#BoycottStarWarsVII?

by JASmius



I've never been much of a Star Wars mark, but for those of you who are, here's the obligatory latest Force [Rea]wakens trailer:



I've always been lukewarm on the prospect of shelling out another ten bucks I can't replace on this flick.  It's got so many doubt-inducing downsides to it: (1) Disney buying out George Lucas, (2) J.J. Abrams, whose Star Trek reboot I loathed, and (3) the general ill-advisability of firing up a film franchise a decade after it neatly concluded with all new characters and a story, whatever it is, that cannot fail to be a rehash of the one told previously with a few tweaks here and there to lend it the illusion of originality.  I mean, why would Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill be reprising their roles as Han Solo, Leia Solo, and Luke Skywalker in this film, even as little more than cameos, otherwise?

Now I will admit that I'm kind of intrigued at the implication from this trailer that something turns Luke to the Dark Side, which is really the only direction his character could take going forward that would make the slightest bit of sense.  And it would certainly explain the pic of Leia weeping in Han's arms.



But is doing the obvious right thing creatively versus playing it pathetically safe - no swerves to be found here, folks - worth ten of my irreplacable dollars?  I'm not leaning in that direction.

However, there may be additional reasons to put the Force back to sleep:

Is the new, highly-anticipated Star Wars flick really a "social justice propaganda piece" that comes off as anti-white?

That's what is being suggested on Twitter as fans weigh in on the latest big-screen reboot of the classic science-fiction series — with one protestor claiming the movie goes so far as to promote "white genocide."

The Hollywood Reporter and WND.com report that shortly before a trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force [Rea]wakens aired on ESPN's Monday Night Football, Twitter subscribers began blasting the J.J. Abrams-directed film under the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII. 

"It's nothing more than a social justice propaganda piece that alienates its core audience of young white males," one protester tweeted.

Another ranted: "#BoycottStarWarsVII because it is anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide. A friend in L.A. said #StarWarsVII is basically '[Black Lives Matter [extrem]ist Deray Mckesson] in space.' Jewish [extrem]ist J.J. Abrams is an anti-white nut."

"[Social Justice Warriors] complain about white artists 'misappropriating' culture created by blacks but then celebrate a non-white Star Wars," said another.

And one tweeted: "It's nothing more than a social justice propaganda piece that alienates it's core audience of young white males."

Having not seen the film, I can neither confirm or deny the above assertions.  But they're certainly not outside the realm of plausibility and likelihood.  That's been Hollyweird's MO for decades, after all.

Would that make Force [Rea]wakens unwatchable?  Not necessarily.  I read advance warnings of the anti-war angle in Captain America II: The Winter Soldier a year and a half ago; I didn't drop a precious ten-spot on it at Regal Tall Firs Cinema, but I later bought the download online, and the overall story, characters, and action were more than sufficient to offset the obnoxious leftwingnut political angle.  But then, I am a Marvel mark, so yes, I probably would say that.

What I would be interested in finding out is where the Force went for the thirty or forty odd years between the galaxy-wide celebrations of Emperor Palpatine's (though not necessarily the Empire's) fall and the start of Episode VII.  Doesn't that imply that something happened to Luke?  Or that he disappeared soon thereafter, since he and Leia were the last Jedis and the Sith were supposedly extinct?  Questions that I suppose I will have to have answered.

Just not at Regal Tall Firs.