Dear Walt Disney, Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, and whomever else it may concern,

 

My name is Sue Dunham* and I urge you to please hear me out regarding Gina Carano’s role in The Mandalorian.

 

The Mandalorian is a wonderful show, perhaps even the best Star Wars series to date. One aspect that makes it so unforgettable is the cast dynamic. Each character plays a unique role in bringing that perfect blend of humor and drama to the show. Cara Dune is an incredibly well-written character because of her witty, no-nonsense personality and top-notch battle skills. She helps Din Djarin to open up and rely on her both as a friend and partner in combat. There is also much of her story left to be explored, such as her past as a Rebellion shock trooper and whether she, having a past of hunting Imperial figures, may help Din Djarin take on Moff Gideon.

 

Having that said, Gina’s character is important and still very much relevant to the show. I ask you to please revisit the post she was fired over and see things from her point of view.

 

Here is the exact text of her post:

 

"Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors … even by children.

Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?"

 

People have voiced on social media how the current state of politics in America should never be compared to the Holocaust since the Jews had it far worse than anyone today. "No one is putting you in gas chambers," they say. "You weren’t sent to a concentration camp," they say. “You were never starved, cut off from family and forced into labor," they say. These are all perfectly valid statements; clearly, no one would think to compare a free America to the horror that was Nazi Germany. So why make this post at all? 

 

Gina's message instead stems from the basic desire of having respect for differences. She simply wants hostility towards those with differing political views to stop escalating. That's it. That's the extent of her comparison. She's stating that the Jews are a prime example of how needless hatred for a people group can grow into something far more sinister. No one wants to be automatically branded a bad person simply over their differences. 

 

I perfectly understand the post's controversy. Anyone can change their political standing, but no one can change their heritage. Let me emphatically state once more that there are few worse global tragedies than the Holocaust, and I'm certain Gina agrees. It goes without saying that any post containing Holocaust comparisons is risky. Therefore, it is imperative you understand that Gina didn't make that post to diminish the struggles faced by the millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Instead, she used a well-known historical event to illustrate a critical point: When it comes to differences, be it of something changeable or otherwise, we as a nation need to live and let live rather than persecute what we neither affirm nor understand.

 

Everyone has the right to express their opinions and beliefs without fear of being shunned, let alone fired. Are there consequences for what we say? Absolutely. However, at no point in this post (or any of her other controversial posts, for that matter) did she harass, abuse, assault, threaten, or incite violence upon anybody. These are fireable offenses; posting something questionable on social media should not be one of them. Like with any TV show or movie, it is understood that Gina's views do not reflect that of Disney or Lucasfilm. Do they have to?

 

A while back, the lead in the show, Pedro Pascal, also made a Holocaust reference when he compared two pictures on Twitter - one of Jewish children in a concentration camp and another of immigrant children seemingly in cages (which, according to Snopes, was proven to be a 2010 picture originating from Palestine showing children waiting to receive food from a soup kitchen). No matter that it was a Holocaust comparison, or that the picture wasn't even accurate. Pedro stayed in the show, unscathed. There were neither hashtags to fire him nor calls for him to apologize. My point is not that Pedro should be fired; he is an excellent actor and, from what I've heard, a stand-up man. However, there is a twinge of hypocrisy in keeping one but firing another who does the same. For this reason, many are inclined to believe Disney and Lucasfilm have started playing political favorites, hence the hashtag #CancelDisneyPlus.  

 

On top of this, The Hollywood Reporter stated a source with knowledge of Lucasfilm claims the corporation was, for two months, looking for a reason to fire Gina. “Looking for a reason” implies there wasn’t a valid one to begin with. Meanwhile, multiple sources including PopSugar, Den of Geek, Variety, Screen Rant, Vanity Fair and Forbes either praise her character or mention she was positively received by audiences. If her ability to play the character wasn’t the issue, why fire her? The only requirements of her job are to play the character well (check), treat her coworkers with respect (check, see how she speaks of Pedro here), and not give out spoilers (check). Even if any of her posts diminish her credibility, nothing she posts on social media takes away from her acting skills, which was all she was hired to provide.

 

In conclusion, Cara Dune is a beloved character only brought to full power by Gina Carano. I truly feel the voices of those in agreement far outnumber the voices of those in disagreement. If someone disagrees with an actor on social media, they can simply unfollow them rather than call for their firing. To make such defamatory statements that Gina is a "racist" or a "transphobe" (see her apology for the pronoun controversy here) is unfair. Gina's posts do not affect her incredible acting abilities, and Cara Dune’s story still needs to be explored. Please give us our Gina back. 

 

Thank you so much for reading this.

 

Sue Dunham

 

(* I used my pen name to protect my identity. Don't worry, I'm not a robot. :) I have read the Community Guidelines and am not, to the best of my knowledge, intentionally impersonating anyone, real or fictitious, by the name of Sue Dunham.)