In 1977 Star Wars was released, and the world was introduced to an exciting, swashbuckling adventure, that would shape the world of popular culture in unforgettable and never seen before ways. According to website 24/7 Wall St, between box office sales, licensing, and DVD sales/rentals the Star Wars franchise has generated over thirty billion dollars (Ogg).
More so than almost any franchise, the fans of Star Wars don’t just love the universe, they want to be a part of said universe, longing for a place within the reality created by George Lucas. “When people feel a sense of ‘mastery’ over stories or things, they tend to like, love and identify with those stories and things. As the psychologist Lita Furby theorized, ‘That over which I exercise… control becomes a part of my sense of self.’” (Campbell).
The popularity of these adventures aside, the slightest of inspections reveals that the events upon which this beloved universe is built, are void, mostly, of African-American, story-influencing, characters.
Genre fiction can offer visions of futures that are remarkably homogenized, and whereas there is African-American representation in many stories, there is a lack of specific representations of African-American experiences. In this piece I look to popular genre offerings to highlight two things: 1) The ways in which fans look to genre storytelling to provide themselves hope for an optimistic future, while creating inroads into communities, and 2) The ways in which a lack of African-American experiences can, potentially, take those same provisions away from African-American fans.
Works Cited
Campbell, Troy. “Why ‘Star Wars’ Matters.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 1 May 2014. Web. 30 June 2015.
Ogg, Jon C. “The Force: Star Wars Franchise Worth Over $30 Billion And Growing.” 24/7 Wall St. Wordpress.com, 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 June 2015.
About the presenterQuincy Thomas
Dr. Quincy Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Kalamazoo College, Chair of the Cartoons, Comic Books, and Video Gaming area, and President of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. His research focuses on the presence of the underrepresented and marginalized within Popular Culture performance.