with the movie is irrelevant, the sex or race of a person is nothing to build marketing on or use as a bludgeon to justify why the movie is “good”. Race and sex do not matter, it isn’t good for someone to attack the lead characters because they are a certain race or sex, and it also isn’t good to praise and celebrate a person based on their race or sex, two things they had absolutely no control over, two things that have absolutely ZERO bearing on the quality of film or the story being told.
            Why is this so hard for SJWs and feminazis to understand?

          • October 18, 2015 at 9:53 pm
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            You do realize that NONE of the directors hired so far, NONE of the writers, and only 25% of the named cast members for the next THREE films are women, right? I think maybe at least wait to step in with the panicked, MRA baloney that your toys are being taken away when it’s somewhere even approaching the actual demographic balance of the world, okay? Until then, your talk of an “agenda” that clearly doesn’t exist (otherwise there would be a whole lot more of these strange alien creatures called women and people of color involved than there actually are) seems pretty obviously based on emotional fear and not on anything resembling evidence.

          • October 19, 2015 at 7:19 am
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            IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THE MAKERS OF THE FILM ARE WOMEN OR NOT. What don’t you get about that? They need to be GOOD FILMMAKERS and GOOD STORYTELLERS. No battle is “won” or “lost” because they hired or didn’t hire a female camera-worker or director or writer, they need to look for competent, good writers, that should be the first and ONLY criteria, whether it takes the form of a man or a woman is irrelevant. Feminazis and SJWs are the most racist and sexist people. EVERYTHING must come back to race and sex with you. The problem ISN’T that there is a black and female lead in the film, the problem is that that’s being promoted as WHY we should see the movie, and how the movie is good and an improvement over something else merely because it has women and non white men in it, when it shouldn’t matter and isn’t worth something pointing out and building a marketing campaign with. THIS is the problem, and this is what fans are complaining about. This emphasis on “girl power” over and over and the “oh hey look! A black person! We put a black person in a movie, isn’t our movie special?” that we keep hearing is what gives it the earmarks of an AGENDA, not because there are women and non white men in the movie. Duh.

          • October 19, 2015 at 9:30 am
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            Yeah, except several people have asked you to provide examples of this mysterious “marketing” and you’ve yet to come up with one. And I wouldn’t say anyone who uses the expressions “feminazi” and “sjw” in a non-ironic manner is really going to convince anyone with a brain in his or her head that he isn’t either a panicked MRA or a troll. So, I’m done. We’ll all be at the theater enjoying the movie while you play with your toys in your treehouse with the “No girls allowed” sign.

          • October 19, 2015 at 11:49 pm
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            This isn’t the first time Kathleen & CO have mentioned that “girl power” will be a focus of the marketing, quit being disingenuous and look around.

            I don’t really care what you want to label me as, but the volume of times someone points out that the race and sex of a person is ian indicator of quality is irrelevant when it shouldn’t happen at all – period.

            You again seem to miss the point that the inclusion of non white men and women in the film isn’t the problem, the problem is the claim that this is somehow praiseworthy and an example of why what they’re doing with the film is good. The elevation of one race or sex above another, either by love for one or hate of one IS in and of itself discrimination.

            Claiming that it is good that 6/8 people working on the film are women is claiming that it would be bad if only men worked on the movie – when the SEX of a person doesn’t matter, only the QUALITY of work they put forth does. A good filmmaker is all that should be looked for, NOT a woman, not a man, but a good filmmaker may take the form of a woman just as it may a man.

            My tree house doesn’t have a “no girls allowed” sign, unlike radical third wave feminists, I love women, but it does have a “no SJWs allowed” sign. Don’t forget your lance as you white knight out of here.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:11 am
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            Victor, that was nothing less than THE POST OF THE DAY!

            GREAT JOB!!!

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:28 am
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            there were racists bitching about John Boyega on here LONG before all this diversity talk started coming from Lucasfilm 😉 how can a black dude save the galaxy? etc etc. that kind of pathetic brainless nonsense.

          • October 19, 2015 at 7:49 am
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            Well I’m sorry for that, there will always be people like that in the world, but the majority of people here criticizing the film are not people who “hate” Finn and Rey simply because of their sex and skin.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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        “It turned out pretty well though didn’t it?”

        Film quality has nothing to do with diversity or lack thereof. That’s why ANH can be a great film despite being lily-white and male-dominated.

        • October 19, 2015 at 7:53 am
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          He’s just making a point that it wasn’t bad because it had males and white characters in it, like conventional “wisdom” seems to suggest, as espoused in the article of this thread.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:28 pm
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        Wasn’t Luke meant to be a female in Lucas’ original vision. So with Rey we’re finally getting Lucas’ real vision. I’m down with that. I just wish he could have kept his vision in his imagination regarding the prequels 😉

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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          At one point Luke was female..I think it went male, female, then back to male. You are correct though, a female lead was something Lucas had in mind. I guarantee that Lucas had this conversation with Kennedy…He wanted a diverse universe.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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      Trolls are just trying to get a rise out of people, they just do it to have some weird sense of fun.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:53 pm
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          I wasn’t talking to you, it’s interesting that you seemed to take it personally.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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      …I think “Fox News-ing it all over town” is my new favorite phrase. Thank you.

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:54 pm
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      In a nutshell it is a bunch of weak-ass little boys who are frightened of change. They are used to the summer blockbusters that have always mostly catered to the immature, straight, white male crowd. They have convinced themselves that they are entitled to this treatment, and that they are somehow being victimized because LFL wants to show more diversity.

      They need to learn that a real man welcomes everyone to the table…all genders, all colors. One that is threatened by seeing a woman and a black man in leading roles is not a man but a weak little boy.

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:37 am
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      Here, here.

      My only issue is my fear that there is this mandate to have to include women and have their voices in the story room when MOST women that i know, don’t care about Star Wars to begin with.

    • October 16, 2015 at 6:53 am
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      I agree that star wars has always been heading this direction – consider Leia,enough about Han Solo, I always thought Leia was the true badass of the Saga – I wish anakin acted more like his daughter, because as it is, Leia would probably punch the Hayden in the face for giving her creepy looks.

      And people think the galaxy far far away is run by men, haha, what a quaint notion…

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:04 pm
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    TFA will be the most divisive Star Wars film ever.

    Take women and turn them against men.
    Take blacks and turn them against whites.

    You almost have to wonder if this is all by design.
    That the real aim of the film isn’t to unite fans, but to divide them.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:08 pm
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      I don’t see any division except in the minds of race or gender bigots. In fact, I think it’s great that Rey and Finn are the new “stars” of the Star Wars family.

      • October 15, 2015 at 9:09 pm
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        Do not give this idiot the satisfaction of a reply.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:20 pm
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      If that was sarcasm is was genius, if not… “nurse, he’s got out again!”.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:53 pm
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      Please don’t shoot up a school and plan it on 4chan if the film isn’t to your liking, you seem like one of those cretins.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:06 pm
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        ^^ Like the gay black reporter who shot up his news crew because his coworker brought a watermelon to work to share with employees and offered him a slice?

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:26 pm
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          How do you block people on this Disquss thing…? :p

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:27 pm
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          And whatever argument you’re trying to make the statistics utterly annihilates it.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:47 pm
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            Statistics for what? The multiracial atheist shooter who shot up a college the other week who asked if people were Christian before he shot and killed them if they said yes, and wounded those that said no?
            The white guy who shot up a black church where the media leaked his manifesto to stir more of that type of division (they did the same for the gay black reporter shooter)?
            There’s definitely “forces” at work to stir up division in this country, no doubt about that….

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:13 pm
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    Although I’m not sure I like the plot, I do like that it’s so diverse.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:23 pm
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      Nobody knows the plot… Why don’t you like it?

      • October 15, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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        I think he means the plot point thats been the most consistent rumor, which is that the movie is basically a race to find Luke Skywalker.

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:43 pm
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          A rumor, okay I’ll take we have a hint at Luke being looked for. What is so horrible about finding Luke? Oh I get it, movie starts, Finn comes down off First Order spacecraft somehow runs into Rey and then must find Luke but this Kylo guy is in the way, something something Captain Phasma. Bam! No reason to see the movie. This plot sucks. 136 minute movie spoiled. Thank you Timothy for sparing us.

          • October 15, 2015 at 9:50 pm
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            People are just bummed out because if thats the case then the rumor about Luke only showing up at the end is also true. I understand why people would be bummed out, but I just want a good story.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:00 pm
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          I quite like that idea. Although it’s not quite a plot, more a one sentence synopsis (if that’s the right word). I’m sure there is a lot more to the actual plot.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:13 pm
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          Not too keen on the rumored outline, either.

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:13 pm
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      Fingers are crossed with the rumored plot….

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:53 pm
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        Yes, a film maker should apologize to you for not writing and filming the movie you wanted.

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:15 pm
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          Nope, but they should do it in a way that follows common sense and doesn’t sh*t on icons.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:23 pm
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            Hyperbole.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:27 pm
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            Bringing Luke, Han, and Leia back and never having them interact with each other, and giving Luke Skywalker a cameo all in the sequel to Return Of The Jedi is a moronic waste of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:22 am
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            Shoehorning that opportunity into a solid story is also a waste.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:12 am
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            Then don’t bring them back at all, or make a solid story that does justice to that opportunity.

          • October 18, 2015 at 9:15 pm
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            Or write a story about new characters and let Luke fit into that story in a way that promotes our new heroes and gives Luke a logical role that doesn’t overshadow the new, and necessarily new, heroes.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:34 am
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            ha…I have got someone i know who is a die-hard star wars fan, does not know anything and has read nothing on the new film.

            If Luke really only has a cameo, he may kill Abrams.

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:47 pm
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        Ohhh now it makes sense… you are a PT’er… no wonder you are MRA

        • October 16, 2015 at 3:20 am
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          PT? I’m not MRA, I’m egalitarian, though I understand that pisses a lot of feminazis off.

      • October 16, 2015 at 1:33 am
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        AH! PLEASE DON’T LET THIS BE TRUE!

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:16 pm
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    I’ve gotta say, I’m glad to see more focus put towards this. Like it or not, women and men are certainly different and having a balance of both genders on staff can certainly change outcomes. I won’t point fingers and shout “SEXIST!” or “ANTI-SEXIST!” at anyone, because I frankly don’t care. I’m just happy to see that they want the new trilogy to pass the Bechdel Test, a hurdle that the Original Trilogy fell on their faces trying to overcome.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:20 pm
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      Only a SJW (a real life sith) would imply the OT was a failure because it didn’t focus more on women.

      • October 15, 2015 at 9:25 pm
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        Uhh, I didn’t imply that the OT was a failure. Calm down.

        • October 15, 2015 at 9:54 pm
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          You implied that not passing the bechdel test is somehow a slight against the original films and that that is the sort of thing that matters in the movie/ceative realm.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:07 pm
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            No she didn’t. Read it again.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:10 pm
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            Yes, she did. You read it again.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:53 pm
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            You know, you can criticize a film’s lack of diversity while praising the film itself. Like loving ANH but asking “Where’s all the black people?”

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:58 pm
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            And you can be called an idiot for being concerned with such a thing as though it matters with a movie. Where’s all the black people? Where’s all the purple people? Where’s all the technicolored polka dot people? Who cares? It’s a good story and it’s entertaining – the movie has served its purpose. No need to deduct brownie points because all the colors of the rainbow aren’t included. THAT is true racism.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:08 am
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            Movies are a big part of society. They are seen by millions of different people from different counties and cultures all over the world. They influence people’s ideas and points of view. Star Wars is massive and has widespread influence. Star Wars isn’t a history movie about Europe. Making a movie about Europe with all white people, and men in all the important and powerful roles in society would be accurate. Thats what the vast majority of European history was like. If the movie-maker shoehorned black people into the movie and gave women leading roles and powerful positions just to pander to a more diverse audience that wouldn’t make sense to the story. The Star Wars universe is supposed to be a vast diverse galaxy filled with multitudes of different planets, cultures, alien races AND ‘GASP’ humans of different colors, from different worlds and cultures. Watching ANH and asking where are all the black people is a perfectly logical question. The Star Wars Galaxy is a wide open slate of creativity and endless possibilities. It should represent all the different faces and people of planet Earth SIITTING IN THE AUDIENCE. Star Wars is so awesome it should belong to and represent us all. Not just white male America. There’s plenty of room for all of us to play here. A whole galaxy. Of course the story and characters should come first. And your point that the promotion of this film so far has been pounding the PC drum of ‘Girl Power’ and diversity, rather than ‘Look at our awesome story we’re telling. It also happens to include a diverse cast’ is true. Lucasfilm/Disney needs to stop harping on that and promote the story. Saying stupid sh*t like purple and technicolored polka dot people is taking it too far and just unnecessary racist bullsh*t ruining your otherwise viable point.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:18 am
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            Wow, do SJWs know of ANY other criticism than “racism and bigotry!”? You yourself just said that Star Wars is made up of all sorts of different races and creatures, so if it’s not wrong to ask where all the black people are, it most certainly isn’t wrong to ask where all the purple and polka dot people are.
            But why would there be any other color people aside from what is on screen? It’s a made up universe, it doesn’t have to represent anything in our reality.
            I vehemently disagree that diversity must be included in all fiction (sci fi, fantasy, etc) stories and that the only exception to the rule is historic stories for accuracy reasons. The only people/characters necessary in a story are the ones the creator deems necessary. It does not make him racist of the majority of the characters he envisioned for the universe he created happen to be one particular color or another.
            The part of Tattooine in which Luke grows up is very isolated, and we don’t see that many other characters. There doesn’t need to be a black or white person included in Star Wars at all unless the creator deems it so. If the creator wants to tell a story where all the people are green or Hispanic and all of the aliens look different, then that’s all that needs to be included there, too.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:56 am
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            I NEVER said all fiction ( sci fi, fantasy etc.) I said STAR WARS! It has more fans and has had more influence on society in the last 40 years than any other ‘fiction’ franchise. That’s why it makes sense that Lucasfilm is diversifying Star Wars because it has a global audience and has been and will be seen by more people than other sci fi/ fantasy. SW has a diverse audience. The cast reflecting that diversity isn’t a bad thing.
            You totally ignored the fact that I agreed with you that Disney/Lucasfilm trumpeting their cast diversity and ‘girl power’ instead of a great plot/storyline is crap. Tell us what makes your film great beside girl power.
            It’s a racist comments because using colors that don’t represent the skin color of actual people on earth is thinly veiled racism ie: purple, green, polka dot. It shows you have a problem with people of color. If not, then why the 50 comments on the board today? Racist politicans have said that lame line for decades. The whole I don’t care if you’re black, brown, purple or green statement. It’s lame. No one can argue against the likeability or inclusion of purple or green people because they don’t exist on Earth.

          • October 16, 2015 at 4:14 am
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            What does the influence Star Wars has on a society have to do with it being forced to include X amount of insert-specific-type-of-people-here _____ in it? Anyone who’s so vested in the influence something wields over others clearly has an agenda in mind.

            You say people the world over have watched and love Star Wars and made it a global phenomenon….then that means that they *gasp!* must have done so in spite of the fact that there isn’t a character who looks and acts like every single member of this global audience! And yet, conventional “wisdom” says this is impossible! How can this be?? How can Star Wars have a global audience if there isn’t a character to represent every person on the globe??

            Saying Star Wars needs to “diversify” because diverse people already like it is a self-defeating argument, and again, places the way an audience identifies with characters solely on the whether they look like them or not, and that is racist to the core.

            I didn’t ignore the fact that you agreed with me on something I said, there just wasn’t any reason to acknowledge it. If it’s a thank you you’re looking for….umm…thanks for agreeing with me, I guess.

            The difference between me and you is that you insist that there HAS to be racial diversity in Star Wars, while I simply say that there CAN be. If Lucas wanted all of the human characters black, all of them female, etc, it doesn’t matter because it’s a made up fictitious universe and it can be whatever the creators want.

            As for your argument that saying “I don’t care if you’re black, brown, green, purple, etc” makes you racist, that’s absurd, and even moreso particularly when it’s said in sarcasm half the time anyway. Besides, since you keenly pointed out that half of those are skin colors that do NOT exist on earth, why couldn’t they exist in Star Wars? Also, multi-colored aliens and creatures have served as analogies for racism in science fiction stories for decades, I see no problem with the made-up color comparison whatsoever.

          • October 16, 2015 at 4:47 am
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            I never once said there HAS to be racial diversity. I said given SW diverse audience why is everyone (yourself included) making such a big deal about the cast now being diverse. Who cares? Its not that big of a deal. Now if they are diversifying the cast just to make a big politically correct statement and focused all their time and energy on this agenda instead of creating a great SW film, THAT would be total bullshit. Not the idea of diversity itself which is what everyone is arguing about.
            I mentioned that I agreed with you on that one point to show that we have some ideas in common, not to get a thank you.
            Where in our conversation did you ever say that SW CAN be diverse. I responded to your comment above where you called people idiots for asking the question-Where are all the black people? You then mocked that very questions validity by mentioning purple and pocka dot people. That’s the opposite if saying SW CAN be diverse.
            Your name is ALL OVER this comment board, but I am the one with the agenda? My main point is that I do not understand why everyone is so upset about this.

          • October 16, 2015 at 10:13 am
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            Correction: WE’RE not making a big deal about the movie being “diverse”, the STUDIO is. In fact, they’re the ones who think it’s such a big deal they’ve devoted 90% of the talk/promotion of the film to it, and that is what everyone (most people, myself included) take issue with.

            I’ve said consistently that Star Wars can be diverse, but saying that it should be and examining it as though there is a quota to fill shouldn’t be something that people take into consideration when watching it, and especially critiquing its quality. So yeah, saying “where’s all the black people” is missing the point because that doesn’t matter or have any bearing on the quality of the film.

            …..and so what if my name is all over the board? That just means I’m engaged in many conversations, doesn’t have anything to do with an agenda, unless you consider the back and forth with other commenters to be an “agenda”, in which case everyone is guilty.

          • October 16, 2015 at 7:35 pm
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            At least we agree on one thing. I am not against the new diversity, but there has to be something else they can promote regarding this film. I really want to start seeing articles pop up on SWNN that are about the studio commenting on the story and characters now. We have had plenty promotion of the other stuff.
            The only reason I accused you of having an agenda was because you FIRST accused me of having one. You brought that up, not me. I was just pointing out that of the 2 of us, the argument could be made that you have more of an agenda than me due to your massive quantity of comments as compared to mine. This topic is clearly important to you given your amount of comments.

          • October 17, 2015 at 6:15 pm
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            Maybe they live on their own planets? They should visit one of those planets and ask “Where’s all the white people?”.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:19 pm
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            You can criticize the OT’s lack of female representation while still praising it as a film series. I give credit to the PT for being slightly more inclusive to women and minorities while simultaneously harshly criticizing it or failing to connect with me emotionally.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:42 pm
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            None of that should matter with story/film. Do you understand that not all stories in real life include all or even many people of various backgrounds/ethnicities? If you tell me a story about how you went shopping, am I to criticize it for not having enough female or minority characters? Why then do we demand this with movies? If a movie includes a diverse roster, great, but if not, also great. This shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be anything to base a movie’s quality on.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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            I didn’t once say that the film would be better or worse with or without female characters. I just said that I’m glad to see the film take steps to diversify. You seriously need to calm down here, haha.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:14 pm
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            “I’m just happy to see that they want the new trilogy to pass the Bechdel Test, a hurdle that the Original Trilogy fell on their faces trying to overcome.”
            This implies that there was something wrong with the original trilogy because it wasn’t successful in its attempts to pass the bechdel test. You see passing the bechdel test as a good thing when it shouldn’t matter either way, therefore, the implication according to your comment is that if something does not pass the bechdel test it is bad, or at least not as good as something that does.

          • October 17, 2015 at 6:14 pm
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            I wonder if there’s a bechdel test for men. Han and Luke was talking about women for a while, and that didn’t really sit right with me.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:51 pm
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            “None of that should matter with story/film.”

            I would say that it doesn’t matter to the story because the vast majority of Star Wars characters don’t need to be any particular gender. Like I’ve said before, diverse representation has nothing to do with a film’s quality.

            I bring it up in relationship to representing the diversity in America and the world because Star Wars is a diverse galaxy, and most of us aren’t white men.

            BTW, I don’t ask for this sort of diversity in every film. It depends.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:54 pm
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            Then we don’t need to build the marketing around “Girl power!” and “look, no white guys!”.
            And yes, I agree that the type of characters you have should be based entirely in the kind of story you want to tell.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:16 pm
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        The OT’s quality as a film series has absolutely nothing to do with female representation. They are two separate things.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:52 pm
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      This crap again. Who the heck cares??? The amount of women in a movie don’t improve its quality or entice me to see it!! How about we talk about the story and characters – ya know, things that make a good story? Who cares if it passes the bechdel test or not or what the male/female, black/white ratio is??? None of that has any bearing on if the story is well told, interesting, or well cast and acted. This just sucks. Remember when people had empathy and could just be interested in a film or character based on their personal struggles and the events surrounding them and didn’t base a movie’s quality on whether it had characters that looked and acted like every single member of the audience? This is sickening. If the sexes are equal, we don’t need discriminating terms like “girl power”, and to point out and emphasize that there are many women characters in the movie and that that is why the movie is good. The original Star Wars trilogy never would have even been made today, and Han Solo would have been called a misogynist/sexist/chauvinist and there’d be outrage from paper tiger twitter mobs because he said he wants to avoid female advice! This generation is screwed.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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        Just because you and others don’t care doesn’t mean nobody does. Female representation has nothing to do with a film’s quality. It’s simply about creating more opportunities or women in the entertainment industry. Don’t confuse the two.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:38 pm
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          Men and women having jobs in the film industry is great, but I don’t believe a character someone created as male should be changed to female just to give women more jobs. Story and character comes first, everything else second. There’s a part in the movies for everyone but not everyone is right for every part. The nice thing is that these are new characters so there’s a limitless potential to make them whatever way they want, but touting the movie as great because there are female characters isn’t anything to praise it for – the ratio of male/female jobs means NOTHING to the story/as a movie.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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            You are right in one thing. Lets say Saving private Ryan. Why there weren’ t women in the beach? In that war? In a war generally the fighters are men. Star WARS. The logic tells me that this is the same situation. But now we have women stormtroopers….I like movies with a lot of women. But they have to fit in the story, not be forced to be there only because they are women…..BTW Billy Dee was in the casting of Han Solo in A new hope…but he didn’ t succeed. Harrison got the part.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:09 pm
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            Great comment, spot on, and thank you for the info on Billy Dee Williams’ Han Solo audition, I did not know that.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:44 pm
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            Star Wars ain’t Saving Private Ryan or Rambo. Were you bothered by Princess Leia or old Obi-Wan in the OT?

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:45 pm
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            I don’t think Billy Dee auditioned for Han Solo. From the audition tapes I’ve seen, only white men auditioned for the role.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:07 am
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            By all means, explain that to the Israeli armed forces. Why do they keep trying to force women into wars when they clearly aren’t capable?

          • October 16, 2015 at 10:03 am
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            Israeli army requires EVERYONE to serve when they get to a certain age because they’re not a very big country. However, I’m sure they would choose all men for the task if they could because men are naturally better suited for it. We’re all “equal” until it comes time to lift something heavy. But seriously, equal does not mean the same. Both sexes have things they can do that the other cannot and it requires both sexes to ALWAYS create a life, therefore both sexes are equally important. But both serve different purposes and are more naturally inclined to particular endeavors than the other.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:42 pm
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            This is Star Wars. The vast majority of the characters don’t need to be male. Was it absolutely necessary to the story for Luke, C-3P0 or Chewie to be men?

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:32 am
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            Yes…because a man wrote the story, and i think a man identifies more with other men than a woman.

            Simple biology.

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:32 am
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          And using Star Wars as the victim of this.

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:31 am
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      eh???

      Why do women have to be included in Star Wars?

      Are there loud cries from women saying there needs to be more female representation in some space movie about the force?

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:48 pm
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    Jesus. I say this as a woman….I don’t care. Give me an interesting character. Having a vagina doesn’t make you interesting in an of itself. Again, I say this as a proud owner of a vagina. Just get on with it. I’m as sick of hearing about women characters as I am about practical effects. Yes, yes, great, wonderful. So happy. Yada yada yada. But do I need to be beat over the head with it every time you open your mouth? Just get on with it already. Jeez.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:50 pm
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      All women in the sequels were created with practical effects. 🙂

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:08 pm
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      Nobody expects all women to care about this issue.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:28 pm
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        I repeat: I DON’T CARE. As a PERSON, I don’t care. Tell me a good story. Tell me a good story about a PERSON that just happens to be a woman. Tell me a good story about a PERSON that just happens to be a man. I just care about the story and the PERSON that the character is. Not what they do or do not have between their legs.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:39 pm
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          It may very well be a fact that you don’t care. But ponder on this for a moment (and ponder on it thoroughly before responding): what if in your subconscious you do care? Your conscience is one thing but your subconscious, that which you can’t actually control, is another and it may very well be working against your conscience’s thoughts.

          *insert epic mind blow meme*

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:50 pm
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          Clearly they intend to tell you a bad story because they are conscious of the fact that they would like strong female characters.

          Clearly.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:51 pm
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          Gotta love all the guys responding to you trying to tell you that you’re wrong. I totally agree with you. I just want good stories and characters regardless of gender.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm
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            I never said Reba was wrong. I just said that, naturally, not all women are going to care about this.

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:39 pm
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          Yeah. Heard you the first time.

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:10 pm
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      THANK YOU =D

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:16 pm
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      Amen, Reba

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:29 am
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      Thank you. If only more women spoke like this.

      The story must always come first.

    • October 16, 2015 at 8:46 am
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      Best comment on here!

  • October 15, 2015 at 9:49 pm
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    Oh my god…..this crap again. Who the heck cares??? The amount of women in a movie don’t improve its quality or entice me to see it!! How about we talk about the story and characters – ya know, things that make a good story? Who cares if it passes the bechdel test or not or what the male/female, black/white ratio is??? This just sucks. Remember when people had empathy and could just be interested in a film or character based on their personal struggles and the events surrounding them and didn’t base a movie’s quality based on whether it had characters that looked and acted like every single member of the audience? This is sickening. If the sexes are equal, we don’t need discriminating terms like “girl power”, and to point out and emphasize that there are many women characters in the movie and that that is why the movie is good. The original Star Wars trilogy never would have even been made today, and Han Solo would have been called a misogynist/sexist/chauvinist and there’d be outrage from paper tiger twitter mobs because he said he wants to avoid female advice! This generation is screwed.

    • October 15, 2015 at 9:55 pm
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      Well if it wasn’t for civil rights groups complaining about a lack of black people in Star Wars back in ’77 we wouldn’t have got Lando. Is that what you want, a world without Lando? Why do you hate Lando damn you?! 🙂

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:08 pm
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        Bullcrap. We still may have had Lando, he just may have been played by some other actor of…whatever color (implying Billy Dee was only included because of his race may also be considered racist). Although the lobotomized media was all over Lucas’ ass for not being PC enough even back then, not every interview/article was based on the fact that there was a black guy in Star Wars and the marketing certainly wasn’t built around it. There’s nothing wrong with a diverse cast, but this new cast has come off as incredibly contrived and manufactured, with the artistry second. It comes off more as this is the mandate/edict that’s come down from the top and less this is what the creator’s artistic vision is, and that’s what makes it sickening. It isn’t enough to just make a good movie with strong characters, acting, story, and special effects, no, the only thing that will satisfy these people is if everyone in every audience ever is “represented” on screen by a character who is just like them! Barf. Explains why those people have no creative ability of their own and have to siphon off the talent of others to morph it into whatever monstrosity that fits their political agenda.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:27 pm
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          Of course it’s all manufactured. It’s a movie. What do you expect?
          However I don’t think it’s being forced (pardon the pun) it’s just people write differently now because attitudes have changed, and still are changing.
          And although my comment was in jest, we really don’t know who would have been cast as Lando if not for the pressure groups.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:34 pm
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            Right, movies have to be made, therefore made = “manufactured”, but that’s obviously not in the context in which I meant it, I mean it feels cold, passionless, like they’ve been given a quota, rather than this is what something a creative filmmaker dreamed up and thought was the best way to bring his vision to life, like the original movies.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:49 pm
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            I know what you mean but I have to disagree. I think it’s that there are far more people involved now, and they all want to have a voice. It’s not that there are quotas but the fact that the top level of these companies is know more diverse, so some guy says “Why aren’t there any asian guys in this film, isn’t that strange?” and a female producer says “This is great but why is it mostly guys?”. Remember Star Wars was pretty much an independent film, Lucas didn’t have to pass anything through anyone really, so no one asked him those kinds of questions.

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:58 pm
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            But manufactured or not, those kind of questions don’t matter and have nothing to do with how good or bad the movie is. The fact that Star Wars was mostly an independent film is one part of why I think it was so great. There are huge corporations involved now that get final say, and I see this as a mandate from them given all of the emphasis/marketing built around it. The original films didn’t just include Lucas though, there were a LOT of people involved, and they made many valuable contributions to the story/film that it wouldn’t have been the same success it was without them. There were Asians, blacks, and females that worked on the original film….George Lucas’ wife even edited half of Star Wars into the film it was released as. Nobody seemed to have a problem….except PC trend-tards, who are bigger than ever today, and the films are now owned by one of the six corporations that control the world’s media and politicians, and the marketing for the new film reflects the corporation’s agenda as well.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:18 am
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            I think your points are valid in most respects. But I think we disagree on the intent of the film makers.
            I think we are getting all these “strong female character” quotes because that’s what they are getting asked about, it’s a media trend right now.
            I don’t think it’s something we should be worrying about and I think it’s weird it’s even an issue.

          • October 16, 2015 at 12:24 am
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            Cool response to what Vic said. This is how discussions should work.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:07 am
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            Well I hope you are right on that. The fact that Boyega was selected over the other actors that auditioned for a character that wasn’t racially specific is a good sign, and this whole “look, girl power and non white males!” thing may just be how they’ve decided to spin and milk the castings from a marketing perspective because they think the “trendiness” will work to their advantage, sort of like how Superman is ALWAYS being physically bigger than Batman, but since Ben Affleck is bigger than Henry Cavill and he’s playing Batman in the new Batman V Superman film, the filmmakers have tried to play this off as a creative decision and that they MEANT for Batman to be bigger than Superman because reasons, and like how Aquaman in the film will have tattoos because the actor does but they’ve given contrived reasons to make it sound like a creative decision for that as well.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:31 am
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            Hey Boyega is a good young actor and a good London lad, he was great in Attack the Block! The guy has talent!. I really cant be arsed to read that wall of text. That is too much, please break it down to paragraphs. That is horrible to read.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:50 am
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            I never said he wasn’t a good actor. I honestly am not too familiar with his body of work.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:28 pm
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          Who cares? To quote Luke “I care”

          • October 15, 2015 at 10:31 pm
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            You’re honestly going to say The Force Awakens was is a bad movie/deduct points from it as a film for not passing the bechdel test? That’s sickening.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm
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          I guess that 2.000.000.000 of asians may feel offended by not having an asian hero among the main trio….

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:14 pm
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            Asians make their own movies in china though, why are they so offended?

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:28 am
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          I am black and I love that Boyega is in Star Wars. But in truth, the LEAD ought to be a white male. I am all for a diverse cast as I think it would make Star Wars better. But if the lead was white…and it ought to have been Domnhall Gleeson, then it would have fitted perfectly.

          Enforcing this weird political mandate is NOT how films are made. The art must always come first.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:00 am
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            I don’t really care what color the lead is or even if the lead character is male or female, I’m just tired of the sex/races of the characters/actors being touted as some great thing and why we should be excited for this movie, and the marketing/interviews being based around that.

          • October 16, 2015 at 5:28 am
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            Seriously? Even if it doesn’t fit the story or character? Are you saying Gleeson should have been Finn? What if Gleeson didn’t have the chops to play the role of Finn? Theres plenty of actors who audition for a part, and end up with another role because they didn’t fit the role they originally auditioned for. This happens all the time. The person they felt was right to play Finn got the role. Jessie Plemons (White actor) tried out for Finn as well, and Boyega was just better in their eyes, and a better actor to many other people as well.

  • October 15, 2015 at 10:15 pm
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    Star Wars will have a more representative cast that reflects our world. Star Wars will give so many more people interesting characters to follow and become role models, characters that represent themselves. Star Wars will as an offshoot have far more creative potential for interesting stories and characters as a result, rather than yet another heroic white male figure (or several) always saving the day.

    What’s more, we’re in a fantasy universe, there’s nothing to say that women would or should have a lesser influence and lesser roles in this universe, so please stop bringing OUR issues to this beautiful universe and trying to make this universe reflect the stunted range of diversity in OUR real world. You’re the ones ruining it by insisting that we can only go forward in the same ways as we have in the past. Once a white male is the hero then forevermore apparently only a white male can be the hero, “cos that’s how it is!” A ridiculous catch 22 situation.

    Kennedy and co are being aggressive in this, yeah, but it is not something that anyone should be having an issue with unless they’re truly a racist or a sexist bigot. Really, have a long hard think, what worries or scares you about more females and ethnic actors in this franchise? Make your case, re-read it and have a further think. Are your opinions based on a foundational bias in your opinion, one that you might not even be fully aware of, one that has been harvested over years of social engineering from your environment, be it parents or your peers? If Kennedy made every single character in this world female you’d maybe have a genuine axe to grind. If the story revolved around destroying the super powerful weapon, which resembled a phallus, then yeah you might be on to something…. that is not what is happening here. What’s happening is that our world is 50% female (well actually they make up the majority) and Star Wars is reflecting that. Our world has way more than just us white dudes in it, and Star Wars is reflecting that. Grow up or GTFO.

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:26 pm
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      If only more Star Wars fans would think like you David, the world will be a nicer place.

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:27 pm
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      Why is it that women and black people can only have black and female characters as role models, and white males can only have white males as role models? Why must the identity of a person be reduced down to their race/sex? Why can’t someone like Luke or Han Solo be interesting and “identifiable” to the audience through their struggles and story? Why do they need to look and act just like every person in the audience in order to be “identifiable” to them? And if that is not the case, then why this over-emphasis on the fact that there are women and minorities in Star Wars when it should be just a matter-of-fact thing, not something touted and worshipped that denotes quality?

      I have no problem with a diverse cast. I’m for male, female and multi-colored characters, but what matters is how good the story and character is. PERIOD. That’s it. If Finn were white his story would be just as good as if he were black. It doesn’t matter. So why is the marketing being built around the fact that there’s a black guy and women in Star Wars? It feels like less of a creative decision/what the artist envisioned as best for the story and more something contrived and manufactured out of a mandate/edict from the top, and therein lies the problem.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:39 pm
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        let’s remember that when they were casting, there was an open spot for male lead, not mixed race or non-caucasian male lead, meaning that Finn was written without having any ethnicity in mind, so Boyenga (who I personally dislike) got a role not based on his race but how well he adopted the character.

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:01 pm
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          Exactly, and that to me is how it should be. But regardless, they decided to build much of the marketing around the fact that “Oh, there’s women in this movie! Oh look! A black guy!”, and that’s what I think is rubbing people the wrong way.
          As for the whole black stormtrooper thing, I don’t think people who were critical of this were necessarily racist, just that they, like most of the world, assumed that stormtroopers were clones and that clones all looked like Jango Fett thanks to the prequels.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm
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            From what I read, Billy Dee never auditioned for Han Solo. Only white male actors did. Irvin Kershner visited Billy Dee at his home and offered him the role of Lando on the spot.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm
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            Off to google for me to verify which is true now, lol….thanks for the Billy Dee stories regardless, guys. I love to hear backstories like this.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:37 am
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            “Billy Dee Williams fans take note: the actor says he did not, contrary to long-standing rumours, audition for the role of Han Solo before landing the part of Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back.

            “I never auditioned for anything. I was asked to play Lando and I said, ‘Yeah, great, fantastic.’ (Director) Irv Kershner came to my house, we sat and talked and got to know each other and that was that,” Williams said in a recent interview.”

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:25 am
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          why do you personally dislike boyega?

          • October 16, 2015 at 10:16 am
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            uhm generally I don’t like his attitude during interviews and public appearances where he always seems quite cocky, like, he’s acting like a fricking rock yet the movie didn’t come out yet + I did not enjoy his performance in Attack on the Block, and haven’t seen the other movie. just general things I guess. obviously if Finn turns put to be one of the best written and portryed characters in the SW saga I’d be very happy to change my mind

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm
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      @ David Hunter

      Not to be intentionally combative or anything (because that’s not my thing) but……..

      “…there’s nothing to say that women would or should have a lesser influence and lesser roles in this universe…”

      – Only a bigot would suggest this, but everyone that’s complaining about this “inclusion” agenda isn’t inherently being a bigot- no matter how much you want to spin this.

      “…so please stop bringing OUR issues to this beautiful universe and trying to make this universe reflect the stunted range of diversity in OUR real world…”

      – Exactly- but not in the way that you say it. If our society is indeed suffering from a lack of diversity, inclusiveness, and girl-power, then how or why is it Star Wars’s place (or ANY other movie for that matter) to address it- whether its potentially at the expense of good story-telling or not?? Again, your “spin” is a bit more than being off-base.

      “…Kennedy and co are being aggressive in this, yeah, but it is not something that anyone should be having an issue with unless they’re truly a racist or a sexist bigot…”

      – Whoa there buddy, that’s your viewpoint (that you’re entitled to of course) but it’s not some kinda stone tablet gospel by any means. Like I stated above, no one is automatically a sexist bigot just because they take a seemingly contrary stance about this issue. Feel free to be your own brand of feminist cheerleader eagle scout SJW but don’t think that everyone else should feel the same way and fall in line just because you think they should.

      “Grow up or GTFO”

      – Very impressed with the maturity on display in this statement. Ironically it appears to be reverse applicable. Thank you.

      Bravo, Victor Knieval. If this subject were some type of contest in the context of this thread, then, you WON it- hands down imo. Your courage and honesty is refreshing and appreciated.

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:56 am
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      Ha.

      So if someone has an issue that there is a push for “Girl Power” they are now sexist bigots.

      Not sure how that works…

    • October 16, 2015 at 3:42 am
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      “If Kennedy made every single character in this world female you’d maybe have a genuine axe to grind.”

      But every single character in the previous Star Wars films weren’t male, yet SJWs & feminazis have had a VERY big axe to grind. #DoubleStandard

      “If the story revolved around destroying the super powerful weapon, which resembled a phallus, then yeah you might be on to something…”

      I take it you’re going to call the Sarlacc Pitt misogynistic now?

  • October 15, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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    And then there’s this crap…

  • October 15, 2015 at 10:21 pm
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    see this is crazy, for the past year TFA was marketed with three things : pracitcal effects, “strong female characters” and black guy being one of the leads. its like trying to sell a car by saying how great the sound system is, how amazing the integration with iPhone is and what type of leather are the seats covered with and not a word about engine, gasoline consumption etc. like gender equality, race representation and everything is cool, but they do not add a merit to the movie itself. see, funnily enough, Star Wars is a movie. why do you enjoy Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Psycho, 2001 or West Side Story? is it beacause of the gender or race of the characters OR the story, quality of performances, cinematography and soundtrack?

    • October 15, 2015 at 10:25 pm
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      They’re keeping the story and plot close to their chests so we’re surprised by it, so since that’s the case then all the media has to go on are these other issues superlative to the finished product, but still important in being recognised and discussed. Doesn’t imply they’re trying to sell the film by flashing women and black men at us, lol. Indeed the most powerful demographic in marketing circles is exactly the one they seem to be pissing off (white men 18-30’s) so they’re not doing a great job if making money off this is why you think they’re doing all this…

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:32 pm
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        From the comments I would wager it’s the 12-15 white males who are all pissed off. Most of us grow out of that attitude by the time we leave school. I know I used to be an angry young white man/boy who thought the world was blaming me, personally, for history. But then I grew up.

        • October 16, 2015 at 8:42 am
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          You may be right about that but making a sweeping generalization makes you no less of a bigot, Sir.

        • October 16, 2015 at 10:33 am
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          Ooh, you did not just say that… 😛 History? If there’s anyone thinking the world is blaming them personally because of history – its undoubtedly the typical modern feminist. Facts are taken aside in favor of personal and collectivist grudge against men. I don’t think you are grown up at all, I think you are part of whats wrong with young Western people (below the age of 30) today. You just scream sexism and racism at EVERYTHING you don’t understand.

      • October 15, 2015 at 10:33 pm
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        see, I’m not buying this whole “surprise” thing, say ESB: the biggest reveal and clifhanger ending in the history of the western cinematography, YET it happens in the last 15 minutes of the movie: if it was being released in 2015, they could have easily revealed Hoth, Asteroid field, even Dagobah, plot summary, full trailers and clips from the movie and detailed backstories of new characters like Fett, Yoda or Lando WITHOUT spoiling the main surprise of the movie. I don’t understand why JJ has to keep EVERYTHING under wraps and promote the film with meaningless gestures in order to surprise us. the only reason I can see is that there’s no great story nor great characters to promote.

        • October 15, 2015 at 10:59 pm
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          If ESB was released in 2015, someone with an iphone would either take pics of the script or made a video of the big reveal and leaked it online and the world would of seen it in a matter of minutes. JJ kept everything under wraps to help prevent leaks to keep the surprise intact. It was a much different world 30+ years ago

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:23 am
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          MATEX! YOU WIN BEST COMMENT OF THE YEAR! YOU SAID EVERYTHING I HAVE THOUGHT BUT WORDED IT BETTER WITHOUT SWEARING.

          Do you know how bad a storyteller you must be to not REVEAL ANYTHING cool in trailers? Like is the entire film a spoiler from scene to scene?

          Show some things to make us go WOW whilst keeping the real twisters for when the film is released.

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:21 am
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      Yep. Creativity and story should come FIRST.

  • October 15, 2015 at 10:24 pm
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    This is a wonderful thing for Kathleen Kenedy to do. I’m getting reall tired of all these boys-only Marvel movies.

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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      Ugh…seriously a dig at MARVEL for being “misogynistic” now? God….

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:20 am
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      why? do a lot of women read comics and care about Marvel?

    • October 16, 2015 at 3:02 am
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      Are you also getting tired of all these girl-only Barbie movies?

      • October 17, 2015 at 4:03 am
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        What Barbie movies? I’ve never seen any of them. Probably because the media is so busy plastering Marvel movies across the web.

        If one of those Barbie movies ever is theatrically released and hogs up 50% of Disney’s upcoming release schedule, perhaps we can then have a decent discussion.

    • October 16, 2015 at 8:39 am
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      Ms. Marvel and Jessica Jones are dudes?! That gender assignment surgery is getting better and better.

      • October 17, 2015 at 4:02 am
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        Iron Man, Hulk, Guardians of the GAlaxy, etc… all are considered “boy” movies, and are sold that way.

        • October 17, 2015 at 11:00 am
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          Correct but Captain Marvel and Jones are not nor will they be marketed as such. They have more female headlined films/shows in the works as well but haven’t announced the titles yet. Thor is a woman in the comics now and it would not surprise me at all if they cast her that way since Hemsworth is leaving soon. Spidey is also a chick too in 2015 which will likely be reflected in the films at some point. There are dozens of female superheroes in the Marvel bullpin they haven’t even touched yet as well but will soon.

  • October 15, 2015 at 11:06 pm
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    Reminds me of this crap………

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:11 pm
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      It is not as this image represents some kind of “truth”. Contrary, it is some serious, unfounded BS.

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:17 pm
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        The feminist paper tiger outrage on twitter over Black Widow’s role in the film as well as perceived lack of toys was certainly BS, I agree.

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:19 pm
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          To clarify (what you already know), I was addressing the yellow text.

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:20 pm
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            Oh. Well in that case you’re wrong. 🙂

          • October 15, 2015 at 11:24 pm
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            bruh Hack synder, you are everywhere yo, awesome memes

        • October 15, 2015 at 11:20 pm
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          hack!! it’s you lool wassup man

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:35 pm
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      Victor: so far, in this thread, the only one who seems to have an “agenda” of some sorts – spamming the same comments, with the same images and repeating the exact same things again and again and again – is… you.

      We get it, Victor, really: you are not particularly fond of strong women as lead characters and you somehow disagree with homosexual marriage/parenting (and, for some reason, you feel the need to express all of that on a Star Wars related comment section). All right, duly noted: now cut the crap, will you?

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:47 pm
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        If I repeat something it’s because the same topic has been brought up elsewhere and my opinion on it hasn’t changed from when I talked to the last person with it. I have no issues with gay marriage, but I do have a problem with everything from Star Wars to soup being hijacked to promote the homosexual lifestyle and force us to “accept” it as “normal”, but yes, since you brought it up, I don’t support homosexuality, and believe that gay marriage is something that should be left up to the state, and that ignoring the states’ rights with federal decisions, no matter how popular, is very bad territory to be in. As for strong female leads….where did you get that I have a problem with this? I have no problem with this whatsoever. But I also don’t have a problem with weak female leads, or mild female leads, or weak female and mild female supporting characters — you’ll notice whenever a female role is listed for any movie ever now it’s always the same: “strong independent female character”, when not all females are strong in real life, and not all are independent in real life. Some are weak and codependent, just as there are weak and codependent men in real life.

        • October 16, 2015 at 12:06 am
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          I have a right to comment here just as much as anyone else, if you don’t like my opinion on the topic at hand, say so, then blow off. If I repeat myself it’s because the same topic has come up twice, or because you didn’t get it the first time.
          Now go talk about what you think of the movie, or give your opinion on the news topic, like I did, and get off my ass. 🙂

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:43 pm
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      Victor seems to have taken MRA to a whole new level today… the women hating is strong with this one!

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:49 pm
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        How’s this hateful to women? Radical third wave feminists hate women (and men for that matter): you can be anything you want to be so long as it isn’t a mother if you’re a girl – God forbid!

  • October 15, 2015 at 11:33 pm
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    Context is king…

    “Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington”

    People should be sure to read and comprehend the context of the quotes before making accusations of agenda driven marketing. If you ignore context, then you are the one with an agenda.

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm
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      not really, in some cases having movies overcompensate for what is happening in society just make the film feel like an unnatural tick box exercise just to appease to the over sensitive

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:50 pm
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        Possibly, possibly not. But that is irrelevant here. The comments in the article are from a convention for “powerful women”. Complaining that her comments at that convention are discussing the role of women in her franchise, seems a bit forced. What would you expect her to talk about at that particular event?

    • October 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm
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      Yeah but this isn’t the first nor only time that KK and Disney have pushed the girl-power mantra during the marketing of this film. You’re correct in that ‘Context is king’, and, in that respect, those with any measure of agitation about the way this subject is being handled have a right to express it and have legitimate grounds for doing so 😉

      • October 15, 2015 at 11:52 pm
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        They have a right to express whatever they want. But using these particular quotes as evidence creates a weak argument. It makes it clear there is an agenda to complain about this as it is not based on the quotes stated here.

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:52 am
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          Why did Kennedy feel the need to bring in Star Wars and the inclusion of women?

          Someone as powerful as her could have just talked in general as how she wants to see more women in the industry and in director positions.

          Some people just take to task her pretty much using Star Wars as a breeding ground for women to come and express themselves.

          Hence the point that people made….CREATIVITY and STORY should come first and should only be the thing that is talked about. Star Wars should not be used for any political, racial or gender message.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:04 am
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            The assumption that Creativity/story and diversity are mutually exclusive is the contrivance here. We have been given no reason to think that story was sacrificed due to any agenda. That is pure paranoia as we have no evidence of the quality of the film yet.

            To tell KK she can’t talk about her own franchise for fear of upsetting paranoid people is laughable.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:22 am
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            What i am saying is this a movie. This is film.

            Should there be a big deal that there are many female leads in the next Batman film? or James Bond film?

            The only stories should be about the story and what they want to do.

            I don’t want to hear about how they want to make the cast more diverse and the writers more diverse.

            Just make a good film. Even if they do cast diverse actors and have a both genders well represented in the writers room, they shouldn’t voicebox it.

            Let others talk about it instead.

            But Kennedy going to these lengths to include women into Star Wars, for me is wrong…because again, I say this as a fact that people want to ignore….MOST WOMEN DON’T CARE ABOUT STAR WARS.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:23 am
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            Apparently you are hanging out with the wrong women.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:25 am
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            Ha. Maybe so.

            But in all honesty, Rebo….are you going to tell me there is a great number of women who frequent Star Wars forums, are desperate at every bit of news that come out and will be there opening night to watch this new Star Wars film? Be honest.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:29 am
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            Honestly, in my circle yes. I know nothing about you, so I won’t speculate. But I’m 37. My wife, my sisters, all my female friends grew up with Star Wars at its height. Some are bigger SW nerds than I am. And some will be there with me for the 7PM preview on opening night. So, yes, in my experience, women are just as interested in Star Wars as men, as long as they don’t feel excluded by the boys club that doesn’t want them to come along.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:03 am
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            I’ll be honest: the only women I know who have an above average, beyond “Oh, I like Star Wars, it’s a good movie” interest in the franchise are ones that like it just because the guys in their circle do and it increases her value to them… Kinda like the women that prattle on about how much they love football and all that. Sure, there are a few who genuinely love it, but most are just into it because it’s what the guys they know like, and when they show themselves as knowledgeable in this area it increases the “perfect woman” perception they want the guys they like to have of them. Just sayin’! Same as guys who “loved” the Twillight movies.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:08 am
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            Yep.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:20 am
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            Why can’t men have their own stuff and women theirs?

            If Pitch Perfect HAD to have men would that be fine?

            Or if these romantic movies had more of a male voice would that be fine as well?

            I’m sorry for being blunt, but Star Wars is for dudes. Not to say women can’t like it, because my sister and nieces love these movies…but they don’t in the way that guys do.

            They just don’t have the same die-hard passion for it.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:50 am
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            Because we have to be one big homogenous, gender neutral society with no individual traits whatsoever. An army of clones. A clone army…

          • October 17, 2015 at 3:59 am
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            Have you ever seen these “romantic movies?” Women are often portrayed as brainless and needing a man for support by Act 3. Example: “Devil Wears Prada,” lots of male characters and every single one is like a little voice of reason to Hathaway’s chracter. Please do some research before commenting.

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:46 am
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            Will you care about the new Barbie trilogy if Ken is the lead?

          • October 17, 2015 at 3:56 am
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            If Toy Story 3 is any indication, it has already happened.

            The same way male storywriters/directors made the male stars more important than Korra in “Legtend of Korra” even though that was her own show!

            You just shot yourself in the foot, Victor.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:18 am
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            Hey are you saying that creativity/story have automatically been compromised due to there being an advocacy for- and an inclusion of- strong, female leads in the new movies? I dont think you are saying that at all but just wanted clarity for the sake of other readers that might otherwise be way to quick to pull the trigger of a baseless accusation.

            To me you seem to be expressing a valid position regarding the overarching point of KK and Disney going above and beyond to tell (and remind) us that females will have a more prominent role in the story- as if it should really be a big deal. This would only matter to sexist bigots whom happen to be in the vast minority subset of fans, and don’t deserve the extra impetus of announcement anyway .

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:21 am
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            Objection your honor. Leading the witness! 😉

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:29 am
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            Objection over-ruled! Haha.

            (seriously Rebo, Im not interested in coming to this fine site and reading a whole bunch of sexist, bigoted nonsense in the comments no more than the next level-headed person, but I do welcome healthy and unobstructed dialogue where there happens to be at least a fair measure of merit.)

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:35 am
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            I was just kidding. There are a few here approaching this debate rationally. You are one and I respect that.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:56 am
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            Cool beans and I know.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:24 am
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            I have no idea whether it’s been compromised…although, I am a bit worried that after two teasers, I have no idea what the basic plot of the film is about.

            But i would like there to be only stories about what they are trying to do in the film creatively, rather than patting themselves on the back for being so diverse.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:27 am
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            They can multi-task. Stories about inclusion and creative endeavors. Practical effects and cinematography. Plot points and mythology. They are all there. Some of the more plot oriented ones will increase after the film is released to avoid spoilers, but they are there.

            If you don’t like reading about one of those things, you don’t have to.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:29 am
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            But that is my point though, why does there need to ever be stories about inclusion about a film set in space about something called the force?

            Is Star Wars now a political film?

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:33 am
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            Its a film. And in the film, industry, social issues like these are a very important story. And by extension they have a direct impact on the films being made. Hollywood is an industry, with real people who suffer through real prejudice and real glass ceilings. That are treated differently based on gender or race or sexuality. And to those within that industry or who follow it, that is a story of critical importance.

            There are two aspects to being a film fan. The art and the industry. Both are worth reporting and following. Both don’t have to interest you, but both are valid.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:58 am
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            WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE PLOT THERE IS WOMEN AND NON WHITE PEOPLE ISN’T THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU RACIST MISOGYNIST???!!11!1

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:26 pm
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            I thought hints to the plot were typically saved for a full trailer, not for a teaser.

    • October 16, 2015 at 8:36 am
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      The agenda people are all tinfoil hats, I think it has more to do with $$$ than anything which has always been the bottomline for the House of Mouse since Eisner ran things. Fury Road just made a shit load of money not to mention the Hunger Games, Twilight, and Divergent series (possibly The Fifth Wave as well) and they want in on that market. Especially with most of the world being largely female. Long as it makes for a good film (or merely better than the PT) than I’m all for it but this has less to do with any kind of social statement than it has to do with pleasing the shareholders above all else.

  • October 16, 2015 at 12:04 am
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    An open an honest and discussion applies context correctly, not subverts it to meet the stance you want to make.

    Of course open and honest discussions also don’t generally open with insults. So, I guess that cause is lost here.

    • October 16, 2015 at 12:18 am
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      Rebo, with all due respect, you really haven’t made a solid point (or, counterpoint?) to what I said, only rather to try to reinforce something that should be obvious to you that I’m acutely aware of regarding “context”.

      Personally I have no agenda to push, only hoping for a strong SW film in December. But as it relates to the “girl-power” subject, KK’s comments in this interview as well as a variety of statements made by her and her cohorts in other publications are, to me, fair game for the subject. I don’t see how you could honestly suggest it otherwise, unless this is a way of your making a soft stance on a hard line position, which is fine in and of itself, but takes an integrity hit when purposely not presented as it truly is.

      And I’m not sure whom you’re referring to but I haven’t insulted you in any way, so maybe you were addressing something/someone else? At any rate, I thought that the whole “girl-power” thing was up for open discussion as it related to this article and of the movie itself, no?

      • October 16, 2015 at 12:34 am
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        “follow-ship” was the insult I was referring to.

        And I wasn’t attempting to counterpoint your argument. I’m trying to stay out of it. Only to point out that those (not even aimed at you) who use this article as an excuse to rage against the idea of proactive increased roles for females in Star Wars, are exposing a sensitivity to the subject matter. Arguing because they want to. Jumping on these comments and applying meaning to them that doesn’t exist because of a perceived intent based on other events.

        It shows that there are agendas on all sides. If people want to make the argument that it is a mistake to promote women’s roles in Star Wars as KK has, more power to you. I can’t stop you even if I don’t agree with you. I’m a big supporter of healthy debate and constructive arguments. But I haven’t seen much of either in the comments on this post. Just a lot of rage, insults, and panic about some implied meaning in these comments that is only assumed to be there with no evidence.

        • October 16, 2015 at 12:49 am
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          Oh ok, well ‘follow-ship’ wasn’t necessarily intended as a slight; more an observation because I’m sure that you’re equally aware that some folks are not inherently “critical thinkers”, particularly as it relates to items of “popular-culture” and they simply “follow on” so as to seem “hip” and “on board” just for the sake of being so. This, to me, is just as bad as any other extreme bias-based position because it distorts and convolutes the conversation, and can also be used to hijack it as well. Obviously every applicable position has a place at the table of discussion- even and especially the so-called “hot-button” topics, and I think that’s healthy all while true-to-form trolling isn’t.

  • October 16, 2015 at 1:20 am
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    Now here’s the problem, kids. I am all for inclusiveness, but to make it the POINT of your creative endeavor will only come to harm you.

    To actually try and enforce more women, and for women to now be the focal point of star wars makes it contrived, and not actually creative.

    Oh….and MOST women don’t give a damn about Star Wars…just to let you know.

    • October 16, 2015 at 1:51 am
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      It doesn’t feel natural it feels like they’re “forcing” it.

      • October 16, 2015 at 1:54 am
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        That’s my problem.

        And you have guys getting very aggressive and passionate in the way they defend Daisy Ridley and are so keen for her to be the main jedi, and implore that a “woman is finally the lead and kicking ass in star wars.”

        It smells of contrivance to me.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:01 am
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          Yea..I mean I’m down to see her become a Jedi and stuff for the sake of doing something different..but I must say I will be very disappointed if she is not of Skywalker decent which would make this whole thing Disney is trying to do more evident.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:03 am
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          Disney/JJ obviously had a gender/racial checklist to go by for TFA.

          Which will effectively make it the first affirmative action Star Wars film.

          Where actors were chosen based on mandates and quotas rather than merit.

          Some people think making statements like these is jumping the gun and that we should wait and watch the film first.

          Given the political climate at the moment, the casting decisions and comments by Kathleen Kennedy about “girl power” I disagree that we’re jumping to conclusions based on limited evidence when there is an abundance of clues and facts which validate our suspicions.

        • October 18, 2015 at 6:51 am
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          It’s fiction. Everything in fiction is a contrivance.

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:45 am
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            Contrived in the sense that it’s made up, of course – it’s not the contrivance of creating a story and characters that Have Hope is speaking of, but the contrivance that looms over creativity and artistry like a shadow and insists everything a creator creates must be filtered through political correctness and meet diversity quotas, and if your creation does not then it is bad. That is the contrivance to which Have Hope was speaking.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:41 am
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        No.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:43 am
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          NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

    • October 16, 2015 at 2:36 am
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      I don’t know man… things change. My step daughter was all into the Frozen/ Let it go crap. One year & some indoctrination later she’s sitting here having light saber battles & asking me how long till 7 comes out and why she’s not coming to the midnight premier with me.

      I also have a few older sisters who are into Star Wars.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:40 am
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        And does your step daughter or older sisters hang around these forums often?

        • October 16, 2015 at 5:44 am
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          Well she’s only 9 years old and is still learning how to read & write… soooooooooooooo hope that answers that question for you. (She came from Eastern Europe so is still learning the ropes with English).

        • October 18, 2015 at 6:48 am
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          So a female Star Wars fan is only a real fan if she also has no life and posts here too? Nice “logic”.

          • October 18, 2015 at 6:00 pm
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            Nice way to put down passionate Star Wars fans by saying they have no life

      • October 16, 2015 at 11:11 am
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        I will also be taking my seven-year-old daughter to see Star Wars (will be the first movie I see in a theatre with her). She seems excited about it and I am happy that Rey is in the movie because I think she will enjoy it more because of that.

    • October 16, 2015 at 4:32 am
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      Is Finn a female ? Or Kylo Ren ? Or Poe Dameron ? I don’t see why everybidy is saying Star Wars is now focused on women.

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:13 am
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    I think we’re all looking into to this too much. Just take what anyone says with respect and don’t make a big deal about it.

    • October 16, 2015 at 2:40 am
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      They are going on about it too much, but it doesn’t make it lesss true.

    • October 16, 2015 at 7:03 am
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      Kennedy is the one that is creating this situation by using GIRL power to push her affirmative action in the movies.

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:27 am
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    I would love to do an experiment that tries to determine how many women actually care about Star Wars.

    After all as Kennedy says, there are fans of Star Wars who are women….but if the number is not that great, should there have to be this push for more women?

    If there are a large number of women who love Star Wars, then I would begin to side with what Kennedy is saying although not totally agree with her strategy.

    But in my view which I am pretty confident is right…MOST women, either think Star Wars is just space nonsense or they are very casual fans of it.

    • October 16, 2015 at 2:33 am
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      I’ve never known a single female Star Wars fan in real life.

      Now there are plenty on the internet, but who knows?

      Perhaps the majority are just men pretending to women.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:34 am
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        Begone troll, before somebody drops a house on you too!

        • October 16, 2015 at 7:33 am
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          Man can you guys not IP ban these douches?

          • October 16, 2015 at 8:04 am
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            They can and they DO. But the decision to do so should always be within the bounds of having full merit while being the last resort. Having a cohesive and/or logically sound argument that presents a different opinion or position to your own is not automatic grounds for that act. I’d like to believe that the fine folks that admin this site know the difference and understand that tolerance-up-to-a-certain-threshold is ultimately a healthy way to conduct a conversation board. The REAL assholes and trolls almost always reveal their true natures because they simply can’t help but do so, and, in most cases, are waiting for an so-called excuse to do so. That’s when the ban-hammer should come out swinging. Anything less would make the site come off as a totalitarian state that only caters to a specific position, and that would obviously be a bad look.

          • October 16, 2015 at 1:39 pm
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            If you are sexist or racist you do not have a sound or logical argument.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:37 am
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        I know at least 3. Try harder. Or meet some girls.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:39 am
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          Question: The 3 that you know, do they frequent forums like these? Are they eagerly online checking up on any news about Star Wars either daily or every other day?

          Just curious.

          • October 16, 2015 at 2:46 am
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            I know you didn’t ask me, but interesting anecdote. I tried to get my wife to join in on forums in the past. She’s as big a star wars nerd as there is.

            She can’t stand it because of the tone of internet rhetoric exactly like this conversation. There’s an aggressiveness to internet chatter that doesn’t sit well with her. Doesn’t make her any less of a fan, just means she can’t stand crap like people telling her women don’t like star wars. So she chooses to enjoy it in her own way.

            So, presence on message boards is not necessarily indicative of star wars fandom. Only indicative of appreciation for online discussion.

      • October 16, 2015 at 7:32 am
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        Get out more.

      • October 18, 2015 at 12:43 am
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        you clearly don’t know many girls. almost every girl/women i know is a fan.

    • October 16, 2015 at 2:54 am
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      When the Barbie movie comes out there had better be at least an even ratio of male/female characters, and the lead character especially must be male, otherwise sexism bigotry racism.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:55 am
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        Same for Pitch Perfect as well.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:56 am
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          Why do they hate women so much in Star Wars?? Waaaaah

          • October 16, 2015 at 3:01 am
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            I just don’t get it.

            I like to view things in a very logical manner.

            I have never really heard a real cry for there to be more women in star wars, and it makes sense because MOST women are not into something like Star Wars. So it being made up of mostly men would not bother them at all.

            And with Kathleen Kennedy wanting there to be stories written by women and all that…i find that wrong because again, unless there are a host of women who would like to be represented in star wars, why should there be a push for the female voice in star wars being done by women?

            After all this is fantasy.

            It’s like me making a fantasy sci-fi, and there are all races and genders there, but i feel i have to hire a white guy to write the dialogue for the white characters and a woman to write the words for the female characters. Makes no sense.

          • October 16, 2015 at 7:02 am
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            Come on, it is affirmative action for women? #Sarcasm

          • October 16, 2015 at 8:27 am
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            Bigelow is a solid director and would do a much better job than a corporate hack like Colin but this better not mean they drop Williams in favor of a female composer next.

          • October 17, 2015 at 3:50 am
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            If you like to view things “in a very logical manner,” did it ever occur to you that there are, in fact, millions of women who enjoy Star Wars, and in the past, not so many women in the decision-making process (writing, directing, etc) of these films? Thus, logically, one can assume that the original films were done in a boy-power fashion primarily because they were made by boys.

          • October 16, 2015 at 5:46 am
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            LOL… how egalitarian of you. I bet “Oppression then” is your secret fantasy given how you talk about women.

          • October 16, 2015 at 9:58 am
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            How I talk about women? What, saying the sex of a cast shouldn’t be touted as why a movie is good = Nazi to you? Lmao! Ah man, what cowardly, weak men our society has sired….

          • October 16, 2015 at 10:22 am
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            No, Your memes “quoting” the feminist with the glasses / half the posts/ comments of yours that got deleted are what I’m talking about.

            I swear, this article was posted & not 5 min later the smell of women saying stuff caught your MRA nose like flies on shit. God forbid if women should say stuff!

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:40 am
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            That meme was awesome and absolutely true. The people complaining about Black Widow in Avengers were idiots.

            The issue isn’t who’s saying it, but what it is “who” is saying. Saying the movie is good because it has a bunch of women in it and that they intentionally didn’t hire men just so they could meet a diversity quota is ugly regardless of who says it.

            Now don’t forget your lance as you white knight out of here.

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:35 am
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            How “tolerant” of you. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you and the “oppression” Olympics is automatically a Nazi lmao.

            How I talk about women: “I don’t think the sex of anyone is what’s important when making a movie and it shouldn’t be a marketing point” = racistbigotsexisthaterofwomen.

          • October 17, 2015 at 3:47 am
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            You really don’t like women, do you Victor?

            By the way, I flagged your comment for including offensive, sexist (and not to mention untrue) pictures.

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:30 am
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            I do like women. I don’t like feminazis. But thank you for letting me know you were so butthurt by my comment that you had to hide it from your eyes. When did being a “victim” become so trendy?

          • October 19, 2015 at 9:33 am
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            Funny how the only person consistently whining about how oppressed he is is you. No one else would even be talking about this if it weren’t for you and your MRA pals making up bulls**t about a nonexistent marketing campaign and throwing around Limbaugh slang.

          • October 19, 2015 at 11:36 pm
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            Kathleen & SJWs feel the need to point out how great it is that women and non whites are in the film because of imagined oppression from conventional men. Is the term “girl power” included in the article or not? Has Kathleen & CO not went out of their way to point out that the involvement of women and non white men is a bragging point and earmark of quality?

            Might want to read the article again, then get back to me….before I get censored, that is.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45c3d1581ce5cd0a48a21037ffd679d715bfdc871906a835d49bf85771fbbb26.jpg

      • October 17, 2015 at 3:25 am
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        So according to your reasoning, the title “Star Wars” is a male name?

        That’s news to me.

        And as clever as you think your comment was, there won’t be an even 50-50 split for male-female in future star wars films. Right now, I’d be delighted just to see a 70-30 male-female. That’s how poorly women are represented.

        • October 19, 2015 at 4:26 am
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          According to your reasoning “Barbie” is a female name. That’s textbook sexism in the SJW guide, deduct some points from yourself for that and check your privilege while you’re at it.

          The “representation” of men/women should depend entirely upon the kind of story someone wants to tell, and not on a diversity quota/ratio. Please don’t ever become a filmmaker.

    • October 16, 2015 at 5:10 am
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      On the internet? answer would be quite alot.. Out in the real world? I’d say even more. Just wait till December 18th and look around.. I’d go as far as to say theres more hardcore female fans than casual.

    • October 16, 2015 at 7:01 am
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      It is a social experiment by Hollywood, i think it could be very detrimental to the franchise if it comes off in such a way.

      • October 16, 2015 at 10:17 am
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        Of course its a social experiement by Hollywood. But look man, I don’t care if they’re pushing a political correct agenda on this… because its freaking STAR WARS!! And I’ll enjoy it no matter what.

    • October 16, 2015 at 7:31 am
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      I am a student teacher and there are 4 girls in my classroom that adore Star Wars and they love to come up and talk to me about it. Two of them even have Force Awakens book bags. So with all do respect you have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Of course girls like Star Wars too.

      • October 16, 2015 at 8:23 am
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        That’s true but they don’t make up the majority either. Take a look at the gender of most of the commentators on here or other SW related sites for that matter. I’ve known a few myself and even been involved with one but in my experience it’s more of a 1 out of 10 ratio. Star Trek honestly has more female fans on average. Firefly and Battlestar Galactica have a far higher female fan percentage too.

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:38 pm
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          So if women do not comment on a SW forum they should not have a female character in the movie? You realize how stupid that sounds? If I was a girl and saw all the anti female comments on this board I would not feel comfortable posting here either.

          • October 17, 2015 at 3:47 am
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            No, I speak as a fan from 1977 who’s been to EVERY fucking Star Wars convention since then (both domestic and overseas) and although female fans have grown over the years they still represent a small minority overall. I can find you 100 religious conservatives in the Castro district of San Fransisco but does that make it a right wing city to you?

            And where the fuck did I say women don’t deserve to be represented? Seriously. I never said anywhere on here or anywhere else with anything even remotely related to that. That says more about you than anything else and your victimization mentality which is not healthy to a productive life.

            As for the percieved misogynistic bias here, I’m a fan of pretty much everything geeky including femme/LGBQT dominated fandoms – Buffy, Xena, MLP, even fucking throwbacks like Jem. And I’d be lying if I didn’t see examples of misandry there left and right on the forums there I frequent but I could care less for being one of the token cis fans because I enjoy the material itself and don’t need validation from strangers online who I don’t give a shit about.

            I’m guessing you never served in the service and spent anytime in any of the fun vacation spots in Africa or the Middle East like I did? They make this place look like a progressive paradise by comparison.

          • October 17, 2015 at 6:14 am
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            impressive. Most impressive.

          • October 17, 2015 at 11:07 am
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            Thank you. I also wanted to add that I keep hearing three facts lately….

            1) Women are more likely to earn degrees
            2) Women are more likely to be employed
            3) Women outlive men on average

            Instead of bitching about those things, I think it’s a good thing since it means that men now have a barometer to measure themselves against and improve upon.

            No “well, we need to lower entrance scores at uni”, “all work places should have an equal male quota”, or “women should not be allowed to obtain insurance past a certain age”.

      • October 16, 2015 at 11:00 am
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        Since you are a teacher I find myself having to be a bit of a grammar Nazi here: it’s “due” respect (not “do”)

        • October 16, 2015 at 1:50 pm
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          Since this is a Star Wars forum I do not give a crab about grammar. Thanks anyway Mr. Nazi.

    • October 16, 2015 at 3:09 pm
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      I have two daughters who absolutely love Star Wars. One will be going with me one of the times I see it. The other will be staying home because she is too young to risk her not sitting still or being quiet and ruining someone else’s experience.

      When the special editions were released in the theaters it was two females who organized the outings for our group of my friends to go see them. The group that went probably had about half women in it.

      • October 16, 2015 at 3:15 pm
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        And the daughter who is going to see it with you, does she come onto forums like these often?

        Is she eagerly awaiting any new footage that comes out? New info?

        • October 16, 2015 at 6:13 pm
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          To answer your first question, no, she is not old enough to participate in an online forum, but your initial comment was asking how many women care about Star Wars.

          As far as awaiting any new footage or info, she doesn’t ask for new footage but when the trailers or the other footage with Finn and the lightsaber was released, she wants to watch it over and over. I give her updates when I find things that a kid her age might want to hear about. I read the Kanan comics with her, which she asks for when she sees that I have a new one.

          • October 16, 2015 at 7:15 pm
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            My oldest daughter absolutely loves Star Wars too. My youngest daughter is too little to get into it yet. My oldest can not wait for the movie, and she is even dressing as Kylo Ren for Halloween. Because of the lack of a world-wide trailer about TFA on TV right now, almost nobody at her school even knows a new SW movie is coming out. So far at school, there are only 2 kids that know about TFA. She talks with them about it everyday. Those 2 kids are both girls. Even the little boy in her class who wears a Chewie backpack everyday did not know until she told him yesterday.

    • October 17, 2015 at 3:24 am
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      While they’re at it, Disney should make an experiment on how many people actually liked Pixar’s Cars…… it’s not as much as they claim, and thus Cars 3 should never make it into pre-production.

      …. And yet….. guess what movie is scheduled for 2018 or 2019?

    • October 18, 2015 at 6:38 am
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      Most MEN think star wars is space nonsense or are casual fans. Most men are not star wars geeks who could tell you the name of lukes gunner on hoth. But Ok let’s do the experiment. I know a shit load of woman. From young girls to 20s-30s-40s. I’d estimate at least 25% are star wars fans. You ever been to a comic or Star Wars convention??? Plenty of girls. Plenty. I think your problem is that you just don’t know any and you assume that your experience equals truth.

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:36 am
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    Gender/racial/cultural diversity is actually great, when it comes to storytelling, because it actually allows writers to have a wider array of possible point of view from which to tell a story.

    This is especially true in a story like “Star Wars”, since it basically has a highly stereotyped, classical kind of narrative where such an approach can only bring freshness and creativity.

    [Note: when I write that SW is stereotyped I say it in the best possibile meaning – it’s a great story but, of course, it’s not exactly groundbreaking when it comes to characterizations and dynamics.]

    • October 16, 2015 at 8:20 am
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      Regarding the characters, The flaw in that statement is that Star Wars is NOT set in our galaxy. Therefore Lando, Mace, Finn, etc. are merely dark skinned humans and not men of African descent. It’s not like Indy or Bond where they can draw upon their ethnic heritage to use in their performances because the only cultural diversity in SW is planetary among humans.

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:39 am
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    Who cares, just as long as it’s a good movie (and a good new series of movies).

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:41 am
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    I am all for what she is talking about, but I strongly disagree with using Star Wars to promote this cause. Even the first spin off has a female lead now – a tough grrrrrl seeking to steal the death star plans – so when they come out it’s going to be grrrl power overload. As if Leia wasn’t strong enough in the OT. Look, if it is organic to the story, fine… but to make the Skywalker child a female simply to work in the grrrl power angle is WRONG. Not only does it kill off the Skywalker name if/when she gets married, but it’s forced.

    • October 16, 2015 at 2:45 am
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      You are thinking it through back to through back to front try again!

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:47 am
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        Or back to front, I’m drunk, but you know what I mean.

        • October 16, 2015 at 2:51 am
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          I like women, I’m surprised so many don’t, what is up with that?

          • October 16, 2015 at 5:07 am
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            I’m sayin. I mean.. I don’t like female MMA. I don’t want to see pretty ladies beat each other up, but I don’t mind seeing a badass female in a movie, or movie in general. I don’t have to see manly guys perform to be interested in the move.. give me a good story, I don’t care who is in it

    • October 16, 2015 at 4:12 am
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      If the next Skywalker is a female it will kill off the Skywalker name?! That’s ridiculous. Why does a galaxy far far away (and stories from a long time ago) have to have the exact same naming traditions that we have on Earth? Why does Rey have to lose her last name when she gets married? My sister in law just got married last month and she did not lose her last name! What a stupid argument against the next Skywalker being female.

      • October 16, 2015 at 10:58 am
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        Was going to say the same thing. For example in Spain women’s last names (everybody has 2) stay exactly the same after they get married, and their children get their mother’s last name as a second last name. Whedon’s was a typical USA-centric comment, common on this site.

        • October 16, 2015 at 7:03 pm
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          My point simply was that even though both on Earth (and in SW) women often change their last names to their husbands, that does not always have to be the case NO MATTER WHAT. Like I said, my sister-in-law just got married and kept her last name. She is a Canadian, now married to a Finnish man and living in Finland. Times are changing. Have been for a long time. Naming conventions in SW can change too. The comment that I responded to (which is now deleted) stated that it was a forgone conclusion that she would HAVE TO lose her last name just because she was female, and in his mind, that was a good argument that it was a bad idea to cast the new Skywalker as a female.
          Leia being given Organa as a last name was smart, to hide her true identity from her father. Luke being named Skywalker instead of Lars and being hidden on his fathers homeworld was not smart. It makes Vader look incredibly dumb to not check his homeworld for his son, especially when he would be even easier to find running around with the name Skywalker. I am sure it was just an oversight at the time that Lucas wrote the story. He had no way of knowing that SW would explode the way it did, or that he would be making 5 more movies after ANH.

      • October 16, 2015 at 2:57 pm
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        But, we already have evidence that they use the same surname conventions for their children. Luke took his father’s last name. Since he was raised by family and not adopted he kept it. Leia was adopted and took her adoptive father’s last name. Anakin took his mother’s last name because he had no father. Whether or not she keeps the Skywalker name if she is Luke’s kid is irrelevant because her kids would most likely take their father’s last name. Unless we were to get another “chosen one” story.

    • October 16, 2015 at 6:59 am
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      I share your opinion, i think they are overusing the girl element in all things Star Wars, just to promote a cause and at the same-time they are in a sense diminishing Leia, she was a strong female character, we have several female characters and they seem to think their is this need to do everything GIRL POWER?

      • October 17, 2015 at 3:22 am
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        There is nothing wrong with including more strong female characters in Star Wars. FACT.

        • October 17, 2015 at 9:39 pm
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          NO one said i disagree with that, another person putting words in my mouth?

      • October 17, 2015 at 4:42 pm
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        Why are you so threatened by strong females and black men? I can only assume you know few of either.

        • October 17, 2015 at 9:34 pm
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          Who said i was threatened by a strong female or black actor? Trying to put words in my mouth? Apparently.

          • October 18, 2015 at 12:45 am
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            change the word “female” to “male” and “black” to “white” in every post you ever written and you’ll see how utterly silly it reads.

  • October 16, 2015 at 3:09 am
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    We can only speculate, but I would be very surprised if Kathleen Kennedy went for “girl power”, rather than the development of a cinematic universe full of diverse people from all walks of life. Remember that Kennedy is one of the most prolific producers in the history of the film industry; after several decades, I find it unlikely that she would produce something sophomoric and in-your-face about “just how tough a gal can be”- she is too wise for that.

    I trust that things will be organic and perhaps even more so than what we have seen thus far.

    • October 16, 2015 at 6:57 am
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      Perhaps but everything that she is doing seems forced and lets hope that is not the case, as we are seeing also with the token black guy. WE saw that in F4, how did that turn out? It seemed forced by the PC that is Hollywood and i see this move being the same-thing on girl power as you put it. If they overuse this, it is going to hurt the franchise.

      • October 16, 2015 at 11:22 am
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        Also remember she was speaking at a strong females convention. Of course she was going to turn up the girl power knob to 11. She is too smart to make bad choices just for the sake of sex equality. She’s not gonna go crazy and make dumb decisions for the sake of “girl power”. End of story. It’s just marketing. She will, as always, make smart decisions. It wouldn’t benefit her to make stupid ones.

      • October 16, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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        It doesn’t seem forced at all to me. Please define how putting more diverse characters in the movie would possibly NOT feel forced to you. What method should she be using?

        • October 17, 2015 at 9:47 pm
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          If someone has an agenda to put a character that is female, black or whatever it seems to diminish the character as an agenda, if it fits the story, great but it seems forced and i think that takes away from the actors themselves, in perhaps not knowing they are the best person for that job. It seems very affirmative action, heck Hollywood only has themselves to blame for this, other industry are rather equal.

      • October 17, 2015 at 12:25 am
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        I agree with you… but she wasn’t involved with Fantastic Four or typical popcorn/PC fests. She typically works with people like Steven Spielberg, which has led to her producing loads of films that have won Oscars and stood above all else. She’s a smart one.

        • October 17, 2015 at 9:45 pm
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          I am not aware of who KK is, my only preconception is from her talking about this PC decision that seems more motivated towards that end and being the head of Lucasfilms under Disney, iam not all that thrilled with JJ decision after what he did to startrek. Ill go see it, but back to KK i just don’t want to see actors black or female used just to make a point, i diminishes the movie and the actor/actress.

      • October 18, 2015 at 9:57 pm
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        If you think the reason FF4 sucked was because of the “token black guy” (ugh, it nauseates me that I even have to type that), then you are clearly beyond any reasoning with.

        • October 19, 2015 at 12:42 am
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          It is unfortunate that you have to think that my position is racist, it was nothing more than a PC ploy by Hollywood to do what they did in F4. It diminished the guy and i think it will hurt his career, not as if it is his fault but the movie was terrible anyhow. I think the guy in the next movie he is in is, Creed. Looks fraking awesome.

  • October 16, 2015 at 3:12 am
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    Give Ep8 to Bigelow [traditionally the episode with the most emotion/romanticism], E9 to Fincher, and let Trevorrow direct…people o their seats.

    • October 16, 2015 at 3:12 am
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      HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAH

    • October 16, 2015 at 4:14 am
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      But i want to see what Rian will do with it.

      • October 16, 2015 at 6:23 am
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        I just don’t think the hip young young director thing is the wisest choice for such an important episode. If they were going to hire a female director, that should have been the film to do it on. Let the third movie be a sausage fest.

        • October 16, 2015 at 6:56 am
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          No doubt about that

  • October 16, 2015 at 3:45 am
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    I appreciate seeing “strong” women in movies. But they need to be convincing and natural. Not the fake feminist wannabes that most of us laugh at.

    • October 16, 2015 at 6:55 am
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      Thank you, that is what i am talking about. It seems like more of an agenda than anything else. If they do this to much, which seems to be the case in the 8,9 to come, that seems to be the common theme.

      • October 17, 2015 at 4:28 pm
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        1 girl. 1 black man. That’s a PC Hollywood agenda? I can only ssume you know few of either.

        • October 17, 2015 at 9:36 pm
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          What i am alluding to is the KK keeps mentioning that the new movies are going to be female leads, is that a diminishing of those women by forcing the issue of having them?

        • October 17, 2015 at 11:11 pm
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          One girl in the lead role is not an agenda. One black guy in the lead role is not an agenda. The two of them together is an agenda.

          • October 18, 2015 at 12:39 am
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            no it’s not. it simply filmmakers who are more enlightened and open minded than you. if all you see is “female” and “black”..and that equals agenda..well that’s your problem. I highly recommend watching the documentary “casting by” about Marion Dougherty, legendary casting director. particularly the scene where richard donner, in tears, recollects her recommending danny glover as Murtaugh in lethal weapon. a role written, by default, for a white man. this changed Donners life as he realized how unconsciously closed minded he was.

          • October 18, 2015 at 3:40 am
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            I’ve been “open minded” half my life. So were the rest of my fellow countrymen. Now my country is being destroyed by it. There is nothing we can do to stop it. And we realised we had been deceived.

            What we thought was open mindedness had infact been the opposite. We had been the tools used to destroy our own country.

            The agenda you claim do not exist, is infact spread all over the western world. In commercials, in school literature in the media and in the movie world. It’s called subtle propaganda. As a popular trend it will spread among the very dumbest of our societies, were it will grow.

            You are a blind tool, just like I was.

          • October 18, 2015 at 6:27 am
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            Your life is your fault. No one else’s.

    • October 17, 2015 at 3:18 am
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      “Man wannabe?” This statement alone indicates that the action hero should only be filled by a male.

      • October 17, 2015 at 3:25 am
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        I hope you’re joking.

        • October 17, 2015 at 4:07 am
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          I am not, but I hope you were with your “man wannabe” statement. Tell me, what is the prescribed way a man should act?

          If there really was a difference between men and women, then tell me right now: am I a man or a woman behind this Ewan McGregor avatar?

          • October 18, 2015 at 2:44 am
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            I see a company of masculine women ready to fight and sacrifice themselves for their country and people. Not for superficial reasons like gender equality.

            War, combat, protection and leadership have always been predominantly male areas. This is what men through evolution have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. That is why I said the women must be convincing and natural. A feminine woman acting masculine is not gonna cut it.

            As you may know masculine women do not grow on trees. That is why having too many of them in a movie such as Star Wars, would be very unrealistic.

            Use your head a little.

          • October 18, 2015 at 6:25 am
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            Gender equality is precisely why they are there and, in part, what they fight for. I can only assume you know no female soldiers. (Or perhaps many females period) “Masculine women”?? No. Strong woman. Why do you attribute strength as a male attribute? You ever given birth tough guy? Historical precedent is irrelevant. This is 2015. Women can do whatever the fuck they want. A feminine woman acting tough? Have you watch womans sports? The Olympics? Had female corporate bosses? Sexy and strong are not mutually exclusive. My wife is hot, a doctor and a mother of three. She’s smarter than you and has toughed through shit that would make you cry like a baby. Use your head a little and maybe one day even you might find a woman that can tolerate your manly little mind. I’m done with you. Peace.

          • October 18, 2015 at 4:29 pm
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            If gender equality is why they are there, then they are there for the wrong reason, and I wouldn’t blame men for not seeing them as equals. For equality to work, a true common goal is needed. If men fight for their country and women for their gender, there will be problems.

            There are masculine women and feminine men.
            Masculinity is the behavior and body type most commonly present in males. Femininity is the behavior and body type most commonly present in women.

            History is not irrelevant. It is forever relevant.
            Women have rarely been soldiers due to the fact that they give birth to new life. Tribes and countries with female soldiers have risked dying out when letting their women die on the battlefields. By nature women are simply too important to be risked in war.

            Hundreds of thousands of men can die in war, it will still not make a difference in the next generation since there will always be another male at home to replace him. But if women die, there will be a huge gap in new births. It would take a very long time for the birth numbers to recover. If women die, it could mean the death of the culture, the country and the people.

            I live in the most gender equal country on the planet. I know one woman who’s done military service. She was chosen partly because she was masculine enough to handle the heavy gear and because she was intelligent. All in all the company she served in consisted of 18% women. All of them masculine. That is, their levels of testosterone was probably higher than that of a normal woman. A weak soldier can mean a death sentence for their brothers and sisters in arms. If you can’t handle the heavy work, you will risk everyones lives.

            You base your arguments on immature ideals. I base mine on logic.

            If you truly seek equality, you need to accept the fact that men and women are biologically different and work from there.

            As for women allowed to do “whatever the fuck they want”.
            You sound like a pampered little teenager.
            No one can do whatever they want. Not men. Not women.

            Goodluck with your hot smart tough mother of three doctor wife.
            If she really exists, I’d imagine she’s wondering why she picked such a wimpy and feminine little man as a mate.

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:52 am
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            Exactly. Equal does not mean the same. The sexes are equal in that it requires both to create life, but both can do things the other cannot. Forcing a man to be a woman is wrong as is vice versa. We have too much of vice versa today, where the only time it’s okay to be a man is if you’re a woman.

    • October 17, 2015 at 4:25 pm
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      Example?

  • October 16, 2015 at 3:58 am
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    Female Jedi have been around for a long time, including the EU. I dom”t understand why some people are making such a fuss about Rey as if it were some kind of heresy that the heir to the Skywalker line could be a girl. And to those who say that girls are fragile and do not fit the Jedi stereotype, I would point out that Yoda was the most powerful Jedi ever and had no natural physical strength of his own. Being a force user actually means size and body mass are irrelevant

    • October 16, 2015 at 4:06 am
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      Good points. Not only that, but, Leia was bad ass in her own right. She never came off as weak or helpless. She was aggressive, good with a blaster and intelligent with battle plans and strategy and it didn’t in no way look or seem contrived.

      • October 16, 2015 at 6:54 am
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        It seems as if Kennedy is trying to make the point that those features NEVER existed in the Star Wars franchise? Is she implying that Leia wasn’t a strong character of the franchise? It all seems orchestrated by the PC of Hollywood.

        • October 16, 2015 at 12:53 pm
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          There is exactly nothing in what KK said that seems – even remotly – to imply that “those features NEVER existed in the Star Wars franchise”.

          • October 16, 2015 at 6:33 pm
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            And yet what she states says otherwise to the contrary?

          • October 16, 2015 at 10:16 pm
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            Please quote what she stated that says those features never existed in the Star Wars franchise? The very closest thing I can recall was at Celebration, when she stated her daughter “didn’t have a lot of options” when it came to females to identify with. Which is a simple statement of fact (unless you think her child should have been content with Oola or Yarna).

        • October 17, 2015 at 3:16 am
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          Leia was strong, until she ended up wearing the metel bikini in VI. Apart from her, let’s see…. Padme dies in childbirth, and that leaves us……. not much else.

          Instead of calling this the “PC of Hollywood” perhaps Kennedy wants more women in this universe because of the disgusting lack of them.

          • October 17, 2015 at 9:41 pm
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            Perhaps, i agree with you on the metal bikini situation and Padme was just terrible character. I think that Hollywood is being PC, if KK has an agenda so be it, but i don’t have to like it. If they want to create this artificial central figure being a woman, so be it but i think it diminishes the actress and hurts the individual more than it helps in this industry. Hollywood only has themselves to blame!

          • October 18, 2015 at 5:05 pm
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            Why? Did Leia automatically lose her strength when she had to wear the bikini? Was it a magic bikini? Like Samson losing his hair?

    • October 16, 2015 at 6:53 am
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      True, but i am tired of the entire Skywalker saga, i want to see them branch off into other areas and from all that i have read it seems like the same story being told just from another perspective.

  • October 16, 2015 at 6:52 am
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    I am ok with the whole diversity thing, but only if it is relevant, not forced because we want to play the PC game. Lets hope that is not the case, but that seems to be it along with the token black guy. Lets hope i am wrong?

    • October 16, 2015 at 7:12 am
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      If any movie has good chances of being non-PC, ^^it’s this.

      By all accounts, they just, you know, made a story about people – because Daisy Ridley and JB are PEOPLE, who DO stuff, and so they decided to let them do stuff inside a Star Wars film because why not?
      That is what integration should be, having a percentage quota of non-white-male is the BARE MINIMUM of what should be expected, and so when a movie touts its percentage like “look at me! I have 1 mexican in my movie!”, it suggests to me that having a percentage of token “minorities” is some sort of achievement — IT IS NOT. Further, the fact that one of the side characters being “minority” is a “big deal” tends to go hand-in-hand with “he’s mexican, that’s his character, JOB DONE, we’ll call that character developed enough”.

      What I’m liking more and more about this movie is that they’ve yet to point out that 50% of their new characters are female or non-white — which is a true statistic — and they haven’t actually said that yet, because – ready for this? – having 50% non-white-male characters IS NOT AN ACHIEVEMENT – it’s a starting point.
      What this, to me, suggests, is that KK does not consider her job done. Casting a non-white-male is Step #1. giving them a character that’s decent, that the audience will miss enough to have them stick around for sequels, and properly paying and publisizing the actor – THAT is the stuff that counts.
      So the fact that Disney ain’t bragging about the casting is a very good sign, because casting non-white-males SHOULD be normal – and so SW is treating it as normal – because in 20 years, it will be normal.

    • October 17, 2015 at 4:18 pm
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      “Token black guy”. How is he “token”? Why are you assuming he was hired because of his skin colour? Why are you not assuming it was because he was great in previous work and fit the character perfectly?

      • October 17, 2015 at 9:38 pm
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        I do not know if that is the case, but after what we saw with F4 and the change of Torch, it seems like a PC move, i could careless if this black guy is in the movie. As well, i don’t know who his former work is. I just think that it diminishes the actor being a women or black actor? If their is a REAL purpose behind it, great but the way Hollywood lately has been going all PC, one has to wonder. No racism behind my comment.

      • October 18, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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        He was hired because he’s black. End of story.

  • October 16, 2015 at 7:54 am
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    So what I am hearing is this, you have 2 fantastic directors front running for the next Star Wars film, both have different aspects Lucasfilm are very excited about. One is a man and one is a woman. Are they saying that because they want more woman in these ‘roles’ then they would pick the woman over the man because of gender? Because that’s the definition of sexism; and I am completely against that. It should be irrelevant, pick the director who best suits the role, REGARDLESS of gender. It should be that way for everything, including race.

    • October 16, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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      So if they’re both great directors, exactly what reason do you give for defaulting to a male? Why is picking a woman “sexism” but not a man?

      • October 17, 2015 at 3:14 am
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        The industry is sexist because most of the time they default to a man.

        • October 17, 2015 at 5:18 am
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          Yes, this is my point. Brent has just proposed that in the case of two directors, male and female, of equal ability, not giving the job to the male is somehow “sexism.” In other words, the default should always be a male unless the female is clearly much better than he is. Not just equal, but better. Since this is a remarkable cognitive dissonance I’m just trying to get Brent to explain this to me.

          • October 17, 2015 at 4:08 pm
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            I think you are missing his point. The hypothetical: 2 directors. 1 male, 1 female. Equal in every way. Choosing EITHER on the basis of sex is sexism. Kennedy deliberately choosing a director because she is a woman is as equally sexist as choosing a director because he is male. directors should not get chosen because they are male or female. They should be chosen because of experience, track record, style etc. studio execs do not care one way or the other. If they think Katherine bigalow or Jodi foster, or Coppola or campion or Jolie or penny Marshall or any of the dozens of female directors can make them a profit they’ll
            Be hired. There is no “default”. There are simply more men directors. That said It is perfectly fair and good for Kennedy to give a female director a chance.

          • October 19, 2015 at 4:22 am
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            If both a male and female are equally talented and the right choice for the part, you flip for it and let fate decide.

      • October 17, 2015 at 10:57 am
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        Did you even read my comment?

  • October 16, 2015 at 11:27 am
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    I wrote this a few weeks ago, but since it is now topical I will post here:

    Star Wars Title IX.

    While I support the influx of strong female characters in the Star Wars Universe, it seems as though the writers of the new canon were given a heavy mandate to include female pilots, female commanders and female bounty hunters in every new comic and book, which is perfectly fine if it didn’t seem so . . obviously like a quota. What’s next, alien stormtroopers? The original canon set an admirable standard for strong and heroic women in a sci-fi story. Both Leia and Mon Mothma were bold and impressive next to their male counterparts. Of course, since the new canon is being written
    during our present era, it makes sense that it will serve as a reflection of our current times and female characters will be featured in prominent roles.

    Practically speaking, however, if we are to view the original movies and new canon as a single fabric, one does have to wonder where all these female pilots and soldiers in
    “Aftermath” and “Shattered Empire” suddenly sprang from. They weren’t at the Rebel briefings on Yavin 4. or aboard Home One, nor were they milling about either of the Death Stars. Did the New Republic and Empire each settle on affirmative action lawsuits at the end of Return of the Jedi? Perhaps the new new Special
    Editions will correct this inconsistency by digitally inserting more female characters into the original movies.

    Of course, I’m all for prominent female characters in Episode 7 if they are organic to good storytelling.

    I’m curious if creating these new strong women diminishes the importance of Princess Leia in the Star Wars Universe. I mean, she will always remain formidable, (anyone read Marvel’s “Weapon’s Master” comic from 1980’s?), but now she’s no longer unique in that role of “kicking ass with the boys.” Perhaps that in itself is an outdated
    expression, but still I imagine her royal highness is feeling, well, “less
    special” these days.

    • October 16, 2015 at 11:53 am
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      Spot on. Great post

    • October 16, 2015 at 12:50 pm
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      You could apply the same reasoning between ANH and TESB and ask where “all the black people suddenly sprang from”. Or you could apply it to PT/OT and ask…well, a whole lot of questions, actually.

      Or, you know, you could just realize that we are talking about movies aka “stuff someone wrote”, and that (as you actually said) the writing evolves and reflects current times.

      Which is good because, if that wasn’t the case, we would still be stuck with “Nosferatu – eine symphonie des grauens” (1922) as the only possible iteration of vampires/Dracula and nothing, in storytelling and moviemaking would actually change.

      • October 16, 2015 at 3:16 pm
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        This is the official down voting system for (999SickBoy666).

    • October 16, 2015 at 10:13 pm
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      In order to even have parity between the sexes in the SW Universe, the next three films would pretty much have to have entirely female casts with no men at all. Clearly, that isn’t happening. So maybe all the MRAs and people clutching their pearls at a “mandate” that nobody has ever claimed should relax a bit. No one is coming to take your toys away.

  • October 16, 2015 at 2:20 pm
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    The underlying reason for more apparent diversity is very simple – greater marketing scope (read: sell more merchandise). KK is leveraging this to push for greater female representation, and why not? She is a hard working (successful) female with a desire to see more hard working females achieve success. What is possibly wrong with that? The fact that Disney is using diversity to simply increase their access to people’s wallets is what should be in question…

  • October 16, 2015 at 4:05 pm
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    I don’t believe KK is going out of her way to make the point. She was at a “Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit” so, it would be appropriate for her to discuss the role of women in the Star Wars universe and behind the scenes. The first time I heard her mention something about the role of women in the new movies, she was responding to a question from the audience about it at Celebration panel.

    I have no problem with an increased role of strong women characters in the movies. The story is what matters and I don’t believe in this case they have sacrificed story just to put a female in a leading role, especially for a new character that has not been established yet. Although, it is hard to say without actually seeing the movie yet.

    It’s different if you try to make BatMAN or James Bond a woman, Batgirl is another story. They are established characters with a history of being men.

  • October 16, 2015 at 8:56 pm
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    I personally don’t see the need to vocalize why there’s an importance for women in the Star Wars enterprise. Obviously there are plenty of females who enjoy the saga quite a bit whether there are women involved in the creativity or not.
    Just feels like a useless statement. Also, who the hell has said anything negative about women being involved in the first place?

  • October 16, 2015 at 11:59 pm
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    Would I be deemed sexist in saying I would rather the hero of Star Wars be a male than a female?

    Before you kill me, please hear me out.

    Men by nature are physical beings, women by nature are emotional beings.

    There are SOME men more emotional and SOME women more physical, but they are in the minority.

    Whenever I have seen action films, ANY action film with a woman cast in the lead “kicking ass” I have never bought it. Just my gut reaction. It looks stupid, and it looks odd, and doesn’t connect with me.

    The only time it works is with Asian women, who I do BUY can do the action moves that they do.

    But a girl is a girl, a boy is a boy.

    Daisy Ridley does not come across as a tough presence to me, and you do need a bit of that if you are a hero tasked with fighting the bad guys.

    So if she is the main hero and the one who will take the lead against the evil in this trilogy,,,count me out. Just my preference, and just what I like.

    If Predator or Rambo or the Matrix starred a woman as a lead…I wouldn’t like those films as much.

    And I do wonder….if Luke was instead, Lucinda Skywalker, would it have been as successful?

    Just wondering….

    Thanks for listening.

    Two thumbs up for a great site.

    • October 17, 2015 at 3:10 am
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      Absolutely wrong: women are NOT emotional beings by nature. This has been proven and re-proven so many times.

      And even if this reasoning was true, why does the main star need to be some “tough” guy? Mark Hammil was like a little wimpy weasil in Episode IV.

      • October 17, 2015 at 11:25 pm
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        He didn’t exactly fit tough guy standards in five or six, either. From what I’ve seen of Chloe Bruce, though, Rey’s going to be a lot more badass and deadly than Luke.

        • October 19, 2015 at 4:21 am
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          Luke was wise and mature in 6. He was also pretty badass. Worked for me.

      • October 19, 2015 at 4:20 am
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        “Wimpy weasel”? Luke was a boy. A young man. Big difference between “wimpy weasel”. F*** yourself.

    • October 17, 2015 at 3:10 am
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      Yeah what you’re saying is pretty sexist.

    • October 17, 2015 at 3:40 pm
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      Your assertion that “men by nature are physical beings, women by nature are emotional beings.” Is simplistic nonsense. While it’s true that men and woman are different. It’s not as you say. Were Thatcher or Rand emotional women? Gandhi and Dali lama physical? I can only assume you don’t know many woman. Or men for that matter. (“The only time it works is Asian woman”?? Face palm. What Are you 12?? Never saw alien or kill bill? Etc etc etc)

      • October 19, 2015 at 4:19 am
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        Thatcher and Rand are anomalies. On average, men are more physical/stronger than women. On average, women are smarter than men, but men go in extremes. The smartest man in the world is smarter than the smartest woman, and the dumbest man in the world is dumber than the dumbest woman.
        The sexes are “equal” until it comes time to lift something heavy. I’m half kidding, but each sex has things they can do that the other can’t and they balance out. Equal does not mean the same, it takes both a man and a woman to create life, therefore, both are equal.

        • October 19, 2015 at 3:25 pm
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          The smartest man is smarter than the smartest woman? And how exactly do you judge this? Nuclear face palm.

          “…man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

          • October 19, 2015 at 11:29 pm
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            Studies and statistics. Women on average are smarter than men. But a very small group of men build rockets and pretty much run the world with next to zero women….while on the opposite end of the spectrum it is also mostly men who are in prison (usually for stupid things although not everyone in prison is an uneducated idiot).

  • October 17, 2015 at 3:52 am
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    why don’t you coach Kennedy on how to run her company. I’m sure you can teach her a thing or two, being a male. Big L.O.L.

    • October 17, 2015 at 4:01 am
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      Yeah, and while I’m at it I’ll address the gender imbalance in maternity wards the world over! Have you seen it? ALL the people giving birth are WOMEN!!! WTF? This is not right…

      • October 17, 2015 at 4:12 am
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        and if you have time left over, ask yourself if it is ok for other companies upper management to be predominanty male. I’m sure the gender ratio is farr worse than 60-40.

  • October 18, 2015 at 4:03 pm
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    The writing is on the wall. There will be the artificial promotion of women, the leveraging of the female opinion over the male: just as in wider society discrimination, quotas and inclusiveness will be the excuse. If KK’s comments here don’t convince you that’s coming the increase in the number of women, by several hundred percent, in TFA and the spin-offs should.

    “Having a balance of men and women in the room changes the story,” she said. “The dialogue, the point of view.” That quote should tell you what’s coming.

    So a woman takes over the franchise and all-of-a-sudden there are females everywhere. Jobs for the girls anybody? Ignoring of course that a discriminatory practice had to be used to achieve it.

    So the original trilogy was made, this created the most successful cultural franchise in history and she wants the formula to be changed. Changing a successful formula that has yet to become unsuccessful is a bad idea. Female hubris.

    “Kennedy, one of the most successful executives in the movie business, also revealed that six out of eight of the people involved in developing the film were women and that 50% of her executive team were female.”

    When 6 of 8 developers are male, that is something to be criticised. When 6 of 8 developers are male, that indicates a bias to be corrected. But female bias doesn’t exist of course, despite the results. When there is a 50/50 split in a competitive arena that usually indicates it has been arranged that way.

    A common justification for an even split is in the real world 50% of the population is female. Well, Star Wars movies are essentially war movies, and since about 98% of military casualties are male, perhaps 98% of the cast should be male. That might be something like the original trilogy. I’ll be 98% of the female cast won’t be killed off to balance that inequity. That percentage of the male cast won’t be killed off either, but about that margin of the deaths will be male.

    If 50% representation is fair and inclusiveness is the aim, then why isn’t there a 50% black cast or 50% Asian? Well you could say because that’s not the ratio of society. If that’s the case then you know what ‘ist to scream once it goes past the real-world ratio. Tells you who the inclusiveness policy is designed to benefit doesn’t it.

    My problem with this? Discrimination, quotas and inclusiveness. They are the terms used to oust males from any area females deem fitting. Anything created with those policies will be inferior to something created via merit and competition. The reason people who support such policies don’t think the results are worse is due to the suppression of dissent; political correctness ‘corrects’ these ‘discriminatory’ viewpoints. Hence I protest.

    Men who don’t look the part or play the part well don’t get the part; but women do, thanks to ideology like this. If Rey is the new female Skywalker they need to be very clever in how she is portrayed being that. She doesn’t remotely look capable of being that part. The least she will need is cybernetics and a suit.

    Dr Who was almost ruined for me thanks to incompetent performing and looking females playing roles they were utterly unconvincing in. The suspense-of-disbelief thoroughly not suspended. Back to the 50% real-world ‘fairness’ ratio, half of such roles are not made up of women.

    Initially I wasn’t too worried at the influx of females due to JJ’s ability to portray the ‘kick ass’ variety well. I think the last instance of that I can remember was one of the female leads in that short-lived TV show Revolution. Though with the more of this Feminist discriminatory sexist hypocrisy there is to put up with, the more likely I am to be pushed out of the Star Wars universe altogether. The destruction of the Star Wars universe may not be so quick but the undermining of it’s foundations has started.

    TFA may well be a very good movie in spite of this; but the spin-offs with more freedom may become cringe-worthy.

    • October 18, 2015 at 4:43 pm
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      Well. If she makes them Mandalorian I’ll be able to buy it. Otherwise, I ‘ll drop Star Wars completely, like I did with gaming when feminist fraud Anita Sarkeesian entered the stage.

  • October 18, 2015 at 6:48 pm
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    Jesus, can’t we just keep political correctness and “woman power” out of Star Wars?? Star Wars has always had strong female characters which worked perfectly in the context of the films…..why draw attention to it??? Let’s just enjoy the film, and for at least 2 hours forget that political correctness even exists in the world.

  • November 7, 2015 at 12:31 am
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    I think men should be hired over women and we should be open about promoting men, giving them ‘boy power!’ but ignoring girls, worry about boy’s problems and listen to them – bend the rules to suit them alone, insult girls for trying to question this… oh.. wait no sorry I got my genders mixed up, I meant do all those things for girls not boys – because of course I’m not sexist /s

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