New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait has compared the controversy concerning The Mandalorian star Gina Carano to Hollywood’s blacklisting of communist sympathizers in the Cold War era.
After months of facing backlash, and even advertently inciting it on several occasions, the Mouse House fired the actress behind Cara Dune from future seasons of Jon Favreau’s Star Wars show. The final nail in the coffin of Carano’s scandal came in form of a tweet that compared the current political climate to Nazi Germany, explaining how Republicans are akin to Jews in the Holocaust.
It goes without saying that a lot of people, who often tend to advocate for ‘cancel culture,’ got what they wished for from the rather insensitive comment. Be that as it may, many fans are also expressing their rage over Lucasfilm’s decision to fire an actor due to their political activism. Regardless of where you stand, though, there’s no denying that Hollywood hasn’t yet given up the practice of blacklisting individuals who undermine liberal values. At least, that’s according to what the aforementioned Chait said in an essay on Friday, noting the similarity between Carano’s case and the industry’s infamous blacklisting of communists in the 1950s.
“A fairer and more liberal society is able to create some space between an individual’s political views and the position of their employer,” Chait wrote. “A Dalton Trumbo ought to have been able to hold onto his screenwriting job even though he supported a murderous dictator like Stalin. And actors ought to be able to work even if they support an authoritarian bigot like Donald Trump.”
The writer also explained why the actress’ statements weren’t anti-Semitic “by any reasonable definition,” saying:
“The post simply argued (uncontroversially) that the Holocaust grew out of a hate campaign against Jews, which it then likened (controversially) to hatred of fellow Americans for their political views. I don’t find this post especially insightful. But overheated comparisons to Nazi Germany are quite common, and, more to the point, not anti-Semitic. There is no hint anywhere in this post of sympathy for Nazis or blame for their victims.”
As reasonable as this argument may sound, I highly doubt that it’ll do Gina Carano any good, especially now that even her agency has cut all ties with her. And besides, the latest reports seem to suggest that Lucasfilm was basically looking for an excuse to give her the boot, so any hope of reinstatement is far-fetched at this point, to say the least.
