“Star Wars” creator George Lucas defended the franchise at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday against criticism that it is made up of a predominantly white, male cast.
The 80-year-old was at the festival to accept the Palme d’Or award at the closing ceremony on Saturday, where he commented on the first six “Star Wars” films.
“People are always discriminating against one another.”
“They’ll say, ‘It’s all white people’ and I’ll say no, most of the people are foreigners,” he said. according to In People magazine.
“And that idea is about accepting people as they are — that everyone is equal, whether they’re big and hairy or green or whatever,” he added.
He further pointed out that his original film only depicted discrimination against robots and droids.
“The point is, people are always going to discriminate in some way, and sooner or later, they’re going to,” he continued. “So, we’re already starting to say with AI, ‘I don’t trust that robot.'”
He cited several minority actors who appeared in the original films, including Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in the prequel films, and Samuel L. Jackson, who played Mace Windu.
Lucas then spoke about the strong female characters in the series.
“Who do you think the heroes are in these stories? Who do you think Princess Leia is? She’s the leader of the rebellion,” Lucas added. “She’s the one who’s trying to save the rebellion with this young kid who knows nothing and this loudmouth, know-it-all guy who can’t do anything, along with these buffoons.”
Lucas became enormously wealthy after signing lucrative merchandise royalty deals for the Star Wars franchise, and then got even richer when he sold the franchise to Disney for $4.05 billion in 2012.
While many fans saw Disney’s acquisition as new hope for the franchise, the subsequent film trilogy angered many by dismantling some of the popular narrative threads of the original storyline.
“Why must everything new undermine what came before?”
Critics are already warning fans that the next “Star Wars” movie is likely to contain woke elements because of previous far-left comments made by the director and other key figures.
“This series is shaping up to be Disney’s worst Star Wars movie to date,” said Lauren Chen of Pseudo-Intelligence magazine. At Blaze Media. “Why must everything now be disruptive? Why must everything new overturn what came before?”
To the disappointment of many fans, Disney recently Approximately $12 billion From the sci-fi franchise.
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