I don’t remember anyone saying that girls couldn’t relate to Luke.
I do know my daughters identify much more strongly with Rey.
“I think there was an assumption being made for quite a while that girls didn’t care about Star Wars or that girls weren’t identifying with characters like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo; they were only identifying with Princess Leia or characters in other movies along those lines. And you know I think that it is not just Star Wars that is making this change, I think culturally, I want to believe that there is real movement and momentum beginning to happen where those kinds of lines are being blurred and people are recognizing in the creative community that um little girls, and little boys, for that matter are crossing over into identifying with lots of different characters and lots of different stories; And we as filmmakers should not be the ones providing those boundaries we should just tell the stories and they should be open a wide variety of not only gender but ethnicity. and that is another thing we are really working to do is to make the casting reflect society in a much more equal basis.”
- Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm (2012 to Present),
Star Wars Celebration 2016
As I interpret Kennedy’s words she’s literally saying, that in the past filmmakers were providing boundaries by not casting women or people of different ethnicity in certain roles making it harder for women and people of different ethnicity to identify with these characters. She seems to thus imply that these past filmmakers (among them Lucas) were delibirately catering to boys, and white people, because they didn’t believe these stories would appeal to anybody else, and that only recently these lines are beginning to be blurred. Filmmakers should facilitate this movement by casting on an equal basis.
While it is true that men and women were not given equal opportunity in the film industry, I think it is faulty and inherently sexist to assume that a character’s gender is in any way important in the way men and women relate to these characters. As such, the fact that Rey and Jyn are female protagonists is important, because it reflects equality in casting, not because their gender makes these characters more relatable to women. If the inherent assumption is, that by casting female protagonists in Star Wars the franchise will become more appealing to women, then I would consider such a notion higly superficial and sexist.
It seems like you are suggesting that casting should go back to being less inclusive. I mean sure, the first steps out of this might seem forced a few times, but that is often what it takes to break from the past.
I’m not suggesting that at all. I’m suggesting casting should be equal, because men, women, and people of different ethnicity (or anybody else) deserve equal opportunity, and because films should reflect this equality in general. This however should not be taken to mean, that by casting a women or a person of color in a certain role, women or people of color automatically are more likely to identify with these characters, as if their gender, and or skin color are the most important qualities, that will determine who will or will not relate to certain characters. I’m a person of color, and I think it is pretty offensive to suggest a character should appeal to me more, because he or she is portrayed by Denzel Washington, or John Boyega, or any other non-white actor, or actress. I like Denzel Washington, and John Boyega, because they are charismatic actors, not because they are “black”, just like I like a ton of white actors, and actresses for their talent, not because they belong to a certain ethnicity or gender.
I care more that all children grow up seeing themselves represented in all types of roles, then I do about one or two casting decisions that I personally didn’t like. This is why Kelly Marie Tran is in my signature.
I’m absolutely fine with the casting decisions thusfar. These are all talented people. What I’m not fine with, is people like Kathleen Kennedy suggesting, that casting these people in these roles is supposed to make these characters more appealing to me, or anybody else, simply because of their gender or ethnicity.