By ANDREW ABATE
The actress who played Cara Dune in Disney+’s TV series The Mandalorian, was recently fired from Lucasfilm and had her character removed from the series after making a controversial post on Instagram.
Disney dismissed Gina Carano after her social media post essentially compared being politically conservative in the United States to being a Jew during the Holocaust.
Fans interviewed felt that while the post was inappropriate, her removal may have been an over-reaction.
The Mandalorian is perhaps the most popular show on Disney+, and its most recent season found even more success than the first one. In fact, season 1 of the show won seven Emmy awards in 2020, and then season 2’s premier saw a 73 percent increase in viewers from season 1’s with 1.04 million households tuning in.
The Mandalorian takes place in the same fictional universe as the Star Wars series, but on the planet Mandalore. The planet is a society where its civilians are raised to become bounty hunters, and they are not supposed to reveal their true identities to outsiders. One of the hunters, who goes by Mando in the series, is tasked with transporting a child with the powers of the force (“Baby Yoda”), but becomes attached to the child and instead chooses to go against orders and bring him back to his family. The series focuses on his journey with the child and the obstacles they must overcome along the way.
Cara Dune, Carano’s character in the series, is a highly trained fighter with both weapons and hand-to-hand combat. She despises the Galactic empire portrayed in the original Star Wars series because of its destruction of her home planet. The character has been revered by many fans for being an atypical female Star Wars character, as the women in the series do not tend to be fighters or physically intimidating.
WHAT DID FANS THINK?
Susan Aaronson and Jeremy Abate, both of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who are both big fans of The Mandalorian and Jewish, agreed that the Instagram post was poor judgment, but that removing her from the show altogether was not a necessary response to the matter.
Aaronson, 49, did not believe that Carano had discriminatory intentions with her Instagram post, but that the comparison was indeed a poor one.
“I think it was just an ignorant statement, not necessarily an anti-Semitic one” said Aaronson. “There’s a huge difference between rounding up Jews and not liking someone because of their political differences. Rounding up Jews was racism, not politics. I think she just made a stupid statement.”
Aaronson also said that while she condemns the claims made in Carano’s post, she felt that losing her role in the series may have been too harsh a form of discipline.
“I don’t think she should have been dropped from the show, but she definitely needs to apologize and realize the error in her words and how they were hurtful,” Aaronson added.
Abate, 19, agreed that while being removed from the show for this ill-advised post was an excessive punishment, Carano should still be held accountable for said post.
“I understand the intent, and I don’t think she had a purpose of being anti-Semitic” said Abate. It certainly wasn’t the best analogy, but I do understand the point she was trying to make. I just think she has more extreme views of certain things. She’s said more ‘out there’ things than this in the past. I don’t think she should have been fired. She should just apologize and understand why you shouldn’t say things like that.”
Aaronson and Abate both also added that this controversy had no impact on whether or not they would continue to watch the show. They both finished watching the second season recently.
This is not the first time Carano has been involved in controversy. This is why other fans are arguing on the other side of the coin, believing that Carano is a problematic figure and should be “cancelled” as they say on social media now.
For instance, last September she temporarily updated the bio of her Twitter account to say “beep/bop/boop”, which can be inferred as mocking people who prefer to be called non-traditional pronouns. According to the New York Post, she later clarified that this had “zero to do with mocking trans people” but that she wanted to call out “the bullying mentality of the mob that has taken over the voices of many genuine causes.” Regardless, this rubbed people the wrong way and many were outraged online.
More recently, on Feb. 10, Carano tweeted a picture of a square full of letters with a secret message within them, one that said “Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself” which in turn also sparked a scene online.
— Gina Carano ? (@ginacarano) February 10, 2021
On Feb. 12, Carano responded to her critics in a statement provided to Deadline where she also announced the start of a new film project with conservative-leaning website, The Daily Wire, and its founder, Ben Shapiro. Carano essentially calls out cancel culture and insists she will continue to utilize her freedom of speech.
“I cried out and my prayer was answered” said Carano. “I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”
Clearly, while some fans of the show are not incredibly bothered by the recent antics of Carano, many social media users have been calling for her to be “cancelled” for some time now. Carano’s detractors may be satisfied by the news that she will no longer be cast in The Mandalorian or working with Lucasfilm at all, and she has certainly become quite the polarizing figure to say the least.
This was an interesting article. I’m glad you included the perspectives of people who are Jewish and not just people who are fans of the show. The links were helpful since I wasn’t familiar with the other situations she’s been involved in. Overall, I thought the reporting was great.
Hi Andrew, I liked this piece. As a fan of the series myself, I was curious to see what others thought about Carano’s firing. It was a clear move to choose fans as voices, but an keen one to choose Jewish fans specifically. I was glad you were able to find the controversial posts and hyperlink them in there. Also, good work adding brief but necessary context for those who are unfamiliar with the show. I would’ve been curious to see what some of her former co-stars have said (if anything at all), but otherwise, nice piece. Good work.