MovieChat Forums > The Mandalorian (2019) Discussion > How The Mandalorian is bypassing Hollywo...

How The Mandalorian is bypassing Hollywood's Racial Codes using Aliens


Just food for thoughts.

Only a small percentage of the characters in the series until now were humans. If you focus on them, you'll see that they follow Hollywood's Racial Codes.

You have the usual white caucasian males portraying violent thugs at the beginning (check). You have Werner Herzog and some imperial soldiers portraying usual nazi-esque white male villains (check). You have the usual black secondary playing some kind of smooth streetwise manager (check). This character, played by Carl Weather, is charming, experienced, tired but self-confident, smooth but streetwise... it's the same archetype that the one played by Idris Elba in Prometheus, it's one of the Racial Archetypes for Black Characters in modern Hollywood.

The problem with characters that follow the Racial Codes in Hollywood is that they're boring, both positive and negative (white-male) ones, both are boring. So, how do you get some interesting character? The answer: you make it an Alien.

Think about Kuiil, the main secondary in the series, the guy who is helping The Mandalorian. Could he have been a white male? Nope, the character is positive, and that means that using a white male actor would be politically incorrect. Could he have been black? Neither. The character is quirky sometimes, and using a black actor would be considered racist. The problem with interesting characters is that they usually don't fit in Hollywood's Racial Codes.

How do you solve it? You make it an Alien. Being non-human, Kuiil doesn't have to follow the Racial Codes.

Indeed, think about the most interesting characters in the series until now: they're Aliens.

reply

Good observations.

The Star Wars galaxy is ludicrous when you think about it, its full of humans and aliens but many of the varied aliens are hardly ever in the forefront, the newer films would of been far more enjoyable if they'd of just used familiar aliens as main and supporting characters instead of ticking boxes with gender and race all the time.

reply

I hope they include as many Aliens as possible, for the sake of the story.

Actually, I think it would have been better if the Mandalorian himself was an Alien too. Right now, the main character is kinda flat. It seems that he was supposed to be harsh and ruthless, but that's probably too politically incorrect for a character played by an Hispanic actor. So the character became just... silent.... aseptic, non offensive.

If it was an Alien, probably we would have had a much more interesting main character.

reply

You know, I'm a conservative guy. I hate the use of the word 'Alien' I far prefer, in a series such as this, species.

reply

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alien

reply

Yes, I know the definition, thank you. I've known it since I was 6, which would be in the sixties. My opinion is based that in a society which seems to be very integrated with numerous species that people are not likely to see a Wookie, a Bothan, a Calamari as alien because they are part of the society.

Even in our own society, we (well, most of us) would restrict the word alien to someone who has entered a country illegally. We don't refer to our fellow citizens, whether of African, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, or (insert any and all other countries/ethnicities) as aliens. As I see the Star Wars universe, that is the case.

reply

I think they should stop using the term entirely to describe foreigners. This isn't the 18th century, it doesn't sound right anymore. And I think in a galactic scale society like you have in Star Wars the term would lose its usefulness. If Earth were contacted and invited in to such a civilization we'd drop the word alien too after a while. Once you got used to non-humans being all around you every day, and learned about each of the respective species, you'd just start using the names of individual races instead of calling them alien.

reply

I think the word does have some use. But I largely agree with you. Though, again, I prefer species to race. But your mileage may vary.

reply

So you understand the term is correct. You still prefer the other one, that's fine.

What I don't get is: why do you think I have any interest in your personal preferences? I just don't give a shit about which term you prefer.

I could understand it if the term was more precise. But it happens that the term 'alien' is much useful here since it's clear I'm talking about the non-human, while with 'species' that would require additional clarification.

Whatever.

reply

Why do I have any interests in your personal preferences? Why does anyone post any opinion here. Because its a discussion board. I don't insist you follow my preferences. I made a comment. A contrary comment was made. I defended my preference. That is a normal conversation.

reply

Nope, that's not normal conversation. That's you trying to impose a politically correct term.

And no, I'm not using 'non-human species' instead of 'alien', as I'm not using 'visually disabled' or whatever similar bullshit instead of 'blind'. You don't like other people using the word 'yahve', I mean, 'alien'? Well, too bad for you.

reply

Sigh, I HATE political correctness. I don't like alien in this context because the non-human species are NOT aliens. They are, as far as we can tell citizens of the Empire or the Republic (depending on which movie we are in.) They, therefore, do not really fit in as Aliens any more than a US citizen who was born in Italy, Nairobi or Tokyo is.

reply

And, btw, I'm not trying to IMPOSES anything. I never said or implied that you shouldn't. I said I didn't like it in the context and what I would like instead.

And yes, it was normal conversation, until you made it not.

reply

Alien has little meaning when you are talking about a show that is going to be going from one planet to another with various species in the bars. Species makes more sense to most people as who knows what life forms are alien to the particular planet they might be on.

reply

how do like illegal species

reply

I hope he never takes his helmet off, but I'm sure he will at some point though.

reply

They do take them off in private. And the children don't appear to cover their heads at all. I guess the body armor the Mandalorians use is like a burqa, adults never go out in public without it, except of course that it's worn by both genders - and makes them almost impervious to small arms fire. No wonder that beskar stuff is so valuable.

reply

Well except that Kuiil is voiced by Nick Nolte a decidedly white male actor with a distinct voice that most people would recognize before even seeing the credits. Moreover the face of Kuiil bears a striking resemblance to that of Nolte. So while I would agree with most of what you said, Kuiil doesn't quite fit your conspiracy theory.

reply

Nolte is playing an Alien character. Kuiil is not human.

reply

We disagree on this point... but having watched episode 3 it appears that Kathleen Kennedy's Feminazi hands were truly all over Mandalorian... In case you haven't watched it yet, we have the leader of the Mandalorians as a female, dominating all the males. While history does have instances of females leading groups, a group of fighters as we are led to believe the Mandalorians are is not the type of culture where you would expect women. I suppose it is now only a matter of time until they parade out the gay mandalorians or transgender mandalorians.

reply

I don't think she's their leader. Given the apparently religious nature of Mandalorian society, I think she's a priestess. Which probably gives her a great deal of influence but we don't yet know who leads them, what form of tribal government they have. My personal guess would be: as little as possible. I can't see them doing strict obedience very well.

reply

I see Carl Weathers and I go, "Alright, Carl Weathers, a cool guy, great actor, so happy to see him in this one!" You go, "ah, black actor, racial policy, quotas, yadda yadda yadda..."

reply

Yeap, I understand what you mean.

The same happens with a Christian movie. A Christian with strong faith probably thinks something like 'ah, I like this actor, cool guy, great actor, so happy to see playing the priest' while I'm thinking 'damn, this is just more religious proselytizing, Christians good Atheists bad, selling the Bible yadda yadda yadda...'.

reply


Sad, but mostly true.

😎

reply