Although Star Wars fans were delighted to see the first trailer of the upcoming movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", there were also racial slurs over a particular part.
One part of the trailer featured actor John Boyega as a helmetless stormtrooper. He was standing and sweating in the middle of the vast sands of Tatooine and appearing very distressed. In a report by Buzzfeed, director J.J. Abrams showed four new characters in the upcoming film, beginning with the 22-year-old Boyega. Boyega appeared in the first 22 seconds of the video, for only three seconds.
So far, the 88-second trailer has been viewed 40 million times on YouTube since it was launched on November 28, 2014. Most of the reviews were positive. However, IGN reported that some Star Wars fans are apparently not used to seeing a black person in an all-white stormtrooper uniform. There were several racial comments on social media asking why a Boyega had to play a stormtrooper. There were others saying that the stormtrooper uniform should only be for white people, based on the same Buzzfeed article. A hashtag #blackstormtrooper was even created to discuss the subject.
The more reasonable comments on Boyega's controversial role focused on the fact that based on the novels, all stormstroopers were cloned from the character Jango Fett, who was not black. So it would be impossible for one stormtrooper to have a different appearance than the original clone base. There were also social media users who were quick to defend Boyega and frowned upon the racist comments, based on a CBC report.
CBC also reported that there are talks that Boyega might play the lead role in the new movie. Boyega is best known for appearing in "Attack The Block", a British sci-fi film.
In the same IGN report, Boyega responded classily to his critics. He posted on Instagram, "Thank you for all the love and support! The fan mail and fan art has added to my joy! It's not crazy that Star Wars is actually happening? I'm in the movie but as a star wars fan I am very excited! A year is a long time but it will be worth the wait." At the bottom, he added, "To whom it may concern... Get used to it. :)"
The Verge reported that it is not actually the first time that an upcoming movie caused a stir when black actors were proposed to be cast for "white" roles. As more trailers are released for "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens", more of the typical comments are also expected to surface.
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