As someone who grew up with the Star Wars prequels, when I think of Black representation in the series, I think of Mace Windu, brought to life by iconic actor Samuel L. Jackson. I was raised on Jackson’s effortlessly Black cool that made my mother swoon and me excited as an action fan. So, when he showed up in Star Wars with his purple lightsaber, I paid attention.
And there was sadly not a lot there.
On paper, Mace Windu is one of the most powerful Jedi in the order at the time. Yet, his role in the series is limited to being one of those who doubted that Anakin could be The Chosen One. When he meets a young Anakin, he agrees with Yoda that the boy is too old to dedicate himself to the Jedi order—an already problematic mentality, but that’s the Jedi. They kind of suck.
Following that, in The Clone Wars, we often see Windu working in tandem with Yoda to maintain the balance and keep the Jedi Order intact. He comes in hard during the Battle of Geonosis and cuts off the head of Jango Fett in front of his son. Mace, like the other Jedi, turns from peacekeeper to soldier, becoming a general. I know that he gets more to do in The Clone Wars animated series, but I want to focus on the films, because that is what the average person has watched.
Mace Windu, in Revenge of the Sith, is told of Palpatine’s true nature by Anakin. He orders Anakin to stay behind and brings three other Red Shirts—I mean Jedi—to take Palpatine on. He succeeds, but Anakin follows and, out of desperation to keep Padmé alive, helps Palpatine kill Windu, robbing the Jedi of one of their greatest warriors and propelling Anakin straight to the Dark Side.
Throughout the prequel trilogy, Mace Windu doubts Anakin and can clearly sense the conflict within him. Even though we know he is correct, that framing instantly puts Mace as an antagonistic force. That, in a vacuum, wouldn’t be frustrating, but it is something we often see Black characters get relegated to. Mace is correct in his doubts, and we, the audience, know that. But the lack of screentime and the fact that we are seeing Anakin on this emotional journey means we don’t side with Windu. Since he dies, he gets no place in the film canon, except as a great warrior who almost saves the Force and a voice cameo in Rise of Skywalker.
IGN, back in 2010, listed Mace Windu as #27th on their list of the 100 top Star Wars characters, saying, “But where Mace truly shines and proves his superiority is in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series. This animated series had the famous scene in which the Jedi Master took down an entire battalion of super battle droids and destroyed a Separatist seismic tank in a matter of minutes.”
When we talk about representation, we have to not just look at billing, but in the quality of screentime, how the character is framed, and what their white counterparts get in comparison. It is not enough to just be there and be the badass. We need fully fleshed out characters, and not just in a television series that is more niche.
I will not be surprised if, one day soon, we get a miniseries that is animated and focuses on Finn’s journey in more depth, but that won’t erase the quality of storytelling we originally got.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
