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By David Futrelle
Over on the right-wing culture war blog One Angry Gamer, the highly excitable Billy D is absolutely losing it over a lesbian kiss in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Because apparently it doesn’t correctly represent the demographic realities of Dagobah or Tatooine or wherever the movie is set (I really haven’t been paying much attention).
Take it away, Billy boy:
Despite making up a tiny minority of the population, and having practically zero mass-market buying power, corporations and large brands continue to foist upon the general public niche fetishes to indoctrinate and normalize aberrant behavior. In a rush to maintain their trend of cutting out the legs of the Star Wars brand from beneath itself, Disney and director J.J. Abrams followed through with including an LGBT kissing scene in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.
The kiss doesn’t even involve any of the main female characters in the film like Rey or Princess Leia or Lt Commander Bleep Bloop from the Grbsnort Sector; it’s a brief “celebratory kiss” between two lady rebels.
But Billy is so pig-biting mad over this fleeting kiss that he launches a weird attack on the authoritarian government of China for not being authoritarian enough — because it chose not to censor the scene in versions of the film shown in that country.
To make matters worse, Disney managed to sneak the scene into the Chinese version of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker …
[T]he Ministry of Culture and its off-shoot, the Ministry of Culture [sic], apparently did not require Disney to make any edits to the scene, despite China having laws prohibiting the promotion of LGBTQIA+ content .
He then shares some of what appear to be his own sexual fantasies, which were actually sort of hot:
[M]aybe China is a-okay with lesbians lip-locking on the big screen but hate it when two half-naked men are racing their tongues up and down each other’s sweaty bodies like a Dodge Demon and a Camaro SS racing up and down a drag strip?
He concludes by comparing LGBTQ people to Nazis.
[I]f this becomes a trend, and China begins allowing LGBTQIA+ propaganda into films distributed across the mainland, then it’s yet another region brought to yield under the boot-heel of the Rainbow Reich.
Let’s get this straight (no pun intended): The government of China is currently rounding up hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslims and putting them in concentration camps — sorry, “re-education camps” — but it’s the Culture Ministry’s act of non-censorship of a kiss in a PG-13-rated Disney film that makes Billy think of fascism.
I have to say, I did Nazi that one coming.
@Paireon
My comment was made in jest, but I know what you mean. There also used to be moderates in each party that agreed with their party on most things and the other party on others. For the most part by now I think they’ve all picked one side and adjusted their views accordingly. Despite this, every conservative I’ve met expects me to concede them being right on some things, claiming that they agree with Democrats on some things but never admitting what those things are.
@Naglfar – At this point, I think the only thing they really agree with Dems is USA=good, but their respective definitions of what makes them good and what’s needed to make it even better are very much at odds.
Then again, conservatives/reactionaries have always had problems with things that are universally beneficial if it means they lose out on something that’s specifically beneficial to them, even if that benefit of theirs is short-term, surface-level only, unsustainable, or a detriment to others – case in point, John Wilkes Booth’s purported words after his assassination of Lincoln: Sic semper tyrannis, “thus always to tyrants”, as he considered Lincoln’s abolishing slavery to be an act of tyranny, because being able to own other human beings and being able to treat (or mistreat) them as mere commodities/goods/labor tools is such a great example of liberty, amirite?
@Paireon
Well, that’s true seeing as what I like about America is the diversity of ethnicity, religion, gender, and the freedom to have such diversity, while Republicans seem to very much like white supremacy and hate diversity.
They’re also willing to sacrifice their own well-being if it makes others suffer (i.e. “to own the libs”). As a result, they assume by projection that we must be doing the same thing, so they assume that all our actions have ulterior motives like theirs. When someone is awful and unrepentent, it doesn’t seem that hard for them to assume that everyone else is also awful.
If you think that is a foul hot take, Billy has gone into justifying stealing and burning church property.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestOfOutrageCulture/comments/edi3ud/steal_burn_property_to_protest_gays_says_free/?
I’m a bit surprised no one has bough up the Character of Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra yet. She’s a Lesbian and no one in the Star Wars universe cares because according to one of the series writers Homophobia does not exist in the galaxy far,far away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Doctor_Aphra#Development
UPDATE: Saw the movie yesterday, saw the kiss and… well, yeah, it actually is a bit problematic. Because it’s clearly there just so Disney can say “Ayyy, look gaiz! We put a 2-second lesbo scene there because yay LGBTQ*! We woke now! Dat’s cool, right!? Right!?”
*Only in the most fleeting, non-confrontational, non-binding, non-actually-helpful-or-useful-way-possible-because-we-still-want-asshole-homophobes’-money, you understand… (yay gilded-age monopolistic predatory capitalism!)
The movie has many other problems, but frankly, would it have killed them to make that one scene seem less shoehorned-in as a purely cynical attempt at LGBTQ pandering? The community deserves better.
(And yes, the bitter irony of my post is most definitely not lost on me)
@Paireon
It’d be much better if Disney put forth an acknowledgement and apology for the 80 years of coding their villains as gay. While they’re at it, they can apologize for the racism (too many occurrences to count) and countless other bigotries. Of course they’ll never issue that apology, but I can dream.
We don’t tend to appreciate the “lol people are homophobic assholes because they’re closeted gays!” viewpoint here. Please do not speculate on someone’s sexuality as though that’s the reason for them being a shitheel.
To put a further point on it, even if this didn’t have the effect of saying that there’s no such thing as heterosexism committed by straight people and that all queer oppression is the fault of dysfunctional queers, we believe in the feminist maxim that an individual is the expert on their own life.
If I believe it’s arrogant and unwarranted of others to tell me my queerness is really a phase, then it is equally arrogant and unwarranted of me to tell another that their heterosexuality is a delusion.
Freedom cannot exist without self-determination. Self-determination necessarily includes the recognition that a person’s sexual feelings (and thus sexual orientation) can best be judged only by that specific person.
This is queer feminism, and it’s a good fucking thing.
Back to reality, it’s a starwars film why are current earthly, trends and behaviours required in films of this type, I have a private life, but I don’t need it represented on film for the sake of doing so, LGBT is being exploited not represented and social divisions that were not there before, are being created through this agender. We’ve always known salted was a flavour option, but people usually like regular butter popcorn because it’s a safe choice for most, why the need to force them to have salted aswell just because salted may not be the mainstream choice, who’s oppressing who. Different type of fantasy, that is not needed in these innocent space adventure films……
But we’re not making the audience have salted as well. We’re just showing the characters on the screen having salted as well. There’s a difference.
Why do you assume that having LGBT characters feature in a film is political and extraneous, but having heterosexual and cis characters in a film is 100% normal and apolitical?
@no politics
Despite the name, you sound rather political.
Not entirely sure what the last part of this sentence means, but I’m not sure how the film is exploitation.
But there lies your problem. You’ve decided that straight is the default, which is heteronormative (that’s kind of the definition of heteronormativity) and homophobic. If seeing a lesbian kiss is “oppression” to you but a straight kiss isn’t, you’re a homophobe. Period.
EXACTLY.
What the FUCK is with this weird BULLSHIT where a JEDI FEELS SEXUAL ATTRACTION LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN!
This is SCI FI. A FICTIONAL UNIVERSE. Why is Padme even getting pregnant from whatever she’s doing with Anakin off-screen? Why do they have to have reproduction involve TWO SEXES?
IT’S JUST THE BULLSHIT POLITICAL HETEROSEXUAL AGENDA TRYING TO PUT LIFE INTO ART.
I will NEVER be satisfied with Star Wars until those people – who can’t possibly be REAL HUMANS since they live in a galaxy FAR FAR AWAY – no longer have any human behaviors WHATSOEVER.
WHAT IS THIS WALKING BIPEDALLY? WHAT’S WITH OPPOSABLE THUMBS?
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHY THE FUCK ARE ALL THESE SPACE ALIENS SPEAKING ENGLISH? IT’S THE POLITICAL USA IMPERIALIST AGENDA AND I WON’T STAND FOR IT!
I had to watch two women briefly kiss with my own two eyes who is oppressing who I ask you. No movie has ever had a man and a woman kiss in it. Or be popcorn. Or whatever.
The majority of people eat popcorn without salt? When did this start?
Maybe there are good reasons to critisize SJW-Moments in many films without real narrative backgound and only for the purpose of some agenda.
But when I see revires like the Rise of Skywalker review by James’ YouNiverse where he states the lesbian kiss made him almost “throw up” and these things don´t belong on screen, than i sincerely hope those statements aren´t representative for the nerdculture out there, otherwise we have a much bigger problem than just be annoyed with half-hearted diversity moments placed in beloved franchizes. If these 2 seconds in over 100 hours of star wars motion picture footage (animations series included) is not tolerated at the slightest, than some should even question the fandom. (But, huh, we won´t generalize yes?)
Wow, light the fuse and watch it burn, such anger, it’s simply a space film. And life is to short, for over reaction, its only entertainment, not a platform to fight a cause. But thanks for the feedback, and unfortunately straight is the biological norm, nature dictates that with procreation not me. But a little bit of moondust and it all changes. And I’m homosapien thanks, not homophobic, and i would identify with being heterosexual not hypersensative like some reactions on here. By the way I’m female with gay friends, who just want dramacentric heroes without identity politics. May the force be with you….
@no politics : the instant you said “nature dictactes that” we know you know absolutely *nothing* about biology or nature.
But eh, can’t be mad at everything *and* cultured I guess.
@no politics
If straight is the biological norm, how do gay people exist? It’s not just humans either, most animal species can have same sex behavior observed. Not all sex is procreative.
Not sure what the moon dust part is about but if you’re getting this upset about two women kissing when you wouldn’t care if a man and a woman kissed, then you definitely are homophobic. You also seem hypersensitive, seeing as one must be hypersensitive to get this upset about a kiss.
Whatever you would like believe, god, nature, evolution, cloning, without XX or XY we wouldn’t be here, and neither would the population. But eh, can’t be mad at everything *and* cultured I guess. What an estute statement.
Homosexual behavior has been observed in a wide number of animal species, so while it may be less common than heterosexuality, it is absolutely natural and normal. And if you for some reason think that fictional movies should perfectly represent real-life statistics, then even assuming that a tiny 1% of the population is naturally homosexual (hint- it’s a much larger number than that), then Star Wars should dedicate approximately 13 minutes to homosexual behavior (22.5×60/100=13), and have at least 3 homosexual characters, so that things can be “realistic”.
Of course, this is a sci-fi series featuring aliens who do not need to conform to your idea of biological norms, so why should it be limited to only that? Light sabers and faster than light travel are fine, but gay people are unrealistic?
@no politics
Nobody here is saying that heterosexual activity is bad. But again, not all sex is procreative and I don’t know why you’re so worked up about two fictional women kissing.
@no politics : if you were cultured, you would know we could be here without heterosexual sex, and that a lot of extremely successful species aren’t heterosexual. (probably not without sex at all, albeit that’s just an educated guess)
You would also know that homosexual sex have important use among a lot of species, including some very close to human. But once more : can’t be mad at everything and cultured.
No Politics,
Just because people replied to you, doesn’t mean they’re angry. Can you quote for me where exactly you’re seeing anger here?