brigidkeely:

tomsdrawingboard:

When Lupita nyong'o was cast in starwars VII, I was super excited I guessed to my self who could she be playing? Maybe an adult Ahsoka Tano? Or even Asajj Ventress. I at least thought we would be able to see her in live action. But No instead they have her In a small dark room doing motion capture for an shitty looking alien pirate. I don’t know why but I’m really fucking pissed. I really hope this character is good. But don’t colour me excited for it

I’m a big fan of Star Wars and have basically memorized the original movies and have read a HUUUUUUUUGE amount of the expanded universe books. I love the alien design and the alien cultures. Unlike Star Trek with its more limited budget and other constraints, Star Wars aliens look… well… ALIEN, not like humans in costumes. So I have nothing innately against a famous actress playing a mocap alien.

But.

BUT.

It makes me think of Tianna who spent most of her movie not as a human but as a frog, and of the movie “Home” which has most of its advertising and toy tie-ins focus on the alien and not the Black human girl. How much of this casting is because cool looking aliens are cool, and how much of this is ongoing dehumanization of Black women?



This wouldn’t be an issue if there were more Black women in Star Wars, mind. But if she’s the ONLY Black actress AND she’s mocap only, it builds on existing racist casting of Black women as not human. Especially considering the Star Wars universe has human-looking aliens who could EASILY be played by Black women with minor prosthetics, letting their own features and skin color be on display.

She’d be amazing as Asajj Ventress though.

