STEPHEN L. CARTER: ‘Rogue One’ Doesn’t Solve Sci Fi’s Big Problem.
When I left the theater after seeing “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” my first thought was: What about the Bothans? . . .
The good guys have stolen the secret architectural plans to the Death Star and must analyze them swiftly to find a flaw before it arrives and pulverizes their planet. And how exactly were the plans stolen? Rebel leader Mon Mothma tells us: “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.”
And the audience thinks, “I don’t know what a Bothan is, but they sure sound heroic.” But there is no further mention of the species, in that film or any others in the franchise. And, definitely, no sight of one.
OK. Fast-forward to now. “Rogue One” is a prequel to the movie now known as “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.” It tells the story of how the good guys got the plans to destroy the first Death Star. The tale is cleverly set up and quite engaging. There’s only one problem: no Bothans. Except for a single droid, everybody who matters in the heist is human.
Humans find humans more interesting. I suspect that Bothans feel the same way about Bothans. Though Ed Driscoll was unmoved by these particular humans: “About a third of the way through Rogue One, I came to my first conclusion about the movie, and I suspect I’m not alone: I don’t care about these characters.” Plus:
Why does any of this matter? Because the other conceit of the expanded universe is that the galaxy far, far away is full of all manner of intelligent life. But the Empire practices pure speciesism. All the posts of any importance are reserved for humans.
In the expanded universe, we are meant to see this as an obvious injustice. Speciesism is a trope for racism. The Empire practices segregation. That’s one of the reasons we are supposed to root against it. (The Empire would never have hired Yoda.) The Rebellion is integrated, humans and other species working together to throw off the oppression. That’s why we’re supposed to root for it.
But in “Rogue One,” the two sides are, on this point, indistinguishable. We see nonhumans among the good guys, but we never really get to meet them. You don’t have to be a sci-fi fan to see why the omission matters. There’s a symbolism at work here.
Well, Hollywood is basically the Empire in practice, but the Rebel Alliance in terms of self-image.
UPDATE (from Steve). As I posted in the comments section:
Bothans did not steal the original Death Star plans, and Mon Mothma wasn’t even in Star Wars: A New Hope. Also, it’s never made clear if Bothans are a non-human race, or humans from a planet called Botha.
“Many Bothans died” bringing the Rebel Alliance the news that “the Emperor himself” was on board the second Death Star during Return of the Jedi. The Emperor allowed that information to escape, killing some Bothans for plausibility one assumes, in order to set a trap for the Rebels — which would make for a great spy movie set in the Star Wars universe.