Entries in stupidity (9)
Star Wars as a tender gay parable
The Guardian's Charlie Brooker weighs in, hilariously, on the ongoing "gays in Star Wars" controversy. In particular he explains how Star Wars is in fact a blatantly gay film:
Over the past few weeks, games company Electronic Arts has been subjected to a letter-writing campaign from idiots outraged by its decision to allow players to define their characters as gay in a Star Wars game. The Florida Family Association says, "children and teens, who never thought any way but heterosexual, are now given a choice to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender" – adding that even if they chose to be straight, they would still "be forced to deal with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters chosen by other players". Personal choice and co-operation: two appalling threats to our youth.
They also claim "there were no LGBT characters in any of the Star Wars movies". I don't know which wacky re-cut version of Star Wars they've been watching, but I saw the original when I was about six years old and even then I was struck by how outrageously camp C3PO is. He was a gilded John Inman in space. And what about Luke Skywalker? Apart from briefly kissing his own sister, he shows no interest in women whatsoever. The first film is a tender gay parable in which Luke falls in love with Alec Guinness and gradually "comes out" as a Jedi. The final scene oozes symbolism: having penetrated the Death Star's trench in his phallic spacecraft, he closes his eyes, submits to his true inner instinct and triumphantly blasts his X-Wing's seed into an anus-like aperture, causing an orgasmic eruption that changes his universe for ever. It's hard to see how they could make Star Wars any gayer, unless they gave the Millennium Falcon a handlebar moustache.
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Allowing players to identify their characters as homosexual isn't, as the anti-gay campaigners claim, a tokenistic novelty, but an unavoidable consequence of the fascinating evolution of video games. Not that there's much point explaining that to them. They don't believe in evolution either....
The Guardian: Charlie Brooker: Some people are gay in space. Get over it
14 karat Goldenrod--only $6000
RocketNews24 reports that, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Star Wars, a solid gold C-3PO statue is on sale in Japan for about US$6000. From the report:
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of Lucas Films’ Star Wars, just 35 limited-edition, solid gold C-3PO figurines went on sale yesterday for a mere 500,000 yen (about $6000).
The science fiction movie Star Wars, released in 1977, was a record-breaking, once in a lifetime hit. The models of the beloved characters from the series, C-3PO and a pure silver R2D2 (150,000 yen/about $1800), will be valuable collectables. The figures are each crafted from about 35g of precious metal, recreated in life-like detail, and are sure to be a much-coveted item among fans. Each is uniquely numbered and comes encased in a glass dome. Only 35 of the statues will be sold world-wide.
Also for sale are extra large, pure silver commemorative coins (248,000 yen/about $2960), measuring 1kg, 100mm in diameter and 14mm in thickness. Using a design by Lucas Films and a new color printing technique, the coins are elaborately decorated with vivid reliefs from the movie, including the Star Wars logo, the Death Star, and lightsabers. Only 500 coins will be made available.
If you've got more money than sense, this should be just the thing.
David Chen on the Phantom Menace's racial stereotypes
The racial stereotyping in the Phantom Menace is pretty obvious, I would have thought. The unpleasantness of this is likewise clear, to me at least. But sufferers from prequelitis often overlook or downplay this aspect of the film.
David Chen is understandably frustrated with this and has responded with a worthwhile blog post on the issue. He asks, "Can we please stop pretending that the clearly racist caricatures in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace were a) not racist caricatures, and b) acceptable to our society? Like, at all?" After a review of other commentators' views on the topic, including articles from the time of the film's first release, Chen concludes:
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace clearly invokes imagery and audio from racist ethnic stereotypes. The fact that the recipient of these stereotypical characteristics are non-human aliens does not change this fact (and yes, I realize that in Star Wars, technically ALL the characters are aliens, so no need to point that out). If you want to deny this, we can go back to the movies and do some scene-by-scene comparison. I quite frankly can't believe that I'm still having to even argue this point.
But to me, the question of whether Lucas has invoked these stereotypes (which I think he undeniably has) is much less interesting than the effect of his doing so. Does it make his movie "racist"? Does it lessen the film in any other substantive way? And what are its implications for how we talk about the film with children?
I'm going to try not to ascribe any intentionality to Lucas's actions. I doubt he's a racist at heart. In the above article, Stone suggests that these aliens came out of "suppressed stereotypes" from Lucas's psyche. What I know is that most of the non-human-appearing aliens are presented as evil, devious, and/or scheming. Their accents and varying demeanors add to their "other-ness," and allow the audience to distance themselves, emotionally, from them.
It's not rocket science, this storytelling method that Lucas employs. There's a long cinematic history of using this type of imagery in this way. But I had hoped it was something that our culture tried to leave behind, not something that we still find defensible. Ultimately, The Phantom Menace is so artistically reviled that most people just throw the baby out with the bath water. Nonetheless, I feel a full accounting of the film's flaws must include this racial footnote.
Having spent a significant amount of time in the past two years studying media and its effect on children, I've learned that there aren't very many causal conclusions that can be drawn from whether or not violent imagery, sex, etc. actually have a concrete effect on child development. But one thing that I can confidently say is this: what we allow our children to watch matters. When they see The Phantom Menace, which features the triumph of (mostly) white characters over those people with the weird accents who talk, dress, and act differently than "us," what message does it send them?
I don't know the answer to that question. But I'm not going to pretend that it's not worth thinking about.
The Life and Times of David Chen: Racism and Ethnic Stereotypes in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace"
US Christian activist attacks SWTOR for being gay
Hi I'm Tony Perkins. You're not gay, are you?Someone named Tony Perkins, who is apparently president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., has attacked Bioware's decision to permit gay and lesbian relationships in their Star Wars: The Old Republic videogame. Says Mr. Perkins:
In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it's launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that "gay" and "lesbian" don't exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't. On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!
I've got a hunch that the "Family Research Council" does not actually do research. On anything.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't know why you need sexual relationships in videogames (especially ones involving torture) but if you are going to have them, people should be free.
Family Research Council: Rebel Fleet Surrenders to Gay Empire
SWTOR: torture, misogyny and sex in Lucasland
Kotaku contributor Mike Fahey has posted an article on his experiences (and those of many others) torturing and mistreating a female slave on Star Wars: The Old Republic:
Meet Vette. She's the loyal Twi'lek companion character to my Star Wars: The Old Republic Sith Warrior. Or at least she'd better be, if she knows what's good for her. Beware, spoilers ahead.
Vette is my character's slave, gifted to him by his dark master. She comes complete with a convenient high voltage shock collar, allowing me to administer harsh punishment should she speak or act in a manner unbefitting her station. I torture her. I tease her. I belittle her in front of others. On one occasion I even make her watch as I have sexual relations with the wife of a slain enemy.
If my actions seem disturbing to you, rest assured I was even more disturbed to find myself performing them.
The Daily Mail has picked up the piece. We'll see it everywhere soon. Appalling.
Kotaku: It’s Not Star Wars Without Slavery, Torture, and Forced Voyeurism?
Lucasfilm-imposed homophobia?
Star Wars The Old Republic: George Lucas says this is not gayI don't know anything about video games made after 1994. But there's apparently a big Star Wars game coming out called The Old Republic. Predictably, everyone gets to be a Jedi with superpowers beyond anything Luke Skywalker ever pulled off, blah blah blah whatever. But one option not available in the Old Republic, apparently, is homosexuality. From Game Bandits:
Although Star Wars – The Old Republic allows relationships between players and their in-game companions, there is a limit, apparently, as to who you can choose to love. Star Wars – The Old Republic is a strictly heterosexual game. According to producer Cory Butler, same sex choice won’t be an available option to players.
This is consistent with a post made on the official Star Wars – The Old Republic forum by Sean Dahlberg, community manager. In response to a question regarding how the MMO will handle same sex relationships, “As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars. Thread closed.” It appears that the restriction against gay relationships stems more from the canonical source – the Star Wars saga – than from any preference by BioWare.
Indeed, Bioware’s other title, Mass Effect 3, features same sex love relationships between both males and females. Since Mass Effect was developed by Bioware, they have more leeway with its canon. Not with LucasArts’ Star Wars brand. Their license to use the canon and materials is probably restricted by the content’s existing parameters. Unless it can be proven that Jar Jar Binks preferred other male Gungans, I guess this source material restriction issue pretty much closes the case for intergalactic equal protection rights and sexual preference respect.
What a lot of nonsense. I don't know why you'd want to pretend to have sexual relationships in a video game in the first place, but if that's your thing why should Lucasfilm care whether some 12-year-old--or 40-year-old--decides that his Darth Threepio character may like a little Artoo on the side? The "canon" should have nothing to do with it. (Note how "canon"--originally a religious concept--is here invoked to justify, or at least explain, homophobia--another longstanding religious concept.)
Homophobia is stupid and wrong. If Lucasfilm wants to impose a no-sex rule in its video games, I have no problem with that. But if sex, or romantic relationships of any kind, are to form part of the game, they should not replicate in their imaginary worlds the outdated prejudices still sadly found in ignorant pockets of our real world. Come on Lucasfilm, don't add homophobia to the long list of things wrong with prequel-era Star Wars!
Game Bandits: Star Wars – The Old Republic: Same sex relationships not allowed
Pacific island mints Star Wars coinage
Eventually we're going to have to decide that Star Wars mania has finally gone too far.
The Pacific island territory of Niue (a dependency of New Zealand) has decided to mint Star Wars coinage as legal tender. Queen Elizabeth on the obverse and Yoda (or Luke or Vader, etc) on the reverse. Of course the coins are sold in sets for well above their face value. You can buy the Millenium Falcon Coin Set, four coins featuring Luke & Leia, Han & Chewie, Threepio & Artoo, and Ben & Yoda, or the Darth Vader Coin Set, four coins featuring Vader, the Death Star, the Emperor and a Stormtrooper. The coins are actually very attractive, the fine work of the New Zealand Mint.
At least they had the good taste to stick to the prequels.
Millennium Falcoln Coin Set: New Zealand Mint
Darth Vader Coin Set: New Zealand Mint
Dark Helmet
Just bragging here, but I had this story before either BBC or Boing Boing. So why would you even read those other sites?