George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, disagrees with critics who claim the films only feature “white men.” At the Cannes Film Festival, where he received an honorary award, Lucas reminded audiences that Star Wars deals with aliens and robots, not human races.
“They would say, ‘It’s all white men,'” Lucas said. “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 green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
Lucas explained that the only discrimination depicted in Star Wars is between humans, aliens, and robots. This was meant to parallel how humans discriminate against others who are different.
“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,” he said, referring to how the robots are treated poorly. “We’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.'”
Despite Lucas’ intentions, the Star Wars fan base has faced allegations of racism in recent years. Actors like John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran experienced harassment from some fans due to their race. Moses Ingram, a Black actress in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, was the target of hateful messages claiming she was a “diversity hire.”
Boyega has said he had to carefully discuss diversity in casting with Disney. He advised the studio to provide more support for actors of color joining the franchise to avoid them being pushed aside after marketing promotes their importance.
While confronting prejudices was a core premise, Lucas’ beloved sci-fi universe has still struggled with racist fan behavior towards its more diverse performers.