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Post #910696

Author
DavidMerrick
Parent topic
What is so wrong about gay romance being in Star Wars?
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/910696/action/topic#910696
Date created
22-Feb-2016, 12:04 PM

Also a potential Finn and Poe romance–one built upon mutual respect, admiration, affection and that sweet, sweet jacket–is much more natural and less off-putting than Han constantly mocking and antagonizing Leia before cornering her in a maintenance closet for the kiss.

If you want a legitimate argument against the pairing, here’s one: as far as I know, neither John Boyega nor Oscar Isaac are gay (Boyega is a practicing, abstinent Christian so I think it would be fairly unlikely for him to swing that way). I would love to see more same-sex and queer relationships in fiction and the two actors in question have fantastic chemistry, but Hollywood already has a bad habit of casting straight actors as gay characters, denying actual LGBT folks acting opportunities. It’s called erasure, wherein the status quo dictates how stories of less represented groups are told, often without said groups’ input or participation. The most notorious example at the moment is straight, cisgender guy Eddie Redmayne up for an Oscar for his portrayal of a gay, transgender woman in The Danish Girl, which is really messed up when you think of it.

Which is not to say I would be against such a relationship in the sequels. In fact, I think there’s a massive net positive to depicting a loving same-gender romance in Star Wars, the same way seeing Rey, Finn and Poe up on the screen in pivotal, heroic roles is already a major self-esteem boost for young girls and black and Latino kids. It would be preferable if they consulted actual gay folks for the writing of that, though.