‘Stars Wars’ is racist because Darth Vader is black, MNSBC host claims
Days before the release of J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” an MSNBC host made a controversial remark about the action fantasy film series. The host's argument claims that the fact that Darth Vader is black and a bad guy makes “Star Wars” racist.
During a segment on her eponymous talk show on MSNBC on Monday, Melissa Harris-Perry talked about race and gender on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” She described Darth Vader as “totally a black guy whose name basically was James Earl Jones.”
“While he was black, he was terrible and bad and awful and used to cut off white men’s hands, and didn’t, you know, actually claim his son,” Washington Times quoted Harris-Perry as saying. “But as soon as he claims his son and goes over to the good, he takes off his mask and he is white. Yes, I have many, many feelings about that.”
The MSNBC host was referring to the end of 1983 film “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.” In the final scene of the Richard Marquand film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) removes the black helmet of Darth Vader, who was voiced by James Earl Jones, and a white man underneath was revealed.
What the MSNBC host failed to mention, however, was the fact that a younger version of Darth Vader was played by Hayden Christensen, who is Caucasian. The younger version was shown killing small children in the 2005 film “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” which was written and directed by George Lucas.
The film's director, Abrams, has yet to comment on the argument that “Star Wars” is racist.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Slash Film, the director said he could not quantify how different “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is from what Lucas had originally planned.
Set to be released in Sydney on Wednesday, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” stars Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis and Lupita Nyong'o, among others. Written by Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, the story is set almost three decades after the events of “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.”
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