thatonewriter

An article from Vox.com made a quick timeline of a group of racist nerd herders on Twitter who feel that a science-fiction series notorious for showing a galaxy filled with white people isn’t white enough. In what has transformed from a basic trolling attempt to a “movement” comprised of the scum and villainy of the Internet, #BoycottStarWarsVII has caused various blogs (such as this one) and news websites to comment on how terrible some people are. However, what I haven’t seen too many people disprove the racist notions that hiring a black actor for a main role in this film is appropriating white culture. In fact, Star Wars is really a combination of cultural tropes from every culture around the world in order to have a broad appeal. With that in mind, here are a few non-white influences in no particular order that have profoundly affected the Star Wars universe since it was conceived in George Lucas’s basement so many years ago.

1. Akira Kurosawa — Japanese movie director

Akira Kurosawa was a legendary filmmaker who had a profound influence on filmmakers in the ’70s such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Sergio Leone. Did you like The Magnificent Seven? Well, Kurosawa did it first and called it Seven Samurai. Maybe you’re a big fan of Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars. Well, that movie is a remake of a Kurosawa film as well called Yojimbo. For Star Wars, George Lucas took the editing style along with a few of the characters from Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress before making Star Wars. To keep things short, Hidden Fortress was a movie that followed the perpectives of two lowly peasants who went on a journey to help a princess who was running behind enemy lines from an evil General and his minions. In Star Wars, those peasants became droids and the villains were now a part of a huge Galactic Empire due to the science fantasy setting. Readers who watch Hidden Fortress will also notice that a lot of the cuts use the same wipe technique that Star Wars uses as well. Remember, that this technique was employed in the days of film and was a lot harder to pull off then hitting a button on Windows Movie Maker.

2. Taoism — Ancient Chinese Philosophy

‘

Most Taoists will tell you that their philosophy can’t be defined but we don’t have eighty years to figure out what life means for ourselves so I’ll help you out a little. Taoism introduced the world to the concept of the yin (passive female force) and the yang (active male force). Taoism dictates that there is a light side and dark side to everything that constantly balance each other out in every aspect of our lives. Clearly, this aspect became a cornerstone of the Force (yes I capitalized it because I’m a nerd) as both the light side and dark side are constantly vying for power in the universe. Taoists also believe that those who meditate and hone their minds long enough can gain special powers such as being able to move objects with your mind. Basically everyone can become Yoda I guess. However unlike Taoism, all Jedi in Star Wars are told to have no emotional attachments to any one person or thing in order to avoid being corrupted. This leads us to the third non-white influence on Star Wars.

3. Zen-Buddhism — Ancient Indian and Chinese Philosophy

The founding of Buddhism is generally attributed to Guatama Buddha, a man who taught in the Indian subcontinent a long, long time ago. Out of his teachings many sects formed such as Zen-Buddhism. Zen-Buddhism emphasized the idea of “non-attachment”. Zen-Buddhists believe that a person can only become equally compassionate to all living things on this planet if he or she sheds all direct attachments to all possessions and people that they are connected to through blood or relationships formed as he or she has lived their life. The teachings of Jedi philosophy in the films take this concept to the max in their quest to become one with the Force. It may be a too much sometimes in the prequels when the Jedi Council sits around in meetings doing nothing while Anakin complains about sand being too coarse but it’s there.

---

So there’s my rant for the day. There’s nothing like a bunch of white supremacist racists shi*tting on things for no good reason to get you motivated am I right?