The promotional poster for the latest Star Wars franchise Star Wars: The Force Awakens apparently downplayed and even omitted non-white actors.
On Twitter, several fans have pointed out that John Boyega, a black British actor who plays Finn in the movie, had been shrunk on the Chinese movie poster. Meanwhile, non-white actors such as Isaac Poe, a Guatemalan-American actor who plays the role of Dameron, Lupita Nyong’o, a black actress who portrays Maz Kanata, as well as Chewbacca the Wookiee were totally omitted in the poster. Returning characters from previous films were emphasized and enlarged in the Chinese poster.
Hong Kong based columnist Ray Kwong tweeted: ”Finn (who happens to be black) and Chewbacca (happens to be Wookiee) get shafted in China.”
According to CNN News, a representative from Disney refused to comment on the issue.
A large number of Africans have been living in China particularly in the southern Guangdong province. Many have reported cases of prejudice and discrimination due to stigma against dark skin.
The latest Star Wars film will be the first of the franchise to gain widespread release in mainland China.
Controversial ’12 Years A Slave’ Poster Spark Racial Discrimination
Instead of featuring the film’s main star Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender were focused at the 12 Years A Slave’s Italian promotional posters despite their relatively minor roles.
Following the controversy, BIM Distribuzione, the Italian distributor of the film, has apologized for stating that their posters featured the actors “in a manner inconsistent with approved advertising materials.”. The company has announced that it will be using the original U.S. materials for the film.
One of the movie’s stars Lupita Nyong’o, a Kenyan actress, backed out of the Italian premier of the film following the poster controversy.