In delivering a massive blow to one of the most prominent-yet-false narratives to ever surround a piece of media, Star Wars creator George Lucas has flat-out rejected the idea that the franchise was a bastion of racism and misogyny prior to it being sold to Disney.
The esteemed filmmaker pushed back against this accusation – as regularly touted by Sequel Trilogy fans, and even The Acolyte star Jodie Smith-Turner, in defense of Disney’s continued attempts to performatively diversify the galaxy far, far away – while speaking to attendees of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival following his reception of an honorary version of the event’s directorial highest award, the Palme d’Or.
Reflecting on the claims that the first six Star Wars films were somehow ‘not diverse’, as per a recap of his appearance provided by Variety‘s Ellise Shafer, Lucas asserted, “They would say, ‘It’s all white men. Most of the people are aliens!”
“The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever,” he added. “The idea is all people are equal.”
To this end, Lucas then noted that throughout the franchise, the only beings that faced any sort of discrimination were robots – a decision he says was made more as a prediction of the future rather than a commentary on the present.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,” explained Lucas. “I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.'”
In regards to the topic of the Original and Sequel trilogy’s non-white representation, the director then noted, “In the first one, there were a few Tunisians who were dark, and in the second one I had Billy Williams, and the [prequels], which they were also criticizing, I had Sam Jackson. He wasn’t a scoundrel like Lando. He was one of the top Jedi.”
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Next moving to address the criticisms that his original six films were somehow misogynistic in their portrayal of their female characters, Lucas balked, “Who do you think the heroes are in these stories?”
“What do you think Princess Leia was?” he asked. “She’s the head of the rebellion. She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy who can’t do anything and trying to save the rebellion with these clowns.
“It’s the same thing with Queen Amidala,” he added. “You can’t just put a woman in pants and expect her to be a hero. They can wear dresses, they can wear whatever they want. It’s their brains and their ability to think and plan and be logistical. That’s what the hero is.”
Ultimately, whether or not Lucas’ insight will do anything to stop activists from attempting to rewrite the history of his own work remains to be seen.
Until then, classic Star Wars fans can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing that, like themselves, the franchise’s creator has long since grown tired of the ongoing attempts to needlessly politicize the franchise.
