Deconstructing Star Wars
An Indigenous Critique Of A Racist Popular Culture Text
Childhood Dominant Culture Lessons
Our children take on board racist colonial ideologies from a very early age, hidden so cunningly in cinematic texts that they don't even know they're learning it. Sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, doesn't it? Only most of the time I don't think the film makers are even aware they are doing it - they are merely reflecting a political reality they have come to think of as "natural". This perpetuates the denial of basic rights for Indigenous people through the constant reinforcement of implicit colonial values in the dominant culture. Let's look at Star Wars as an example.
The Disposable Native
Firstly, we have the recurring theme of the native as cannon fodder. Ewoks, so cute in the forest with their little spears, are sacrificed by the dozen on the battlefield on Endor. Same with Ja Ja Binks' people, who speak a charming creole, have delightfully organic technology, and are nice enough to fight a decoy battle with heavy losses against impossible odds, so that the "good guys" can get on with the really important work. This is their reward for making a treaty with the European Queen and agreeing to assimilate.
Then there are the Sand People on Tatooine, who are portrayed as mindless savages, so we don't really mind the first time Aniken decides to test his light saber out on an entire tribe - men, women and children. Even the stormtroopers are Maoris - cloned from Jango Fett, played by Temuera Morrison. Before Jango is decapitated, he manages to spawn thousands of clones - a vast source of Indigenous cannon fodder to be mown down in subsequent Star Wars battles.
Although, to be fair, in this case it was probably just because it's cheaper to make films in New Zealand, and hire local actors (even cheaper if the actors are Indigenous). It was the same in Lord Of The Rings - the bulk of the Orcs to be hacked up in battle sequences were played by Maori actors. (Orcs of course being dark-skinned monsters who must be annihilated before they destroy everything - the opposite of the fey, blonde, blue-eyed elves.)
Darkness As A Signifier Of Evil
In Star Wars, black is continually used to denote evil, or "the dark side", if you will. For both Luke and Aniken, their descent into evil begins with the loss of a hand, to be replaced by a black glove. For Aniken, the descent is symbolically complete when he becomes Darth Vader, donning a dark uniform with a helmet that transforms him into a towering black phallus.
On His Knees, Lando Learns His Place (see photo)
"But what about Lando Calrissian?" I hear you protest. Yes, it's true that this man of African descent gets to be a principal "good guy" in two of the films. But this is only after he is "reformed" from his initial evil behaviour, which includes treachery against white people, outranking white people, financial success and sexual advances towards white women. Once he apologises on his knees and changes his ways (after getting his business destroyed and a good throttling from Chewbacca for good measure) he is then allowed to become a side-kick for the principle (European) characters. He is very faithful and dependable after that, and learns to stay in his place.
Impact On Implicit Values
Do our kids learn the lesson from this as well? Of course they do. They carry away values like, "Don't be tempted by the dark side!" So when they grow up, they know the place of Indigenous people in the social order implicitly, and because nobody ever explicitly told them, they think it must be "natural". Get yourself a Lando sidekick. Defend yourself against the Maori clones. Stay away from the Sand People. Be sympathetic and condescending towards Ewoks.
The result is a dominant culture that is so completely brainwashed by colonial propaganda that grassroots Aboriginal Rights, even without the barrier of racist government policy, becomes an impossible dream as out of our reach as a galaxy far, far away.
lynch
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