The heroes of A New Hope are idealized white characters. Amidala’s characters and alien female characters, such as Twi’lek women, also focus heavily on the sexual aspects and stereotypical desires of women across races. Amidala introduces yet another white actor wearing an Asian costume, while the Twi’leks represent the sexual conquest of different races as status symbols. These examples confirm Berg’s (2009) thesis that stereotypes are applied with rigid logic and are simplistic generalizations.
However, racial and gender aspects are redefined in subsequent parts of the film. Finn is important as a black man who was moral and courageous, not inherently unreliable and deceitful like Lando Calrissian. Rei also represents a significant and positive evolution of Star Wars female heroines. Instead of being trapped by a white woman’s sexualized or vulnerable stereotype, she is self-sufficient, brave, experienced, and strong. Thus, it can be assumed that the stereotypes displayed in the first Star Wars films were not used for racist and sexist purposes but were portrayed blindly.
Work Cited
Berg, Charles Ramírez. “Categorizing the Other: Stereotypes and Stereotyping.” Race and Gender in American Film, edited by Daniel Bernardi, Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009, pp. 3-20.