10 Reasons Rogue One Is The Smartest Star Wars Movie Ever

6. It's The Most Diverse Film In The Saga

rogue one
Disney

I know that we all may love Star Wars, but let's face it, when it came to diversity it never really set an example. The trio of heroes from Episodes IV to VI were all white and predominantly male. Their adventures, blinkered in a heteronormative narrative, are still typical of Hollywood today. And if you're a person of colour, LGBT* or a woman, and happen to like Star Wars, then finding unproblematic representation in the saga has, until recently, proven to be difficult. Following a precedent set by The Force Awakens, Rogue One makes a bold statement in placing diversity front and centre to its message of rebellion.

If you tend to avoid that side of the internet that so so enjoys making deplorable behaviour synonymous with geek culture, then you'd be forgiven for missing the whole '#DumpStarWars' malarkey that erupted on Twitter following - sigh - Donald Trump's November 8th election victory.

Basically, like the decent human beings most creatives tend to be, the writers of Rogue One deemed it fit to label the Empire as a white nationalist group, which is true, because that's been of staple of Star Wars canon for a heck of a long time. (were those red, white and black flags not a big enough giveaway, guys?) Following this, they tweeted solidarity with POC and LGBT* Americans experiencing a disgusting spike in hate crime in the aftermath of the election, creating an image of a safety pin emblazoned across the logo of the Rebel Alliance. It wasn't long before everyone's favourite internet Nazis, the Alt-Right, caught onto this however, and thus the hashtag was born. Rogue One's diverse cast only vexed them further.

I don't know about you, but if you're p*ssing off Nazis, usually that's a sign you're doing something right. And of course, Rogue One has done something right; it's given Star Wars fans - a diverse group of races, sexes, genders and religions - heroes that break the mould of Hollywood's never ending love affair with pale, stale, male protagonists. It's important to remember that representation matters, and the significance of Rogue One's diverse cast is something all fans should be able to appreciate. After all, what is Star Wars if not a symbol against oppression?

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.