Jedi Mind Trick – Star Wars VII Casting & Unpopular Opinions

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Today was a momentous day in geekdom, Star Wars Episode VII main casting was announced.  To view the full announcement along with a cool picture of all the players sitting together in the Pinewood Studios, UK: click here

 

Here’s the official statement from Lucasfilm/Disney:

 

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Director J.J. Abrams says, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

That being said, the Twitterverse has been overflowing with opinions in various forms and levels of vitriol.  Mostly what I have been seeing is outrage at the lack of women members of the cast…and this is where the unpopular opinion portion of the title of this article comes into play.

 

So. Damn. What.

 

First of all, check out the IMDB for all previous Star Wars movies and look at the credits and TRULY label the main characters.  Let’s break it down:

 

Ep4: Carrie Fisher…that’s it.

Ep5: Carrie Fisher…again, that’s it.

Ep6: Carrie Fisher…now in a gold bikini!

Ep1: Natalie Portman…that’s it – I’ll give you Pernilla August and her maybe 30 lines, ok.

Ep2: Natalie Portman…that’s it.

Ep3: Natalie Portman…that’s it.

 

So…ok, I’m no math genius but this tells me that at MAX there were two main female characters in any previous Star Wars movie and unless I somehow missed the massive outcry that’s been out there for the last thirty-plus years, NOBODY GAVE A BIG GOD DAMN.

 

So what the fuck is your deal people?  Seriously.

 

That being said – your level of angst at the situation will be met with my level of not giving a damn about your angst.  Science Fiction is possibly the MOST inclusive of all genres.  There are plenty of stories out there that have strong female leads, and I get that SW is SUPER high-profile so it’s an easy target when it doesn’t meet your expectations, but no company is beholden to your expectations.

 

I’ll measure the level of your conviction by how many tickets you purchase to see this movie you’re so angry at.  Boom. Mic Drop.

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