Star Wars and Tokenism

What is Tokenism?

Tokenism is the practice in which the entertainment industry makes a symbolic effort to be inclusive towards members of minority groups, by recruiting a small number of people from the underrepresented community to create a facade of racial and gender equality and sexual diversity within the world of entertainment to deflect any accusations of social discriminations. Or to give themselves a pat on the back saying:

Producer 1: “Hey, should we add in a minority?”

Producer 2 : “Yeah, we should but give them an insignificant or stereotypical role, at least they would feel represented.” 

Producer 1: “We did the world justice by being inclusive” *Pats back of Producer 2

Producer 2: “Yes we did, let’s go celebrate our monumental achievement” Pats back of Producer 1

While I may exaggerate, there is truth this claim and not all cases are of this, but hopefully you understand the issue at hand.

So let’s see examples of “token” characters, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow is a token character. As much as I love Scarlett Johansson, her role she plays in the overarching plot is insignificant, the agency she has does not affect the story in a meaningful way, instead the agency lies with the men.

Now my favorite example of tokenism, which is from South Park and the character is Token Black. Do you see beauty of South Park? A token black character, literally named Token Black. That is hilarious.

Star Wars Tokenism

Nowadays with the rise of mega film franchises, we see a new form of tokenism, which is called hyper-tokenism. And I say, J.J.Abrams’s reboot of Star Wars has that issue. When the first trailer dropped, the first human who was introduced was a Black man, some may say it was revolutionary for the franchise to have a black man as a main character, while some raged over the appearance of a black man in a primarily white franchise, even though the cast of characters consists of Alien lifeforms that do not resemble humanoid at all. Personally I was pleasantly surprised by it, but in the end, what matters to me is who and what importance will he have in the franchise. After watching The Force Awakens, I was glad that he played a significant role in the story, nevertheless I realized he had little agency over the story at large. It was the white main characters that have a significant impact on the narrative plot.

Another character introduced was Poe Dameron who is Hispanic. He is the first of the new main cast to be introduced, and yet as the film progress, his significance dwindles. Both Finn and Poe never wield more dramatic agency than the White men or women characters who are the focus of this White fantasy space opera. Finn and Poe may have been given more screen time, and greater dramatic agency and of course, a large presence in the promotion of the film, but ultimate dramatic agency would still lie with the White Characters.

The Last Jedi is also guilty of tokenism and in my opinion, even worse than The Force Awakens. Here again, we are introduced a character of Asian Descent, Rose Tico, a mechanic for the rebellion. In The Last Jedi, her story line was paired with Finn’s, their arch was unnecessary, Finn possesses even less dramatic agency than what he had in the first film. The story arch of Finn and Rose have zero impact on the overarching story,  and that particular side story was the most disliked by fans and general audience alike. While Poe was given more screen time in this film, his story arch was ought for naught, as it was resolved by General Holdo, and General Leia (Both White Women), resulting on what he did to be useless.

Okay, I understand that diversity in what we watch is great, it feels amazing to see the heroes you admire look like you or is similar to you in other ways. However, forced diversity can also be an issue, while Star Wars may have a diverse cast and it does make use of these characters, but in my opinion, not in a meaningful and purposeful way, so Disney, take note and make something great that everyone can love and enjoy.