Up-and-coming actress Kelly Marie Tran landed a starring role in the 2017 hit film Star Wars: The Last Jedi. For the past decade, Tran had struggled to land a role in a major Hollywood film. In Hollywood it seemed like all the odds were against her. What made it more difficult to play a major character in a blockbuster film, besides being a woman, was her Asian heritage. So far, less than 6% of Asian actresses have had leading roles in big-budget Hollywood films. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Tran landed her role in the latest Star Wars film against all the odds stacked against her. Unfortunately, racist comments criticizing her role surfaced online in the weeks following the film's premiere. Predominantly male commenters on various internet platforms posted inflammatory tweets and misogynistic messages about her body and her Asian heritage. A Star Wars fan site has had to shut down due to illegal edits made by some members of the site. American male Internet commentators, according to statistics, are primarily responsible for the backlash against Tran. The predominantly male audiences of action-packed films, such as Star Wars, expect women to be oversexualized and scantily clad according to online questionnaires. Another criticism concerns the portrayal of Asian women in Hollywood films. Male audiences expect Asian women to be submissive and seductive, rather than independent and strong. Some Internet commenters would forgive Tran's casting choice if she were "at least sexy." Tran's character in Star Wars breaks both of these stereotypes and this has caused the resulting backlash. Asian Americans make up 4.8% of the U.S. population and experience the largest population growth of any racial demographic group. However, Asians represent only 3.9% of speaking roles in top-grossing films, and only a fraction of them were Asian women. Studies have shown that women receive more harassment and abuse when they deviate from traditional gender roles than when they stay in their own lane. Asian women have mostly been stereotyped as heterosexual nerds or submissive sex dolls, but never as respectable equals to a white person. A social movement, created by Asian American women, called “Sad Asian Girls,” felt it was time to speak out about their personal experiences by creating printed statements that begin, “Asian women don't do this.” All statements were contributions that the creators collected online to raise awareness of these stereotypes. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Even as Tran has endured multiple waves of racial abuse online , many others have spoken out in her defense. It's sad to say that racist comments like these demonstrate why Hollywood may be reluctant to cast more diverse characters like Tran's. Tran is the first Asian woman to be cast in a leading role in the Star Wars franchise and break the glass ceiling of Hollywood blockbusters for non-Caucasian actors. This is a game changer for all the underrepresented characters of color on TV and film.