Thursday, February 11, 2021

Well, this could be someone's big break...

So Lucasfilm or Disney or whoever has fired Gina Carano, the former MMA star and Star Wars actor, over her gross tweets. They ran the shitty human gamut from transphobic to anti-Semitic and the internet is alight with opinions because the internet. 

Pictured: the internet.

Disney: a company famous for not
tolerating anti-Semitism...usually.
I think most are satisfied with the idea that when you run around using your fame as a platform for your hate-filled, Trumpy nonsense, you get fired. And despite the inevitable right-wing argument that this is another example of cancel culture persecuting conservatives for espousing their beliefs, this isn't a question of free speech. Carano is free to say whatever she wants, and Disney is equally free to kick her off their payroll. It's the free-marketest thing they could have possibly done. I'm not usually on Disney's side, but in this case, good job.

Pictured: Kennedy addressing
concerns of franchise fatigue.
But what I don't get is the speculation about what happens to Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic. SWROTNR, if you don't recall, is one of the thirty or forty new Star Wars streaming shows Kathleen Kennedy announced a couple of months ago at some kind of investor meeting. Fans expected Cara Dune, Carano's character from The Mandalorian, to be the lead, and season three of that show seemed to be setting up Dune for the spin-off. So, like, what now? While this is not an unreasonable question, I suppose we should re-examine our priorities. 

One of Carano's more "are you for goddamn kidding me?" posts seemed to compare being a conservative in America with being a Jew in Nazi Germany. So in many ways, the conversation should probably be about how spectacularly she should have been fired.

The answer of course is with a stunning and star-studded musical
extravaganza followed by a fire works display, the finale of which involves
spelling the words: "You're Fired" across the sky in blazing pyrotechnics.

I know we all love to feel like film
industry insiders, but this is what I think
 of then I hear the word franchise.
But if we really want to think about this in terms of how it affects Star Wars as a--ugh, and I truly hate this word--as a franchise, I suppose there are really two ways Disney can go. The easiest would be to simply cancel their plans for Rangers of the New Republic. I mean, they would still have a dozen other Star Wars shows in production, and since we've seen nothing of this one, it's not like we'd miss it. It sucks that they've probably already hired a production team and that they'd all lose their jobs because an actor is feeling persecuted for their batty conspiracy theories. 

The other, better option would be just hire a different actor, right? Like recast Cara Dune or maybe create a brand new character or something. Say, Star Wars' first trans character? I suspect that for every famous whose finger has ever hovered over the post button on some transphobic tweet there're a hundred equally talented actors out there just waiting for their chance. So congratulations someone, this is your big break. 

Of course this news is especially devastating to Star Wars fans
coming as it does just days after reports surfaced that the puppet
who played Grogu has been organizing illegal dog-fights.

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