We’ve seen all sorts of strange marketing techniques out of Star Wars in the past. However, last month’s drag show presentation at Star Wars Celebration 2023 was a new level.
In April of this year, Lucasfilm held their giant fan convention Star Wars Celebration in London. A lot of the fare was everything you would expect from a media conglomerate doing their best to market their upcoming properties. Stars of their current and upcoming shows graced the stage to talk about how much Star Wars means to them. Anthony Carboni served up pre-packaged question meant to illicit the best responses from intreviewees. Fake tears were shed, lightsabers were waved, projects were announced, applause was heard (for most guests, at least).
Another aspect of Celebration raised eyebrows. Two social media influencers were invited by Lucasfilm to talk about drag performance through the lens of the Star Wars films. Chase (aka That Gay Jedi) and Rebecca Frasier (pencilscratchins on YouTube) hosted a panel called “Star Wars Is a Drag” where they talked about all the great LGBT moments in Star Wars, from Padme wearing a lot of makeup, to the claim that C-3PO was written as a gay stereotype, to John Boyega’s Finn “completely rejecting the gender binary,” no character or moment was off limits (or free from the implication that it was actually LGBT).
Chase and Rebecca make it very clear in the panel that they have the full support of Lucasfilm as they point out the gender performative aspects of Luke & Leia, how Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker led Chase to “discover” things about himself, how the pandemic caused both Chase and Rebecca to question their genders and come out as non-binary, and (of course) how everyone in Star Wars is obviously LGBT.
It remains to be seen whether Lucasfilm will host more panels like this in the future or if their content will content more explicitly LGBT themes in the future. For instance, those of us at That Park Place are waiting to see how the new Lucasfilm Disney Junior series Young Jedi Adventures might be waiting to incorporate an episode or two about pronouns, LGBT parenthood, or break new ground on the gender spectrum.
For a better understanding of the “Star Wars Is a Drag” panel, check out the video below on the Jonas J. Campbell YouTube channel.
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