I've written this article several times. That gives you an idea of how conflicted I am about Disney's newest animated feature, Raya and the Last Dragon.
On one hand, I'm pleased that Southeast Asians see so much of themselves and their cultures in the film. Representation matters. I get that.
I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but on the other hand, I can't shake myself of this feeling that Filipinos have been erased again.
Unlike Mulan that is based on ancient mythic stories, Raya is totally made up springing from the imaginations of writers Malaysian Adele Kim, whose writing credits include the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians, and Vietnamese American Qui Nguyen.
My uneasiness began when Cassie Steel, a Filipino Canadian, was supposed to voice Raya, the lead character. I probably jumped the gun when I loudly and proudly proclaimed the new Disney princess as Filipino.
When Steele was replaced by the Vietnamese American actress Kelly Marie Tran, a loud cry of anguish arose from the Filipino Americans who, like me, are constantly looking, pushing and cheering for representation in this halo halo culture of America.
Don't get me wrong. Critics have praised Tran giving voice to Raya, but the explanation for dropping Steele was not entirely satisfying, leaving her fans and Filipino Americans frustrated at losing an opportunity to be represented, by voice if not by character. That's an indication of how few good roles specifying Southeast Asian characters are written in Hollywood.
It is not even based on any myths or legends from that part of the world. Kumandra, the fictional country, comes from the imagination of writers Malaysian Adele Kim, whose writing credits include the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians, and Vietnamese American Qui Nguyen.
Only by reminding myself of this can I embrace the Disney film, one of the few Hollywood products that claims its characters are Southeast Asians.
My mistake was when the project was announced, Cassie Steel, a Filipino Canadian, was supposed to voice Raya, the lead character. I probably jumped the gun when I loudly and proudly proclaimed the new Disney princess as Filipino.
When Steele was replaced by the Vietnamese American actress Kelly Marie Tran, a loud cry of anguish arose from the Filipino Americans who, like me, are constantly looking, pushing and cheering for representation in this halo halo culture of America.
I'm a fan of Tran and rode the rollercoaster of emotions as she suffered the attacks from online trolls for her primary role in Star Wars' The Last Jedi as Rose Tico and the subsequent minimization of her character in the The Rise of Skywalker. I could even accept her role as Raya as Disney's way of apologizing for what happened to her character in the latter film.
Kelly Marie Tran lends her voice to Raya.
According to the press notes from Disney, the filmmakers wanted to pay homage to Southeast Asia by creating the fantasy world of Kumandra to look like various lands inspired by the fabrics, colors, and decor found in those Southeast Asian regions.
“We’re making a movie that is inspired by the cultures of Southeast Asia, and we want to make sure that when people from the region see this, although Kumandra is a made-up place, they can feel the love and respect the team had for the incredible real places that inspired us," explained director Carlos López Estrada, a Mexican American.
"We worked hard to make sure that this world we created feels dynamic, that the inspirations affecting the story really come through and that nothing is lost. We want to pay tribute to these cultures that inspired the story and the world of Kumandra.”
During a press conference the Raya team was united in emphasizing the care they took in properly presenting Southeast Asia. Some might say, they deliberately oversold it.
It wasn't until a recent article by NBC did anyone connected with the film mention the Philippines. "“Raya” takes its visual inspiration from many countries, including Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines," wrote Diep Tran.
Before that article in the tons of articles and PR that I was able to find online, none of the writers, cultural watchdogs, director or any of the Disney execs say "Filipino" or "the Philippines."
I wasn't the only one to notice the one country that was missing in Disney's publcity. Perhaps they didn't want to remind anyone of the casting snafu with Steele. (More on that later.)
"One of the more surprising things to see was the notion that no one of Filipino descent was part of the main cast to provide representation as part of Southeast Asia," writes Laura Sirikul for TVGuide online "Oftentimes, Filipino representation is ignored when it comes to Asian American representation. Filipino Americans are often labeled as the ‘forgotten Asian American’ as they tend to be excluded from the Asian diaspora in media and politics. Some have even questioned if Filipinos are part of Southeast Asia, which they most certainly are.
"However, rather than move forward with further Filipino casting," continued Sirikul. "to compensate for Steele’s replacement, the casting department instead seems to have decided to fall back on “easy celebrity wins” via the casting. Although Tran is not you would all an "A-lister" capable of carrying a movie on star power alone, she is better known than Steele because of her Star Wars experience, which exploded in Disney's face when they decided to minimize her character as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker after making her central figure in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
It would be a more satisfying explanation if Disney admitted they blew it when they yielded to the male misanthropes who didn't like Rose Tico's prominent role, or simply didn't like the way she looked and giving her the Raya role was a way to make up for that weak decision.
Like it did for Mulan and Moana, Disney put together a Southeast Asian Story Trust as a consultant in the film’s development. The Story Trust was led by Dr. S. Steve Arounsack, an anthropology professor with 25 years of research experience in Southeast Asia. Additional members of the Story Trust include Emiko Susilo (choreographer), Juliana Wijaya (linguist), Dewa Berata (Gamelan musician), Nathakrit “Tatan” Sunthareerat (architect), and Jes Vu (cultural consultant). Again, the absence of a Filipino consultant is hard not to notice.
Despite my misgivings, when I see thesalokot, the Moros'kriss, theeskrima fighting style, the various shades of brown skin on its characters, I can't help but be reminded of the Philippines.
The advance reviews of the movie from Southeast Asians have been mainly good and happy to see their representation onscreen. I'm glad a new generation of youngsters will be able to see characters that look like them depicted in a heroic fashion on the big screen (or, in this coronavirus era) on a flatscreen.
I love the excitement the movie is generating and the representation and inclusivity that it demonstrates. Disney's first Southeast Asian princess is not some damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. She is a badass warrior princess fully capable of defending herself against all types of foes.
By all accounts, the animated feature is beautifully rendered, populated with well-rounded characters, lovable critters (it's still Disney, folks) and enough small touches in the fighting styles, costumes, relationships and food to remind us of the film's Southeast Asian underpinnings.
I can't wait until Disney does a live-action version.
I've already written way too much and thanks for reading this far. I plan on enjoying Raya and the Last Dragon. I just have to keep reminding myself that Kumandra is a fictional country located just south of Camelot, a mountain range away from Wakanda and a week's sail from Westeros.
"Raya and the Last Dragon" is now available in theaters and streaming on Disney+ for $19.99.
EDITOR'S NOTE: In earlier versions of this post Adele Lim was incorrectly identified as Malaysian American. Marcy 7, 1:30 p.m.
Rose Tico and Finn in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" became a promising couple fans hoped to see again.
Hmm. Before the final cut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in theaters last Dec. 20, Vietnamese American actress Kelly Marie Tran was pretty excited about the important role her character, Rose Tico, would have in the movie.
Interviews done before the The Last Jedi premiere that appears to undermine the statements of the screenplay writer of the final chapter of the 9-movie space saga.
“Yeah, it was probably one of the biggest sets I had ever been on,” Tran told The Hollywood Reporter about the Battle of Exegol, one of the climactic action scenes in "The Rise of Skywalker." “It was incredible to see what the stunt teams did. It was also insane to be running across this platform — which I know you only see for a second in the movie — but we shot it so many times. I remember having bruises on my knees the next day because we kept running and then we would fall onto our knees and do some more shooting stuff. I don’t think that’s in the movie. It was definitely organized chaos as stormtroopers were flying, people were on horses. . . . It was pretty insane.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in November, Tran alluded to scenes that she supposedly shared with this trilogy's new Jedi knight Rey (Daisy Ridley), even though none of their scenes together made the final cut.
"I think it’s really cool at all that they are even in scenes together because in ‘[The Last Jedi]’ we weren’t in any scenes together," Tran told EW. "It was really cool to have feminine energy on set. I wish I could tell you more but I’m really excited for people to see [Rose and Rey] interact. They both have the some objective which is to fight for the things you believe in and the people you love."
Unfortunately, neither of these scenes made the final cut. And neither involved any interactions with Princess Leia which seems to make a tipid explanation offered by writer Chris Terrio.
"One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie’s footage in the way we wanted to," Terrio told several media in an interview published earlier this week. "We wanted Rose to be the anchor at the rebel base who was with Leia. We thought we couldn’t leave Leia at the base without any of the principals who we love, so Leia and Rose were working together. As the process evolved, a few scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out to not meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film."
He added, "The last thing we were doing was deliberately trying to sideline Rose. We adore the character, and we adore Kelly – so much so that we anchored her with our favorite person in this galaxy, General Leia."
The argument Terrio gave was meant to temper the onslaught of criticism of the reduction of Tico's role to that of an extra after playing such a major role in the rebel resistance in The Last Jedi, the movie preceding the current release. The Last Jedi ended with the hint that Tico's heroics that saved the life of another major character, would lead to an even bigger role in the final chapter.
Terrio later clarified that his comments referred to “a specific scene in which Leia’s emotional state in Episode 7 did not seem to match the scene we wrote for use in Episode 9, and so it was cut at the script stage (before the VFX work was done).” Oh, so the scenes were cut at the script stage, not in the editing. What that means is poor writing was the reason Tico's onscreen time was reduced to 1 minute, 16 seconds.
What angers Tran's/Tico's fans is that it appears that the producers yielded to the racist and sexist fanboys who hated Tico, the first Asian American woman, the first woman of color, with a major role in the nine movies that defined the Star Wars universe.
To fans, it appears that lines and actions that could have been for Tico were given to newly introduced characters who were unnecessary in order to move the story forward.
Rose Tico deserves better. Kelly Marie Tran deserves better. Star Wars fans deserve better.
The mini-revolt by Star Wars fans is still bubbling after the latest episode of the 9-movie space saga was released 10 days ago spilling into a huge PR problem for Disney Studios.
At the center of the controversy is the virtual disappearance of Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran. Tico was one of main heroes of the previous episode, The Last Jedi, but in the latest chapter, The Rise of Skywalker, she is onscreen only 1 minute and 16 seconds.
Tico's prominence in The Last Jedi was hailed by Asian Americans as the long-awaited arrival of Asians in "the galaxy far, far away," where the storyline takes place.
Movie director Jon Chu has joined the fray by offering to direct a TV series featuring Rose Tico.
On Friday (Dec 27), the Crazy Rich Asians director took to Twitter to mamke his proposal: “Ok @disneyplus. Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter @starwars.”
It's ironic it took so long for the franchise to pay some recognition that the series owe so much of its lore and initial storyline to the popular samurai movies of the 1960s. Creator George Lucas admits that he was inspired by Jajpanese director Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortrress and the style of sword-fighting from the samurai in Kurosawa's period flicks.
Disney Plus is the studio's pay-for-view streaming network which already features a Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian and have plans for a Rogue One prequel series and an Obi-Wan-centered series, both of which feature original Star Wars film actors returning to their roles.
Chu didn't offer any further details but an offer by one of Hollywood's in-demand directors should be taken seriously. Besides the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians, his latest project, In the Heights, looks to be another hit. Also among his credits are the moneymaking franchises, G.I. Joe Retaliation, Step up and Now You See Me.
Tico's character was heavily criticized by a small segment of Star War fans who didn't like an Asian woman playing such an important role in a franchise they somehow believe should be populated by strong, white men and princesses that need rescuing. They mounted an intense social media campaign infused with hate and racism forcing Tran to shut down her social media account at one point.
So when Tico's role was seriously reduced in the ninth and final chapter of the space saga, it appeared to fans that the producers and studio were caving to the unwarranted criticism.
In such a diverse universe, one would think there would be room for an Asian or two considering much of the lore for the initial Star Wars movies were co-opted from Japanese samurai movies, from the use of The Force, costumes and style of swordfighting. George Lucas, who created the Star Wars story, admitted that he stole from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and his Japanese period film The Hidden Fortress and other samurai films popular in the 1960s.
Chris Terrio, co-screenplay writer of The Rise of Skywalker, tried to temper the rising controversy by responding to the Rose Tico defenders in interviews with several publications.
Well, first of all, J.J. and I adore Kelly Marie Tran. One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie’s footage in the way we wanted to. We wanted Rose to be the anchor at the rebel base who was with Leia. We thought we couldn’t leave Leia at the base without any of the principals who we love, so Leia and Rose were working together. As the process evolved, a few scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out to not meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film. The last thing we were doing was deliberately trying to sideline Rose. We adore the character, and we adore Kelly – so much so that we anchored her with our favorite person in this galaxy, General Leia.
Terrio's explanation doesn't seem adequate enough considering the high level of special effects used in the movie, but it is the only explanation so far. If a studio can create a universe where all kinds of aliens can co-exist and travel to distant planets in minutes, it seems that it could overcome this technical glitch.
Neither Disney Studios or J.J. Abrams, director for The Rise of Skywalker, has responded to all the hoopla surrounding the Rose Tico controversy. If Disney though the fanboys' trolling was intense, they would be wise to not anger the Asian American online army.
After a hint of a relationship between Rose Tico and Finn in 'The Last Jedi,' fans expected much more.
We need to talk: Where's Rose Tico? What happened to "our girl" in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker? The prescient headline in Varietyread: ‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’s’ Kelly Marie Tran on Why Rose Tico’s Story Is Also Her Own. After the debut of the much awaited final episode of the space saga, Rose's fans are in an uproar at her marginalization, giving more meaning to the headline.
"Her character was aspirational, especially to Asian American girls who grew up on Star Wars but never saw anybody that looked like them represented in the galaxy far, far away," wrote Joey Marona on cleveland.com. After making Rose Tico, the first Asian American hero in the last movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in the 11-episode (9 plus 2 side stories Rogue One and Solo) telling the story of a "galaxy far, far away," the character has met the silent fate many Asian Americans face almost every day in school or on the job.
Rose's role in the Rise of Skywalker has been significantly reduced to barely more than an extra lingering in the background. Her extraordinary heroism in Last Jedi, ending with a kiss with John Boyega's Finn, one of the main characters, has long been forgotten. The new couple (or, so we thought) became appeared embarrassed at letting their emotions get the better of them in the previous (Episode 8) of the 9-part saga. I'm not sure what the decision process was in the making of what we are told will be the last Star Wars movie, for Rose Tico fans, including those Asian Americans cosplaying her at the numerous comic-cons, Rise of Skywalker is a major, major disappointment to say the least. One explanation offered on social media is that director and producer JJ Abrams yielded to the fanboy trollers who like their women in spandex and their heroes white. After Rose was introduced in The Last Jedi, they went on a hate-filled on-line campaign causing Tran to cut herself off social media and forcing the director Rian Johnson and Abrams to go on the record in interviews defending the Rose Tico character and Tran. After becoming the moral center of The Last Jedi and saving Finn's ass (Boyega) from a senseless suicide attack, Rose deserved better. We expected better.
The Variety article, written before the general release of Episode 9, foretells Rose's fate, but ends with a tinge of hope from Tran: "And now that the Skywalker saga is ending, Tran thinks that Tico offers a new hope, especially for young Asian American fans – that they, too, can have a place on the big screen, in a galaxy far far away. In these made-up universes and real-life spaces that are still evolving to include them.
“'I cannot wait to see what this next generation does ‘cause the rules that we grew up believing are so…' Tran pauses and lets out a laugh, 'They’re lies.'”
Kelly Marie Tran has been teasing fans and the media about her character Rose Tico’s role in the upcoming Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. According toDigital Spy, Tran says Rose will be more involved in the resistance than she was in The Last Jedi.
“Before, Rose was a new character who was in maintenance and she was not a huge part of the resistance,” Tran told Digital Spy. “But now she’s in the resistance in a big way and it’s very cool.”
Since character descriptions were released for The Rise of Skywalker in September, fans have speculated that Rose could play a bigger role.
According to Comic Book, the description reads: “Rose has risen through the ranks from lowly engineering support crew to military commander. She leads the Engineering Corps in making the necessary modifications to keep the Resistance’s gear operational, as well as countering new advancements in First Order technology.”
Tran told Digital Spy that she had to do more training for The Rise of Skywalker than she did in The Last Jedi.
“I had to learn everything that had to do with being in a war, like holding a gun,” Tran said. “I’ve never held a gun before. Things like that, that you don’t even think about when you’re watching this movie. We’re all real people living real lives.”
"We don't shoot arrows off horses normally, so we have to learn every little thing. There's so much detail and so much work that goes into everything."
After the release of The Last Jedi, Tran was bullied on social media because some Star Wars fans were unhappy with her character. Now, many fans who supported the character hope that Rose will be treated more respectfully after The Rise of Skywalker is released.
THE SUPPOSED fan backlash that chased Kelly Marie Tran from social media may have been the work of Russian trolls and non-human bots in support of right wing and racist agendas, concluded a study from the University of Southern California. Salon reports the study by researcher Morten Bay analyzed tweets aimed at ridiculing Kelly Marie Tran, the first women of color to be cast in a lead role in theStar Wars franchise.
“The study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments,” Bay writes. “ The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society.”
According to the South China Morning Post more than half of the tweets analyzed came from non-human bots with a number being Russian trolls. Some 960 twitter accounts were analyzed by Bay.
Bay concluded only about 10 percent of the tweets he analyzed came from legitimate Twitter accounts.
In December 2017, AsAmNews reported a fan page was taken over by racists who posted bigoted messages about Tran.
The Russian cyberwarfare campaign that used some fans' criticism of The Last Jedi as a launching pad for more insidious motives. The online vitriol had a common thread with Russia’s earlier Facebook disinformation campaigns, initiated during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“Some [trolls] were less focused on politics of party or specific issues and more on identity politics, posting anti-feminist or anti-homosexuality messages, and tweets of a racist nature were also frequent among the accounts in this category,” the study explains in order to sow discord among Americans.
The Last Jedi’s director, Rian Johnson, retweeted the paper, writing “what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online”.
He added: “And just to be totally clear: this is not about fans liking or not liking the movie – I’ve had tons of great talks with great fans online and off who liked and disliked stuff. That’s what fandom is all about. This is specifically about a virulent strain of online harassment.”
The best answer to fan criticism, Russian or otherwise, is to produce a sequel starring Kelly Marie Tran. She'll be back in the Star Wars: Episode IX when it hits theaters on December 20, 2019.
An artist's rendition of Juan Rico, I guess, is a mestizo.
THE FIRST Filipino science fiction hero that I encountered was Juan Rico, the main character in sci-fi heavyweight Robert Heinlein's Starship Trooper. For a young kid struggling with my identity and in search of role models, at that time in my life, that was a revolutionary and evolutionary concept -- that a brown man, specifically someone who might look like me, could be a hero.
I was so disappointed that this aspect of the character's backstory was totally ignored by the movie version of the book in which Rico was whitewashed and played by white actor Caspar Van Dien. Juan Rico became Argentinian.
In recent years, outside the attention of mainstream media and before the election of the current divisive president, the cultural wars being waged by the alt-right (read white nationalists) manifested itself in the world of science fiction and fantasy. This year we witnessed racism raise its ugly head in the online racist harassment and misogynist abuse hurled at actress Kelly Marie Tran for the pivotal role of Rose Tico, who she portrayed in the movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Less known was the almost decade-long struggle being waged in the world of science fiction and fantasy (SFF) literature. SFF fans this year fought back against the white supremacists by rejecting right-wing attempts to keep the gates closed against the diversification of the world of science fiction and fantasy writing by voting the Hugo award to African American writer N.K. Jemisin for her third book in the Broken Earth trilogy, The Stone Sky.
N.K Jemisin, wins Hugo's most prestigious award three years in a row.
Jemisin's award was even more significant because this was the third year in a row that she was given this honor. She is the first author in the Hugo's 65-year history to win back-to-back-to-back awards for every book in a trilogy. Prior to this year, Jemisin won the award for Best Novel for The Fifth Season in 2016 and The Obelisk Gate in 2017.
“It’s been a hard year, hasn’t it,” she said as she accepted the award last Aug. 19 at the 76th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Worldcon 76 held in San Jose, California this year.
“A hard few years, a hard century. For some of us, things have always been hard. I wrote the Broken Earth trilogy to speak to that struggle, and what it takes to live, let alone thrive, in a world that seems determined to break you — a world of people who constantly question your competence, your relevance, your very existence.”
"I get a lot of questions about where the themes of the Broken Earth trilogy come from. I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m drawing on the human history of structural oppression, as well as my feelings about this moment in American history. What may be less obvious, though, is how much of the story derives from my feelings about science fiction and fantasy. Then again, SFF is a microcosm of the wider world, in no way rarefied from the world’s pettiness or prejudice."
And in conclusion, she said, "But this is the year in which I get to smile at all of those naysayers—every single mediocre insecure wannabe who fixes their mouth to suggest that I do not belong on this stage, that people like me cannot possibly have earned such an honor, that when they win it it’s meritocracy but when we win it it’s “identity politics” — I get to smile at those people, and lift a massive, shining, rocket-shaped middle finger in their direction."
Her Hugo threepeat isn’t just a win for her writing and for fans of her work — it’s a decisive statement made by the SFF community in response to ongoing efforts to silence writers of color.
Hugo winner Liu Cixin, right, and translater Ken Liu, himself a writer of sci-fi and fantasy.
To add to the white supremacists' woes, prior to Jimisin's threepeat, the 2015 winner was Chinese writer Liu Cixin.
Liu became the first Asian, and The Three-Body Problem the first translated novel, to win the Hugo for Best Novel.
He says: “I’m an author who writes sci-fi and the Hugo is the highest honor for the genre. It’s like the Nobel prize of the sci-fi world.”
Why do people who profess that they seek a world better than the one we live in, find it so offensive that people of color should be excluded from this goal?
As an extension of those white supremacists who have come out of the woodwork because of Donald Trump, these fans seek to escape the reality of what's happening in the U.S. and they seek to preserve their privileged status and the social and economic awards that goes along with being on top of the heap. It's that fear based on ignorance that drives them to attack Kelly Marie Tran and Jemisan who they see as threats.
"I look to science fiction and fantasy as the aspirational drive of the zeitgeist,” Jemisin continued. “We creators are the engineers of possibility. And as this genre finally, however grudgingly, acknowledges that the dreams of the marginalized matter and that all of us have a future, so will go the world. (Soon, I hope.)”
Good SFF isn't just about the worlds that "could be,"J emisin said in her acceptance speech, "but also a reflection of the "world that is," It that's true, unfortunately, the world that is, isn't very pretty right now.
RACISTS and misogynists bullied her off Instagram and for the first time since she left that social media site, actress Kelly Marie Tran is speaking out. “Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, only valid as a minor character in their lives and stories,” Tran wrote in an essay for The New York Times published Tuesday (Aug. 21).
“And those words awakened something deep inside me ― a feeling I thought I had grown out of,” she continued. “Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was ‘other,’ that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them. And that feeling, I realize now, was, and is, shame, a shame for the things that made me different, a shame for the culture from which I came from.”
Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico.
Tran, 29, who played the of Rose Tico in the latest The Last Jedi installment of the Star Wars franchise, was the first woman of color to play a lead role in the science fiction saga. However, despite the historic nature of the role for being "first," the negative comments attacking her appearance and her presence were clearly racist and proved to be too much. Tran closed down her Instagram account earlier this summer with no explanation.
Until now.
It wasn't any particular Instagram post that caused Tran to delete her account. Her moving and powerful opinion piece is a strong reminder of how far this country still has to go in race relations despite the lofty words of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The practice - intentional and unintentional -- of being made to feel "not good enough," because she's not white; being made fun of because she could speak a language other than English; of having to change one's name to one easier to pronounce' of being "othered" because one is Asian American is insidious and pervasive throughout America's institutions and culture. The Star Wars franchise has been hounded by angry fans who feel white males are losing their status in the galaxy far, far away. It started with John Boyega and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: the Force AWakens and continued to target Tran. For some reason, these small contingent of insecure fans think they have some ownership over the George Lucas-inspired mythology. (I would not be surprised if they blame Lucas' African American wife for this trend.) The anti-diversity fans could be seen as a reflection of the rise of white nationalists who voted for Trump out of fear that their America (and their privilege of being white males) is threatened as America becomes more diverse.
“It was then that I realized I had been lied to,” the Vietnamese American actress wrote, adding later: “This is what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is what it is to be a woman in a society that has taught its daughters that we are only worthy of love if we are deemed attractive by its sons. This is the world I grew up in, but not the world I want to leave behind.” Her essay continued:“I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence. I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.” Tran defiantly concludes: “You might know me as Kelly,” she said. “I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in aStar Wars movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover ofVanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started.”
Tran's strongest message to her haters will come next year when the next episode of Star Wars will come out. She will reprise her role as Rose Tico.
ACTRESS KELLY MARIE TRAN and Rose Tico, the character she plays in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, have come under fire from white males posing as fans of the Star Wars blockbuster franchise. Tran - and by extension, Rose Tico - have come to symbolize everything that is wrong about the push for diversity by what haters say are "social justice warriors."
Last weekend, fans of Rose rallied for their hero at the 2018 Comic-Con held in San Diego. The "Rally for Rose," was organized by the website Nerds of Color and attracted a number cosplayers dressed as Rose as well as others wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a portrait of Rose. Rose, as played by Tran, is the first woman of color to play a significant role in the Star Wars movies. As a result, Tran was targeted on Instagram by white fanboys making fun of her appearance her weight and just for being in the same universe as Luke Skywalker, one of the original main characters in the first Star Wars. The fanboys - a small but vocal portion of the franchise's fan base -- apparently saw Star Wars as one of their refuges from reality. So when Disney began including female leads and characters of color in the last three stories -- The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi -- they hit back the only way they knew, through social media, hiding behind the Internet's anonymity. The latest movie in the franchise, Solo, saw the return of the white, male hero, but still managed to have strong female leads played by Westworld's Thandie Newton and Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke. The fanboys immature campaign aimed at Tran apparently caused the actress to drop her Instagram account, much to the consternation of director Rian Johnson and star Mark Hamill, both of whom enjoyed the idea of the rally.
LATE NIGHT HOST Steven Colbert, a self-professed fanboy of the Star Wars franchise, has come out in support of Kelly Marie Tran.
Tran, who starred in the most recent Star Wars: The Last Jedi installment as mechanic Rose Pico, is the first Asian American lead (man or woman) of one of the Star Wars movies.
Her groundbreaking role -- as a woman and as an Asian American -- was attacked by a small, but very vocal, racist and sexist fanboys who felt that the George Lucas-created galaxy far, far away, should be the peopled only by white, male heroes.
Actress Kelly Marie Tran portrays Rose Tico in 'The Last Jedi.'
The Internet bullies harassed Tran's Instagram site criticizing her appearance, her race and gender and the substance of the character that she portrayed. The harassment got so bad that last week, Tran deleted all her posts and left only the messsage: "Afraid, but doing it anyway."
Colbert introduced the trailer:
“They attacked this beautiful, talented young actress for her ethnicity, her appearance, and her sex. And may I remind you: Kelly Marie Tran is the first lead woman in a ‘Star Wars’ movie who is not white. So, just to teach these fanboys a lesson, we here at ‘The Late Show’ have partnered with Lucasfilm to create a new ‘Star Wars’ movie — and we’ve got the world premiere of the exclusive trailer right now.”
Kelly Marie Tran left Instagram because of the harassment by sexist and racist fans of Star Wars.
DAYS AFTER Kelly Marie Tran deleted all her Instagram posts in response to never-ending online harassment, her fans and supporters have come to her side to denounce the bullying by insecure fanboys who don't like movies with starring women and actors of color. What is it with this small group of fanboys that they feel they have to attack an actress playing a fictional character by asserting their toxic masculinity and/or racism, on any attempt to reflect the diversity of our country?
Kelly Marie Tran, the first woman of color to have a significant role in any of the Star War movies, was the latest victim of the small, but virtually vocal group of internet bullies. Tran had been the target of ongoing harassment and abuse ever since she became the first woman of color in a major role in the Star Wars franchise.
Her Instagram account with 212,000 followers, is now empty except with this phrase: "Afraid, but doing it anyway." Tran, a 29-year-old Vietnamese-American born in California, has no Twitter or Facebook accounts.
In December, AsAmNews ran a story headlined Resistance Defeats Racists in a galaxy Not Far Away that reported hateful messages berating Tran's appearance had inundated social media and that someone even hacked into her Wookiepedia fan page to edit her biography and change her name to Ching Chong Wing Tong and her hometown to Ching Chong China.
Alt-right internet personality Paul Ray Ramsey in December tweeted harassing comments about Tran's appearance, with his post being retweeted 103 times and earning 442 likes.
Rian Johnson, who directed Tran in The Last Jedi, took to Twitter on Tuesday to call out the trolls who have hounded Tran.
That Tweet prompted a response from the Jedi master himself, costar Mark Hamil:
Johnson wasn't done. Clearly, he was angry at the way one of his stars was treated. He went off on one of responders:
Many in the entertainment community are showing support for actress Kelly Marie Tran, the "Star Wars" franchise's first woman of color in a major role, after she deleted all her Instagram posts following months of abusive trolling about her.
It's not the first time these trollers have made their displeasure known. They attacked John Boyega, a black man, for his leading presence on The Force Awakens and derisively called Daisy Ridley a Mary Sue because she was the central character in the same movie.
They believe the "social justice warriors" have soften the franchise in the efforts to diversify the cast. I mean, they can accept Huts, Wookies, Ortolons or any of the other 50 alien races inhabiting the Star Wars galaxy, but they can't stand it if a man of color or a woman has a prominent role in one of the Star War stories?
I would not be surprised if a lot of Tran's harassers are of the same ilk who like to carry around tiki torches, make Nazi salutes to teach other or parade around in white robes and a pointed hood.
Although they claim to be Star Wars fans, they evidently haven't learned the lessons . espoused in the movies - that tolerance matters, respect matters, decency matters. Or, quoting Rose Tico, the character played by Tran: "That's how we win. Not fighting what we hate, (but by) saving what we love." (The trollers hated that line. Too soft.)
