Yes, you have John Boyega as a stormtrooper-turned-hero who is also black, then why is his character so...lack luster? Same thing with Marvel's The Eternals. Wonderful cast, but more focus was put into showing the diversity of the cast instead of making sure the plot was solid.
You call out John Boyega specifically. I actually agree that his character was lackluster, however I personally wouldn’t place that on acting at all. They wrote him like he was going to be a baby Jedi like Rey, even had him wielding a saber, but did nothing with it. That my friend is poor writing.
I personally thought his performance and acting was spot on for what I expected from a shellshocked ex stormtrooper. His fight with TR-8R I thought was fun, because it was personal for that trooper, and made a great dynamic between a loyalist and rebel. But then they basically wrote nothing got him.
See, I had valid complaints I feel, but that still has absolutely nothing to do with ‘pushing diversity.’ Specifically mentioning the fact that John Boyega is black comes off as you having a problem with that fact. I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but if you don’t want to come off that way…
…Maybe changing the tone and way you explain your thoughts might help improve upon people’s reactions. Feedback doesn’t have to include an attack!
I wasn't placing it on his acting, but on them hyping him up (I vividly recall the Disney PR going on about him being the first black lead in a Star Wars film) and then giving him nothing to work with. It was like they were saying, we just need him for his race.
Which if this is Disney’s stance, then we need to place the blame on Disney not giving their character’s good writing, which still has nothing to do with having a diverse cast (or worse, means Disney is specifically writing out those characters)
So it sounds like it’s still not an issue with them having a diverse cast, but with writing out main characters from having interesting things happen!
Yes! I realize I may not be articulating my point very well (it sounds smoother in my head). It isn't that the cast is diverse, but the marketing being made BECAUSE of the diverse cast, rather than the marketing being made about the story. By focusing people's attention to the the cast being
of different genders and races, they hope that people won't realize they either rushed the writing without polishing it or that they didn't have a good one to start with, so they can push any neg. feedback as being about diversity and not the crappy plot/writing.
Hmm… I’m trying to think of a way to phrase it… Maybe something like ‘Disney is being disingenuous with their advertising because they claim to support diversity, however they are not supporting a key member of the cast (Boyega) through his character’s story arc to give him a chance to shine’ Close?
Kinda. And I used Boyega simply as an example. You can pretty much do substitute a lot of the cast and get the same thing.
Now I remember the original point! lol. It was the comment about the villain from Acolyte being good & someone else ripping on the fans for getting the show cancelled because they are toxic. There was an article right after it got cancelled where it said that the fans (general)
couldn't handle a cast that was full of different races and genders, so it was bigotry & sexism & racists that got the show cancelled. But they refused to accept that maybe people didn't like the show because the writing was really bad for a lot of it.
Yes, there is a SMALL number of 'fans' who will complain about the race/gender of a character, but it's come to the point that the fandom as a whole gets criticized being 'toxic' when they raise valid points about the writing.