This blog post contains spoilers for The Last Jedi.
I’m sure a lot of you have seen the news regarding Kelly Marie Tran, and how she has been pushed away from Instagram and Twitter by sexist and racist abuse. The same thing happened to Leslie Jones following the release of Ghostbusters.
This abuse stands as evidence of the need for more women of colour in prominent roles in franchise films. Many of the complaints against The Last Jedi in my opinion stem from it being a diverse film in both gender and race representation. This diversity makes perfect sense when you consider that the Resistance is the opposing force to the openly Fascist First Order.
One major complaint I have seen is how Vice Admiral Holdo leaves Captain Dameron out of the plan for escape from The First Order. This can be simply explained by looking at how many ranks sit between Holdo and Dameron… The resistance is not above possible infiltration, therefore keeping the plan known only to those in the highest ranks gives them the biggest chance of escape.
This is based on “earth ranks” but we can assume as they use the same terminology that the pattern of promotion is pretty much the same:
(Wikipedia)
Dameron begins The Last Jedi as a Commander and then after the big cock up that gets all the Resistance bombers destroyed and a lot of people killed he is demoted to Captain (he’s lucky he wasn’t court martialed for disobedience)… Holdo is initially 4(!!) Ranks above him, after demotion she is 6. Why, would someone at this level be explaining plans to a lowly captain? He is important to the plot of the film but at this point not the resistance as a whole. One can only assume that people struggle with this concept as they can’t quantify a female character being at a rank so high above a man, let alone their rugged hero. So why did Laura Dern not receive the abuse laid on Tran? We can only assume it it because Tran is younger, she was an unknown actress and she is a person of colour.
Now to Tran’s character Rose, she is an engineer, she is brave, proud, smart and loyal to the resistance. She has just lost her sister to the cause and as such her loyalty is strengthened as she needs to justify the loss. She intercepts Finn, she believes he’s trying to desert (which he has done before, he deserted The First Order).
I didn’t see any of the abuse she received thankfully, but I can guess that it stemmed from her character being in a place of power. I don’t mean in terms of rank but more the social positioning of the 2 characters during the events of the film. She pushes Finn to stay and fight, she persuades him to be brave, and while their plan is ultimately futile, it was at that point the right thing to do. If they had followed the chain of command as they should have, then it’s possible they’d have had more support for their plan, and it may have succeeded. Dameron cautioned them against that though due to his bruised ego. Rose is the main positive force through the film, she is moralistic and good, and driven primarily by love. Initially for her sister and then for Finn.
I’ve seen a number of comments complaining that she was annoying, that they hope her character doesn’t survive the injuries she sustained at the end of the film… How tragic is it, that in a franchise based around the fight of good against evil and how much of that evil is within each of us, that a character who is fundamentally moralistic, and the actress who plays her, should receive this abuse?
Rian Johnson took a gamble in this film, hoping that Star Wars fans could accept a new and different story, where sometimes people do the right thing and it doesn’t work out.
He has placed the characters in a position where they will have to fight together, collaboratively and honestly. They will have to overcome bigotry to achieve victory in Episode 9. Let’s hope the fans can do the same.
Screening Violets 