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The BBC reports that supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump are urging a boycott of the Star Wars film, Rogue One, next week, over claims that scenes had been reshot after the election to make the film more of a thinly-veiled jab linking the president-elect to racism.
Supporters of Donald Trump are urging a boycott of the Star Wars film, Rogue One, due for US release next week.
The campaign began with a series of tweets from activist Jack Posobiec, who claimed the writers changed the film to add scenes linking Mr Trump to racism.
Screenwriter Chris Weitz said that this was "completely fake", though he and another writer have tweeted their opposition to the US president-elect.
#DumpStarWars has been retweeted 120,000 times in the past 24 hours.
In a Periscope video, Jack Posobiec, who is an activist with Citizens for Trump, claimed the writers had said the Empire in the film "is a white supremacist organization like the Trump administration and the diverse rebels are going to defeat them".
"They're trying to make the point of using this movie to push the false narrative... that Trump is a racist." he said.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday December 12 2016, @11:43AM
> My only conclusion is that all these SJW-type people are f**king crazy.
Check your facts - this particular storm in a teacup has been stirred up by Trump fans. Are you calling them SJW-types?
There have been numerous, deliberate parallels over the decades between the Empire and the Nazis, particularly in the extended universe. Anyone who missed the parallels in The Force Awakens[1] really doesn't know what they're looking for.
> The Space Reich then use a non-white person as the base for all their clone troopers? That isn’t very Aryan of them.
Interesting point. However I'd counter that the Empire is not supposed to be "Aryan" as that is a strictly earth-centric concept. They are Space Nazis in a more metaphorical way: Not so much bothered about differences between humans, as about human vs non-human. Also, note that in Earth history racist regimes have rarely had a problem sending the groups they persecute off to fight and die for the glory of the master race, wherever they can be compelled or persuaded to do so.
I agree though that the original trilogy was very very pasty white on both sides of the page, and the prequels only a tiny bit more diverse. Can't really speak for Rogue One as I haven't seen much about it yet, but I very much doubt that a big money-factory like Disney would spend time and cash re-writing a film that's already well into production just to make some political point. Consider that this film has taken YEARS to make, and Trump was not widely considered a serious contender for President (and therefore definitely not worthy of derailing a major motion picture) until somewhen this spring / summer. I'd go so far as to say that much of the left (who are the ones ostensibly behind this alleged conspiracy) had him written off a joke candidate until early November. Anyway, I doubt there was much opportunity to make major changes to Rogue One as late as summer 2016. Tweak the special effects or trim a few seconds off a scene maybe, but way too late to change the script, film new material or insert new scenes.
So basically, yeah - a handful of whiny, thin-skinned alt-right types are looking for something to feel wounded about. After all, now they have their man in the Whitehouse, they can hardly claim to be a beleaguered minority any more, can they? It does make one wonder whether the movement will survive the transition to a majority government, since the persecution complex is such a defining part of its character.
[1] Not strictly on-topic here, I acknowledge.