It seems like everybody has a cause these days. The problem is, those causes don’t always bring about something positive. A lot of the time, all it really amounts to is a lot of people jumping on a bandwagon so they can find something to complain about. Make no mistake about it, people will complain about virtually anything in today’s society. Everybody has something to say and the worst part is that in most cases, everybody thinks the only opinion that’s right is their own. Thanks to social media and the internet, everybody can find something to rant about without having a face-to-face discussion about anything at any point in time. Most recently, that has happened with Star Wars.
The argument is that the movie series has never had anyone write or direct to film that wasn’t a white male. Is this because someone associated with the Star Wars movies has a problem with women or people of color? This is something that could be debated all day long, but there are enough people convinced that a problem exists that it has become a main topic on the internet, not to mention all of the stuff circulating throughout social media.
Perhaps as a direct result of all of this rhetoric from fans, Lucasfilm has announced that it has indeed hired both a woman and a person of color to be involved with future projects, but it has done so in secret. At least that is the rumor that is currently circulating at the moment. Is it really true? Perhaps it is or perhaps not. The thing about hiring people in secret is that no one really knows for sure what is actually happening.
There is a possibility that Lucasfilm is just doing what it has always done, which is keep a tight lid on everything associated with Star Wars. The company has never been known to announce any facet of their projects to the general public before the movies are actually released. In some cases, you might know who is directing a movie that will be eminently released, but it is very rare that you know anything about projects that are not yet fully developed.
Maybe Lucasfilm is just taking note of all of the comments that are happening on social media and making a conscious decision not to announce anything at this point. The truth is, it seems like no matter what anybody does these days, there is going to be somebody out there that is going to protest it and eventually, they are going to get some people to side with them and the onslaught begins. Public awareness is a wonderful thing, but like anything else, it can be carried too far. Perhaps that is the result of having information instantly available at our fingertips.
Whatever Lucasfilm is doing or decides to do in the future, you can bet that it will make some people happy and anger others. That is just the way of things. You can also bet that die-hard fans of the movies are going to continue to be exactly that while those who have decided to champion their cause no matter what are also going to keep doing what they have been doing.
