The Chinese promotional film poster for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is causing a controversy online for noticeably shrinking down the image of the film’s black lead actor, John Boyega.
The 23-year-old actor, who portrays the character Finn, had his image shrunk down and replaced with TIE fighters chasing the Millennium Falcon.
The character images of Chewbacca and non-white actors Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata were also taken out and replaced with an enlarged image of the droid BB-8.
The controversy and comments online revolve around how the Asian markets treat characters that aren’t either white or block-buster famous.
In a statement unrelated to the virtual hiding of Finn’s character, John Hsu, General Manager of the Walt Disney Company China said:
“We are thrilled to bring Star Wars: The Force Awakens to China on January 9. We’re excited to be rolling out our marketing campaign and to connect with new fans in China through Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Star Wars opens in the United States on December 18. The Chinese release date is set for January 29, 2016.
