A ranting, ineffectual clown is the best way to describe sjw star wars. It’s a social justice warrior propaganda film with token diversity and a white savior narrative. But how can we tell? How can we see past the clown’s overblown ego and cynicism? Let’s explore some possible answers. First, let’s clarify what SJW means.

sjw star wars is a ranting, ineffectual clown

“SjW Star Wars is a ranting, ineffectful clown.” -Brianna Goldberg. That is the underlying problem with SJW Star Wars. Its core message is that “the force is stronger than the Force itself.” In other words, Star Wars isn’t really as powerful as it is made out to be. And it certainly doesn’t have the power to change the fate of the Force.

It’s a social justice warrior propaganda film

Social justice warriors love to bash Star Wars movies, but it’s important to keep your expectations in check. This new trilogy introduces Vice Admiral Holdo, a powerful female character who leads the Resistance. Holdo’s development is controversial, but it’s not really about her. It’s actually about Resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron’s growth and development. It’s a social justice warrior propaganda film, but one with negative overtones.

It’s a white savior narrative

Is it a bad thing that Star Wars is predominantly white? Yes. But we can’t blame the filmmakers for their choice of casting. White savior narratives are often portrayed as the only option for saving the world and its people. These narratives make predominantly white audiences feel good while ignoring the complexity of the other side of the story. In addition to affecting the aesthetics of the film, white savior narratives have a broader sociological implication.

The white savior is a cinematic trope that is deeply racist and paternalistic. It is the white figure who rescues and saves people of color while also learning something about himself. The trope is often linked to the racist idea of the “white man’s burden” which served as a justification for colonialism. But does the Star Wars universe promote this narrative?

It’s a token diversity narrative

It’s not that the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII is a step in the right direction, but rather, it’s a representation of the opposite. While the premise is good, the actual story shows a token amount of diversity. In the first movie, General Organa waits for Luke to rescue her while her white male co-stars take charge. In the sequel, Vice Admiral Holdo is undermined by a handsome young male pilot (Poe), who is Asian. Then, when Holdo is killed, he trashes Poe, the last surviving member of the Resistance.

This is problematic because tokenism is a convenient way to gloss over the white-centric storytelling choices. But tokenism is a real problem for all fans of Star Wars, and it’s even worse in the new movies and television series. While it’s nice to see a character of color in a film or television show, it fails to reflect the reality of many fans of color and femme-identified individuals.

It’s a toxic masculine approach to conflict resolution

The phallic lightsaber and Jedi are symbols of the savior-like and white-savior-like intergalactic police-monks of the Star Wars franchise. Unfortunately, the Jedi are not exactly exemplary role models for fostering a more equitable and inclusive society. Scientific American has recently published an article decrying this “white saviorism.”

The Star Wars franchise has long had a troubled cultural legacy. Critics have pointed out that the films and its characters regularly traffic in injustices, such as stripping the leading female character, “Slave Leia.” Some have also pointed to the fact that the franchise frequently relies on ableist tropes to portray nonhuman species, especially apes and aliens. Darth Vader, for instance, conflates disability with machinic inhumanity and amoral deviance.

It’s a jumbled story

The “It’s a jumbled story” in the Star Wars franchise is a symptom of bad writing rather than a major flaw. Although the original 1977 film had clean storytelling lines, Rogue One muddles the story in some ways. The director, Gareth Edwards, confounds the conflict of war with a jumbled narrative.

George Lucas’s original script was so long that he struggled to make the characters and story arcs work. He wrote overlong drafts, radically rearranging the characters, story arcs, themes, and plot lines. He modeled the story after ancient myths and stories. Campbell identified elements of these stories that are predictable across cultures: monomyths, wise-mentor figures, and talismanic weapons.