As you've no doubt noticed from repeat viewings of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser, John Boyega's face is the first you see. Stranded in the desert, Boyega sports both an updated Stormtrooper uniform as well as a panicked expression as he stumbles toward the dunes of what we presume is Tatooine. His prominent placement in the teaser has given Boyega his biggest exposure to date; The Hollywood Reporter has noted the clip soared past 40 million views in 72 hours.
Still, not everyone was pleased to see the Attack the Block star front and center, something Boyega acknowledged in a post on Instagram.
A photo posted by @jboyega on
The "get used to it" is a subtle takedown to those who felt the need to make racist comments about Boyega's leading role or his placement as a Stormtrooper based on the assumption that all Stormtroopers are white. Kriston Capps broke down the inaccuracy -- and inherent prejudice -- of those viewpoints in an op-ed for The Atlantic.
"In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi travels to the secretive planet of Kamino, where he discovers the existence of a clone army that would feed the so-called Clone Wars and eventually serve as the model for the evil Galactic Empire’s stormtrooper infantry," Capps wrote. "Those clones weren't white in any sense of the word. Jango Fett, the bounty hunter who served as the genetic template, was culturally (and perhaps ethnically) a Mandalorian. And the actor who portrays him, Temuera Derek Morrison, is a New Zealand-born person of brown skin and partial Maori descent."
Capps continues his canonical dismantling by pointing out that by the time A New Hope rolled around, the Empire had begun recruiting non-clones into the Stormtrooper ranks. "That's why it makes sense that a young Luke Skywalker, lured by a galaxy larger than the humble moisture farm he calls home on Tatooine, dreams of enlisting in the Imperial Navy."
As previously mentioned, the teaser flew past 40 million YouTube views after just 72 hours online. The previous YouTube juggernauts of 2014 include Fifty Shades of Grey, which amassed 36.4 million views in its first four days, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which scored 50.6 mill in five days.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens Dec, 18, 2015.