The amount of speculation that surrounded Star Wars: The Force Awakens before its December 2015 release is insurmountable. Every other trailer sent the internet in a frenzy to decipher as to what the images being played on the screen signified. That’s because Star Wars as a franchise has earned a notorious reputation of being ahead of its time. And now, in the capable hands of director J.J. Abrams, the franchise might just give us our first openly gay Star Wars character. The director was at the Oscar Wilde Awards ceremony on February 27th, where he said, “I would love it … To me, the fun of Star Wars is the glory of possibility. So it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.”
The seventh episode of Star Wars did a marvelous job at giving us a strong female lead and bending gender stereotypes. The fact that the other two leads in the film are played by men of different racial identities fortifies the fact that J.J. Abrams is going to piss a lot of bigots in the process but will strive to give the ardent fans characters that reflect real life.
So a major film franchise like Star Wars pushing to include a prominent gay character will play a significant role in shutting a lot of homophobes up. But let’s not forget that John Boyega’s casting did not go down with a lot of racists out there, so much so that #BoycottStarWars trended on Twitter for a good month before the film’s release. It hardly affected J.J. Abrams though, and two months later, the film is still raking in a lot of moolah.
Who could it be?
If I were to take a guess, then it would Oscar Isaac’s character, Poe Dameron. His character is the closest to Han Solo’s in terms of badassery and that brief moment when he locks arms with Fin made a lot of fanboys speculate that something’s probably cooking between them. Then again, we do not know much about the character and it will be interesting to see how he is utilized in the upcoming sequels.
Though J.J Abrams is not going to direct the next film, he will still be the executive producer on the project. His assurance of creating an all-inclusive cinematic universe is what makes him a visionary filmmaker. More power to the rainbow!
- Please Keep Kids’ Toys Away from Gender Norms - September 29, 2016
- Watch How Straight Men React After Kissing Gay Men - September 18, 2016
- RuPaul Charles Creates History by Winning His First Emmy - September 12, 2016