One of my favorite scenes in the seventh "Star Wars" movie, "The Force Awakens," is when John Boyega's character, Finn, in the midst of a siege by the evil First Order and realizing he has a means of fighting back, uncorks Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber, the blue blade of light popping up out of the hilt in all its Abrams glory, and rushes into battle.
The shot is significant in how it both underplays and emphasizes the implications of what has now occurred on screen. The passing of the torch in this way, from the already-progressive-for-its-time 1970s Star Wars to the now clearly-21st-century slick seventh installment, is a literal growth of tolerance and an acknowledgment that the times and mindset of the world have changed. And yet, the film never outright professes that this is a significant event in-universe, walking a careful tightrope between being a "message" film and being a film that just happens to star a black man and a woman (Daisy Ridley's Rey).
However, since the film doesn't overplay these significant (and I've no doubt, conscious) casting decisions, some people have taken that to mean that the decision itself shouldn't matter, that having a black man and a woman dueling the forces of evil with Lightsabers shouldn't be remarked upon, that that shouldn't be held up as a praise-worthy decision. "It's 2015 (or 2016, now)," they say. "This shouldn't be an issue."
To make these types of arguments is to diminish their meaning for a vast majority of people out there. There are stories on the Internet of young girls squealing with joy at the first shot of Rey in the film; seeing this role model act, for a good stretch of the beginning of the film, completely independently, not relying on anyone else, that's an important message that people are taking away from this. Finn running from the First Order, renouncing his supposed place in this white-man-led supremacy, is again a symbol, something for young people to look up to and think "holy shit, look at that! I can do that too!" It's encouraging to see such stardom in a cultural juggernaut like the Star Wars franchise, because it means that more people can relate to something that has already inspired and re-shaped the science-fiction/fantasy landscape the world over.
And what kind of person would want to diminish that positive impact for people?
Because yes, this shouldn't be an issue. But it is. It is because, as the past couple years especially have determined, through horrific violence, action, inaction, threats, and words, yeah, this shit is still a problem. And thus whatever large role minorities have in films, in television, however many books by minorities or people of differing sexual orientations get published, it's a victory. It matters, because the people who want to keep shutting down how awesome it is to see a black man holding a Lightsaber on the big screen are the problem, not the praise being heaped upon the film for being smart enough to realize that hey, guess what, black people exist and they are badass. And this'll keep being a victory so long as the people who say that it shouldn't be one keep doing so, so long as it's possible to shut that mindset down. It'll keep being a victory, because to deem it as anything less would only contribute to the rampant racism that is buried deep in our subconscious.
And I'm sure no one wants to contribute to that.
Further Reading
Academy Nominates All White Actors for Second Year in Row
Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ John Boyega and the Importance of the Unlikely Hero
