John Boyega, who played Finn in the last three Star Wars movies went on to say how racially bias the SW enterprise is. I have to agree with him. Over 10 years ago when the first trailer dropped, there was a lot of criticism over the fact that he was even in the movie.
And let’s face it. Anyone who watched The Force Awakens knew Finn would become a Jedi by the time the third movie came around. The tracks were being laid. But that didn’t happen. Even Adam Driver said he wanted to play Ben Solo/Kylo Ren because the character wouldn’t be redeemed by the third movie. But Finn had been reduced to a sidekick by Rise of Skywalker and now Kylo Ren was going to redeem himself.
As for all those people noting that Billy Dee Williams and Samuel L. Jackson got bigger roles, they actually didn’t. Lando Calrissian is set up in The Empire Strikes Back as a complex character only to be the best friend in Return of the Jedi. Jackson’s role as Mace Windu in The Phantom Menace is a glorified cameo. He’s more developed in Attack of the Clones but he’s only in half of Revenge of the Sith before his character dies.
In other news, Snow White has faced a lot of backlash because Rachel Zegler said she supports a free Palestine, while Gal Gadot, who was born in Israel, is pro-Israel. Ermahgerd! Heaven forbid two women, who aren’t WASP, express their opinions. I’m still trying to wrap my head around why people hate Zegler and Gadot so much. And I can’t find a single thing that isn’t more than petty trivial matters. They’re entertainers not world leaders.
I mean, are you guys still harping on Gadot singing “Imagine” online? Judas priest, get it over it. That was what five years ago? Gadot can’t help where she was born and raised and in Israel where all people have to do military service. I mean, we proudly like people who didn’t serve but pretend they did like that racist misogynistic bigot John Wayne, but Gadot has received death threats.
And no offense, if you want to criticize the Israel Defense Force for what’s been going on in Palestine, you really need to look at our own military actions since Day One. If you thought it was wrong for America to force Irish immigrants to serve during the Civil War as shown in Gangs of New York, George Washington and other colonial army officers made up fake laws for regular people to enlist or else face jail time.
As for myself, I always support peace, which means I support the people of Israel and Palestine. I don’t support terroristic groups like Hamas or authoritative leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu, who has basically had a hand in all of Israel violent actions since 1995. There’s no surprise this war started right after he got back in power, yet again.
As for Zegler, people only don’t like her because she’s got a white European-style name and has a darker skin complex because her mother is Colombian. I mean, while people are praising Mikey Madison who is Jewish (and most importantly white!), they seem ready to call for Zegler’s head. I mean both Zegler and Madison are 23. When Zegler took this job in the movie, she was 20, for fuck’s sake.
A lot of these people criticizing Zegler would’ve jump at the chance to stare in a Disney live-action movie. If she dropped out, you know 50 other young actresses would’ve done everything for the role. And even Danica Patrick is criticizing the movie’s failure as “woke.” Needless to say, Patrick is a Donald Trump supporter. I mean, she is a race-car driver, so I’m sure we all know what her political views are.
But really, Danica? You think movies are woke? When you were Zegler age, you were facing criticism for being a woman in a male-dominated sport. I’m not even going to point out the irony.
I mean, Madison appeared in a movie, Anora, where she’s nude a lot and was in a lot of sex scenes and dropped more F-bombs than a bunch of sailors on shore leave at a wedding reception with an open bar. And she got to host the recent episode of Saturday Night Live. I can understand the reason but you can’t blame the failure of Snow White just on Zegler. It just doesn’t seem like a good idea. The CGI of the seven dwarves is horrible.
Also, this live-action movie has already been made when it was called Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. The live-action remakes of Disney’s animated classics have become a bad idea like Greedo shooting at Han Solo. But I think there’s also some fatigue at the box office as people are worried about the economy as prices seem to rise. I finally saw The Day the Earth Blew Up yesterday for about $8 at a matinee.
Netflix is raising its prices and movies are usually streaming within three months of them premiering on the screen. Either that or they’re on DVD. Why spend $15-20 to see a movie once when you can spend that money to buy it on DVD and watch it on a your huge 50-inch HD TV?
But going back to Madison and SNL, this past episode had Morgan Wallen was the musical guest. Wallen looks like he’s trying to be Billy Ray Cyrus from the 1990s. Wallen has had multiple legal issues the past few years with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. He’s also public used racial slurs. But he gets to appear on SNL not once but twice.
Then he panders to his base by saying he’s getting “back to God’s country” by flying on a private jet. Boy, Bo Burnham really nailed it with “Pandering.” Yet, people are defending him. At the same time on the same episode, Michael Che made a comment about how Will Smith’s new album “doesn’t slap.” Of course, he’s referring to the 2022 incident at the Oscars where Smith walked on stage to slap Chris Rock for a joke made about his estranged wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
And this incident seems to have tarnished Smith’s public image. Rock refused to press charges even though the Academy has refused to allow Smith to come back for 10 years. Yet, it’s funny how this one incident seems to have stained Smith while white singers and actors can do a lot worse and still achieve success.
I didn’t really care for Smith back when he started acting all pompous and high and mighty in the 2000s. I couldn’t even make it through King Richard, the movie for which he won the Oscar. And that Concussion movie took a serious subject and turned it into a vanity project for Smith. What’s even bad is he made no attempt to even sound like the real-life Dr. Bennet Omalu, but through in the stereotypical Nigerian accent.
On the flip side, look at Mel Gibson who has said he’s going to direct a sequel to The Passion of the Christ. Yet, Smith mentions another Bad Boys sequel and people act like he should just give it up. I didn’t care for the fourth movie as much as the first and third but it’s a lot better than the second one. What sucks is Gibson really ruined his career a lot worse than Smith. I recently watched him in The Bounty and he had a lot of range when he was younger.
Also, I don’t have to see of these movies. No one is putting a gun to my head and telling me I have to watch Bad Boys 5, Passion of the Christ 2 or even yet another Snow White movie. But if you look at all the problems Gibson has had with his homophobic, anti-Semitic, sexist and racial comments over the years as well as that DUI incident, the man has been given a lot of second chances. For God’s sake he even got a Best Director Oscar nomination for his outrageously too violent Hacksaw Ridge. That was right after Trump took office for the first time.
But the issue is still that in 2025, black people as well as those from Latino or Middle-eastern backgrounds still need to know their place. I’m sure Passion of the Christ 2: Evangelistic Boogaloo will have people lined up around the corner to see it as most will probably be forced by their church leaders to attend it at least once. Yet, no one seems to be going apeshit over it as they did Snow White.
Just don’t tell them that Jesus was also Palestine as are many people in the area who consider themselves Jewish or Christian.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 