From the moment the original trailer debuted earlier this year, J.J. Abrams’ reboot of
the "Star Wars" franchise, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" for its new owner,
Disney, stirred controversy and curiosity with the sudden entrance of a Black man
into the middle of the screen. As racists choked the internet with hateful comments
regarding the sudden appearance of a Black man as the first human image revealed in
what would be the triumphant return of this beloved global film franchise, those "Star
Wars" fans who happened to be Black reveled in anticipation for the character we now
know as Finn who is performed by London-born actor of Nigerian descent, John Boyega.
As a franchise known primarily for its careful placement of Black token characters
performed by recognizable Black actors like, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Cairissian in
the original trilogy and Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi Master Mace Windu in the
subsequent prequels trilogy, the original "The Force Awakens" trailer seemed to suggest
that, with Disney’s 4 billion dollar purchase of the "Star Wars" franchise, and the
coronation of J.J. Abrams (handpicked and lobbied for by none other than
blockbuster wunderkind, Steven Spielberg himself) as the new director at the helm, these profound changes seemed to suggest that the "Star Wars" franchise would shift
into a mode of greater diversity in regards to the race and gender of its principal
characters than ever before.
But alas, a curious thing happened on the way to a galaxy far, far away…
The character of Finn as the penultimate symbol of racial inclusiveness for this
franchise reboot is knocked unconscious during a climactic battle scene in the final act
of the film, and he remains unconscious for the rest of the film. While this is not the
first, nor will it be the last time that a character has been held in abeyance at the end
or the beginning of a series installment, whether knocked unconscious, frozen in
“carbonite”, abandoned or running away to a hidden land, world or fortress, robotic
parts separated and/or power disconnected – the unconsciousness of Finn
throughout the final act of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" as I shall discuss it here in
this piece, reveals to us that, White Hollywood, as we near the beginning of the last
year of Obama’s presidency, is ushering in a new and more powerful form of racial
tokenism.
The Finn character, from the moment we saw him as the first image in the original
trailer, to the moment he was knocked unconscious and remained unconscious
throughout the final act of the film, is a manifestation of what I will call: Hyper-
tokenism in the White film.
Hyper-tokenism in a White film can be defined as the marked increase in screen time,
dramatic involvement and promotional images of a Black character in a White film, while simultaneously reserving full dramatic agency as the providence of White
characters by the end of the film. (1)
Dramatic agency is measured by the ability of a character to change, influence, control
and/or survive the circumstances within a story. White supremacy is maintained
within a White film by the ability of a White character to change, influence, control
and/or survive the circumstances within a story through the seduction of the
spectator into not questioning this ability. The seduction of the spectator is primarily
performed through costly CGI effects, high production values and skillful editing. (2)
If tokenism was an effective method of securing a Black audience for a single White
film in the years before Obama’s presidency, then Hyper-tokenism is an effective
method for securing a Black audience for a series of White films that are part of a film
franchise during the Obama presidency.
Hyper-tokenism increases the profile of the Black character(s) within a White film
with greater screen time, greater involvement with the circumstances, but – and this is
very important – in the final act of the film, dramatic agency must be completely
controlled by the White characters. Hyper-tokenism has a latent affect upon the
consciousness of the Black spectator in that it allows the Black spectator to hope,
imagine or believe that the Black character will be given more dramatic agency in the
subsequent films of the franchise, and therefore secures Black viewer loyalty and Black
money to fill the coffers of the White controlled studio with its massive profits gained
from the reboot of beloved film franchises, like "Star Wars."
But the films in these franchises will remain White films.
In the context of the "Star Wars" franchise, full dramatic agency (the ability to influence,
change, control and survive the dramatic circumstances within the story) is defined
ultimately by a "selected" character’s ability to wield "the force" by intuition or
training – the decision to not give Finn this final defining characteristic forces (no pun
intended) this character into a supporting role for the Whites who are wielding this
power. But when we add the fact that Finn is rendered unconscious for the final act
of the film (not even able to applaud the efforts of his White cohorts) it can be said
that we were not really following the heroic exploits of the Finn character so much as
we were being led "by the nose" as it were, to a point where dramatic agency is
ultimately still the providence of the White characters in the film.
Thus, Finn is really a "hyper-token" given more screen time than usual for a token
and a modicum of dramatic agency (as long as he is aiding those other non-black
characters), but rendered useless in the final act of the film because the White
filmmakers were not capable of sharing equal dramatic agency among the White and
Black characters. The film still resolves itself upon the emotional circumstances of its
White characters, while simultaneously holding Finn’s circumstance in abeyance for
yet another film where I would wager a similar manifestation of Hyper-tokenism
will be followed. (3)
Another latent effect of Hyper-tokenism upon the consciousness of the Black
spectator is that the White controlled studio can release tantalizing information
concerning the future production of a singular film concentrating solely on the
exploits or back-story of the Black character(s), release graphic novels that
concentrate more on the Black character(s), or promise to increase the role or the
roles of Black characters in subsequent films to keep the Black audience’s loyalty to
the franchise, even as the subsequent films to be produced remain as White films.
Yet the most destructive aspect of Hyper-tokenism is not actually found within
dramatic boundaries of the White films themselves, but instead in how Hyper-tokenism
seduces the Black audience to remain loyal to White film franchises and White
controlled film studios who are only exploiting that loyalty as a means of increasing
the box office of their White films, with little to no intention of increasing the
budgets, number of productions or worldwide distribution of Black films. Moreover,
hyper-tokenism takes a toll on the creative consciousness of Black filmmakers and
writers in the sense that it makes it even more difficult to breech the loyalty of the
Black audience from White films that have Hyper-Tokens and get that Black audience
to support Black films where Black characters can exercise full dramatic agency
without the approval of White characters or the guidance of the "White Savior Trope."
The battle for racial inclusiveness and equality in the cinema begins and ends with the
degree of dramatic agency that is shared among characters of different races and
genders within a film’s story. Black representation in White film must not solely be
based on the presence of a Black actor or actors within that White film, but instead
we have to understand that it is the degree of dramatic agency that the Black character
wields within the context of the White film that ultimately determines whether that
Black actor is used as a token or as a fully realized dramatic entity.
A few other critics have noted the lack of dramatic agency of the Finn character in
nominal configurations such as: his inability to comprehend “droid speak”, “Wookie
speak” and other languages that come easily to the White characters; inability to pilot
spacecraft; lack of weapons knowledge even though he was a Stormtrooper; and finally
his lack of knowledge of “the resistance” when in fact as a Stormtrooper he would
have known whom the Empire considered its enemies. These nominal inabilities are
contradicted by Finn’s ability to wield a light saber with no training; his courage in
various battles; his decision to leave the Empire; his choice to return to participate
with the rebels of the resistance.
The pointing out of such contradictions in the consistency and the ability of the Black
character to wield dramatic agency in a White film is often seen as “nit-picking” from
loyal fans – both White and Black – of a White franchise film because, as long as the film
ends with full White dramatic agency, there is less spectator investment in questioning
the loose ends or the problematic construction of the Black hyper-token. The White
filmmakers have the noblesse oblige to say to Black critics, ”Hey, be glad that we even
cast a Black in this film,” and Black loyal fans can say, ”Thank you for casting one of
us,” by their ticket purchases, glowing reviews and repeat viewings.
One could say that the age of the Hyper-Token Black character in a White film
franchise (and even the cable television series) is a consequence of the Obama
presidency. Those liberal Whites who voted for Obama, of which many Hollywood
studio execs, White writers, directors and producers are a part, could no longer justify
the lack of diversity in their films with their "supposed" racial tolerance. But these
liberal Whites cannot and will not concede full dramatic agency to a Black character, and nor will they share that agency equally between White and Black characters in a
film; the Hyper-Token Black character is the compromise position that allows the
White filmmakers the ability to feign racial diversity and tolerance, while retaining
White control over the dramatic agency in a series of films.
But much like how the election and reelection of Barack Obama as the nation’s first
Black president can do nothing to stem the violent injustices against Blacks around
the country by law enforcement, racist terrorists, ineffectual Grand Juries, blind-eye
prosecutors, hung juries and other sundry inequalities – because in the final act, Whites
can insure that they can influence, change, control and survive the circumstances of
their perfidy – so also is this political condition reflected within White controlled
filmed entertainment as dramatic agency that supports a White supremacist illusion of
dominance.
The need to “Make America Great Again” as Trump’s campaign slogan tells his White
male supporters is really a discrete code to “Make America White Again” by returning
the Hyper-Token Black male in the form of Barak Obama back to his subordinate
place in the domestic and global racial hierarchy. That "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ends with a powerful White female returning a legendary light saber to an aged and
seasoned Luke Skywalker, fulfills the both the slogan and the code in the minds of
those spectators of a return to greatness as a return to Whiteness (read: White male
hetero-normativity).
As the force awakens, it is no surprise that the Black man within the film remains
unconscious during the final act because, in many ways, the Black man watching the
White film is unconscious also…
But is he content to remain so?
***
Andre Seewood is author of "(Dismantling) The Greatest Lie Ever Told To The Black Filmmaker." Pick up a copy here.
***
NOTES
(1) For a full discussion of the definition of a White film and a Black film please see
the article: Towards Defining the Black Film: The Genuine, The Compromised and
the Token. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/towards-defining-the-black-
film-the-genuine-the-compromised-and-the-token-20150302
(2) For a full discussion of other techniques of White supremacist illusions in
cinematic narration please see the series of articles, Black Film Theory 1, 2, and 3.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/black-film-theory-fighting-the-illusions-
of-white-supremacy-in-cinematic-narration-part-one
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/black-film-theory-fighting-the-illusions-
of-white-supremacy-in-cinematic-narration-part-two
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/black-film-theory-part-3-subversion-
liberation-from-the-illusions-of-white-supremacy-in-cinematic-narration
(3) For a comparison discussion of traditional Black tokenism in a White film please
see the article: The Black Character in White (“Interstellar”) Cinematic Space
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/the-black-character-in-white-interstellar-
cinematic-space-20141110