#conspiracy theory also uncomfortably close to 'theres a secret group of ppl with a secret agenda that is masterminding everything' for me

[mid-nighttiger]

Hi! I was just wondering if you've ever stumbled across this video on YouTube? The title's pretty eye-catching: An Analysis of the Hidden Misogyny and Racism in Disney Star Wars | Video Essay, but it's not really misleading or clickbait. There's a LOT, and I'd say it feels like a conspiracy theory, but... it seems pretty well-researched (there's sources in the description box), and it has some really interesting points about the sequel trilogy... and I was wondering what you think?

this is the video in question

it's a very long video (almost 2 hours), and for me the part that holds the most water is in the final 2 minutes or so, where they say:

As a very ironic conclusion, I have to admit the possibility that all of this is a coincidence... [A] conspiracy theory... just doesn't make sense to [Disney's] overall financial strategy... It's far more likely that the writers and directors just didn't know how to properly write female or minority characters. It's far more likely that most of the writers are white men, that any subconscious biases against minorities leaked into their writing, that they're not even consciously aware that they have these racist tendencies. It's far, far more likely that these hidden biases against women are present in all men, and those biases just leaked through into the scripts. The most logical conclusion is that there is no agenda. There is no conspiracy.

with that part, i agree wholeheartedly

the breakdown of racism and misogyny in the st films itself is mostly fine. they are right that there are a lot of racist and sexist undertones in the st, even though disney tries to sell it as progressive. but i think they're a little too insistent that there must be a conspiracy. the video would be a lot stronger if they used their mountain of evidence to show how people's biases manifest in the work they create, and just how pervasive it is. it happens all the time, without conscious thought, in every little thing we do, and that's why we have to always be actively working to be conscious of our biases

most of the points they make i can attribute to one of these things:

subconscious biases. generally, racist media/actions don't happen because someone sat down and said, 'wow, let's make some racism today.' they happen because people carry biases that shape their work and actions, and because there was nobody in the writer's room to check those biases and say 'hey maybe we shouldn't do that'

capitalism. disney wants to make money. they want to capitalize on the star wars nostalgia, which is why so many things from the ot are still around. they want to make safe storytelling choices that won't alienate large parts of their fanbase, but they also want to seem progressive so they can market their films to women, gays, and poc, regardless of whether the message behind the façade is actually progressive

fan response. this ties into point 2. it's pretty well-known now that things like reylo, kylo ren redemption, finn and rose being sidelined etc happened because enough fans were loud enough about it that disney thought it would make an impact on their bottom line. it's why we know that fans can make a difference in what kind of media is created, and why discussions of racism and sexism in fan spaces is important

just plain bad writing. especially after abrams' recent 'maybe a plan would've been good,' confirming what we pretty much knew all along, that the writers had no idea what they were doing

imo, conspiracy theories only hurt the examination of racism, sexism, etc in media/community spaces. people think, 'well i'm not part of a racist conspiracy,' and then they stop there and don't self-reflect and realize that they too have biases that come out subconsciously