After conducting surveys with classmates and others about Star Wars, the author found that the franchise now has a more diverse audience compared to its original target of young white males. Though more male participants identified as Star Wars fans than females, 100% of those who watched The Force Awakens enjoyed it, including 4 of the 6 female participants. The surveys also showed that Disney's marketing campaign to attract more women with Rey as the protagonist was successful, as 5 of the 6 females said they most related to her character. The author concluded that Star Wars has made conscious efforts through The Force Awakens to expand its fan base beyond the stereotypical audience of white males.

1. Aftercollectingmyresultsfromthe surveys,whichIsentoutto myclass matesand otherpeople I
thoughtthat I couldbenefitoff of theiranswers,Ifoundoutthat star warsnow hasa verydiverse
audience comparedtohowitusedto be withits oldtargetaudience beingyoungwhitemales.
Despite thisIstill foundthatmore malescalledthemselvesstarwarsfansthan my female
participants,5 outof 6 malessaidtheyare star wars fanscomparedto 2 out of 6 femalessayingthat
theyare star warsfans.
Thiswas interestingaseventhoughonly2
femalessaidtheywere starwarsfans4 of
themsaidthat theyhad watchedandenjoyed
force awakens,andthe only2 participants
that didn’tenjoyforce awakenswerethey
twofemaleswhohadn’twatchedit.This
meansthat frommy results100% of the
participantswhowatchedstarwars the force
awakensenjoyedit.
I had a questiononmysurveyaskingthe
participantsaboutwhotheymostrelatedto
whenitcame to the characters inthe film, 5
out of the 6 femalesansweredReywhichIwasexpectingasthisprovesthatDisney’smarketing
campaignto getmore womentowatch the filmworked. However1female answeredthatshe most
relatedtoFinn (a blackmale),thisparticipantputthemselvesinthe ‘blackorAfricanAmerican’
groupfor my ethnicityquestion.Thisshowsyetagainthatthe castingagentsmade a conscious
decisiontomake one of the maincharacters of the movie aBritishNigerian tomake the movies
target audience broader.The majorityof the malesmostrelatedtoeitherHanSoloor Finnthiswas
no surprise asthese charactersare the ‘strongmales’inthe movie.
I alsofoundthat I had a verydiverse starwarsaudience,Ihadanswersfrom:white/Caucasian,
black/AfricanAmericanandAsian/AsianAmerican.Thisshowsthatinrecentyearsstarwars have
triedto expandtheirfanbase (thatisstereotypicallywhite males) intoamore diverse market,they
didthisby makingthe trailerforforce awakenshave a female voice forthe narration,havingablack
male beingthe firstmale face we see inthe trailerandhimbeingthe firstpersontohave a blue
lightsaber,havingafemale beingthe mainprotagonistandmanyotheranti-stereotypes.
The trailerfor star warsforce awakenswasa huge marketingcampaigntomake sure everyone from
everybackgroundcouldenjoystarwars.