Blacks in the Empire

Marc Xavier · Post by **Marc Xavier** » 2003-07-20 08:38pm

Equinox2003 wrote:Marc, true, I should have skipped the line saying you had not even seen the shows, that was uncalled for.

Thank you. I accept your apology. No hard feelings.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-07-20 09:27pm

Grand Admiral Declann of the Galactic Empire was black.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-07-20 09:35pm

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Grand Admiral Declann of the Galactic Empire was black.

Thrawn was a Chiss.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-07-20 09:43pm

YT300000 wrote:
Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Grand Admiral Declann of the Galactic Empire was black.
Thrawn was a Chiss.

I am aware...I wasn't talking about Thrawn. Grand Admiral Declann is black.

This is Declann.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-07-20 09:50pm

Yes, but with GAs it doesn't really matter. If they are really skilled, they get the rank.

Hence the Thrawn comparison.

Marc Xavier · Post by **Marc Xavier** » 2003-07-20 09:54pm

Lord Poe wrote:
Marc Xavier wrote: I've been watching The Next Generation since they were playing new episodes on UPN (KCOP-13, back then). I disagree with your characterization, pay me due respect and answer my posts without negative insinuations.
Completely irrelevant interjection:

I went to film school next door to KCOP in the late 80s !

Really, now?

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2003-07-21 04:19am

Axis Kast wrote:
Have you ever heard of "Suspension of Disbelief"? To paraphrase South Park, "If you don't like suspension of disbelief, then you can get out."
I was afraid of this. So what you're telling me is ...

"I know that Star Wars, as a movie, had to be made within certain realistic constraints. I will however attempt to explain certain elements away as canon - though they were never meant to be - because I want to maintain continuity among the artificial universe."

Yes?

Nein. When we suspend disbelief, we do not consider the constraints placed on the filmmakers. Who are you to say what was and was not "meant to be" canon? We must assume that it is all canon. Sounds unbelievable, I know, but guess what? We'll just suspend that disbelief, and everything'll be all right.
So, we're not going to say that there'd be a lot more black people in Star Wars, if only more black actors were available to Lucas. No, we're going to instead say that what we see is what we see, and the characters portrayed in the movies simply happened not to be black, for whatever intratextual reason. That reason (or those reasons, as the case may be) is what was being sought in this thread.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2003-07-21 04:47am

What about Polynesians-types such as the Fetts, the Clone Troopers and Captain Typho in AOTC... ?

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2003-07-21 05:52am

Typho is black. He's Panaka's nephew.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-07-21 11:57am

edit - never mind

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2003-07-21 01:37pm

Robert Treder wrote:What's curious to me is the fact that the races are still distinct, even after some 25,000 years of having hyperdrive, and presumably many thousands of years before that of being space-faring, and thousands of years before that on the human home planet.
I'd have thought that they'd have sexed each other into one big tan color.

Possible reason: Given the level of technology and the standards of living such technology would provide, large cities like Coruscant would likely have a larger percentage of lighter people simply because nobody spends enough time outdoors and in the sun. The rarer darker-skinned people should come from family lines that haven't bred with very many lighter skinned humans and have a history of being outdoors even in more recent history.

FOG3 · Post by **FOG3** » 2003-07-21 01:53pm

Not that it matters but there was also a Black Rebel fighter pilot in ROTJ. Of course I think he was shot down by a TIE Interceptor.

Marc Xavier · Post by **Marc Xavier** » 2003-07-21 01:56pm

FOG3 wrote:Not that it matters but there was also a Black Rebel fighter pilot in ROTJ. Of course I think he was shot down by a TIE Interceptor.

As was the asian guy as I recall. And the fat guy.

Or was that ANH?

Let's not read into that, though.

FOG3 · Post by **FOG3** » 2003-07-21 02:39pm

Marc Xavier wrote:
FOG3 wrote:Not that it matters but there was also a Black Rebel fighter pilot in ROTJ. Of course I think he was shot down by a TIE Interceptor.
As was the asian guy as I recall. And the fat guy.

Or was that ANH?

Let's not read into that, though.

Even if you tried there were other non-minority piots dying right and left. Unless they were to go rascist agains the majority and declare the minorities deserved a high grade character shield.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-22 03:41am

Trytostaydead wrote:Telling you, Episode III needs Zhang Ziyi as a Dark Jedi Babe!!

Actually, there is going to be a Dark Jedi in Ep3 who will be played by an Asian actress, but that will be Bai Li and not Zhang Ziyi. (Or so I've heard)

Tychu · Post by **Tychu** » 2003-08-01 01:01am

Axis Kast wrote:I have a feeling race wasn't an issue. You're taking a realistic demographic issue (that of Britain's being predominately white at the time of filming) and expanding it too far into cannon.

If i read Kast right i have to agree with Kast in that i think the rareity that we see blacks and other minorities in Star Wars lies within the real life social problems. In an interview with Billy Dee Williams in i think the 20th aniversary of Empire issue of Star Wars Insider he says that when he got the role of Lando very few minorities were getting roles (in some round-about way he says it)

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-08-01 01:12am

Perhaps, but suspension of disbelief means that we still have to rationalize it within the context of the story, otherwise we'll be no better than the rabid fundies.