In 2017 , a hitherto little - acknowledge actress constitute Kelly Marie Tran made history . As the lineament of maintenance worker Rose Tico inStar warfare : The Last Jedi , the Vietnamese - American actress had become the first ever Asian - American woman to have a major character in aStar Warsfilm .

But with all the excitement come something much sorry : an onslaughtofracist and sexist abusefrom so - ring “ fan ” of the sci - fi series . And Tran was n’t the only actor to face it : John Boyega , the Nigerian - British actor who had fall in the franchise in 2015 , hadpreviously faceddeath threats and an try boycott in response to his casting as ex - stormtrooper Finn .

What could have been behind such a recoil to the new characters ? accord to a raw study , the response is – well , incisively what you probably reckon : sexism and racism .

“ The design of the [ … ] study was to quiz the hypothesis that sexist and antiblack position are connect withStar Warsfans ’ preference for characters , specifically three newer graphic symbol from the subsequence picture show that aim to increase the diversity of eccentric in the serial , ” the authors write .

“ The results largely supported the hypotheses , as hostile sexism and symbolical racial discrimination were both associated with keen dislike of newer characters . ”

The researchers recruited ego - professedStar Warsfans from various on-line fan resort – subreddits devoted to meme and ship , for instance – and sent them questionnaires about their experience within the fandom .

It ’s important to take down , at this point , that this proficiency descend with some obvious limitation : of the confining to 2,000 study participants , more than two - thirds were male , and about the same proportion were aged 18 - 30 . All respondents spoke English – it was the only language the survey was put up in . In other tidings : it was n’t a in particular indifferent sample .

Nevertheless , as part of that survey , participants were asked to cover how powerfully they agreed with a series of financial statement plan to disclose their level of racism and sexism . That prejudice could be beneficent – call up , “ char have a higher-ranking moral sensibility ” , or “ adult female should be cherished and protect ” – or hostile , along the line of “ Women are too well offend ” , or “ Racial minorities are responsible for for racial tension ” .

With that complete , the lover were then asked to rate how much they like six differentStar Warscharacters . From the olderStar Warsfilms , there were Luke Skywalker , Leia Organa , and Padme Amidala ; from the newer sequels , fans rat Finn , Rose , and Rey .

The results bore out what many commentator had already suggest : “ Fans ’ degree of racism and sexism was positively colligate with greater dislike of newer character but not older character , ” study generator Stephen Reysen , a professor at Texas A&M University - Commerce , toldPsyPost .

In other news : the more a cogitation responder agreed with those sexist orraciststatements , the more probable they were to also reject the fresh , more diverse cast of theStar Warssequels .

And even being an elder statesperson of the enfranchisement was n’t enough to harbor character from those particular fans ’ distaste – not if their later iteration fall afoul of more traditional and subservient character roles , that is . “ [ There ] was a smaller , but significant , negatively charged association with a orientation for Leia , ” Reysen tell PsyPost . “ This may be explained by the change in Leia ’s character in the newer serial : from damozel - in - distress to an agentic and powerful general . ”

So , is there any good news program here , or isStar Warssimply a lost cause ? Not necessarily : despite the findings , the cogitation also unwrap that the decades - old sci - fi franchise is really faring quite a bit better in condition of fan prejudice than some other eccentric person and dweeb sensitive .

“ Star Warsfans were well below the midpoint of the racial discrimination and sexism measuring , ” Reysen channelise out . “ The results do not suggest that there is a large part of theStar Warsfandom back these beliefs . Rather there is merely an association . ”

Nevertheless , Reysen added , these findings should not warn filmmakers from recruiting more various casts . “ Representation is crucial in metier and has an influence on the audience ( reduced prejudice ) , ” he told PsyPost . “ However , as studio search to reboot or keep sure-enough series and admit greater diversity they may see fan backlash . ”

The subject area is release in the journalPsychology of Popular Media .