Finn is plenty strong-willed and independent - if rebelling against the Storm Troopers when those are all he has ever known, while rescuing a rebel pilot along the way, isn't impressive enough for you, he then repeatedly proves his independent thinking and his self-confidence, especially with that bluff about knowing how to disable the shields on the big bad weapon. While kicking ass along the way when it comes down to fights - if he's using completely alien weapons, it may take a few tries but he learns nearly as fast as Rey. And it is after all only the first movie, so he has space left to grow.

There is nothing weak about Finn, unless you count that one detail of not being Rey. Which, you know, deal with it. If Rey had been a guy, you wouldn't have been here complaining that Finn was made weaker or reduced to a sidekick.

I have no idea what you're talking about, considering that Kylo Ren has black hair and looks a lot more Jewish than Nazi, if I have to pick one of the two.

Nobody expects this sort of thing to magically cure racism or sexism, but that's not what it's about. It's about giving little kids of racial minorities, or little girls, the idea that they can be the hero of the story just as the little white boy can. As I said to Tom, there aren't many genres where the setting and plot will allow you to be truly colourblind and genderblind, so in cases like Star Wars that do allow it, the opportunity shouldn't be missed.

While we're at it, I don't want to give the idea that I'm scorning the earlier SW movies - Leia did have an important role, and there were coloured characters in important role before. But A New Hope came out in 1977 - in 2015, the time is ripe for a more active female lead.

I completely disagree. Men are stronger and taller than women and consequently have an edge in physical combat - on average. Girls getting hurt if they try to take on a guy depends entirely on the girl, and the guy. There's nothing wrong as such with a man fighting a woman like she is a man - the wrongness is in the man trying to hurt someone weaker just because he can, or to impose his will through violence. Which is just as wrong when he does it to a physically weak man, or when it's a woman doing it (don't know if you saw this, but inbetween all the fuss about the NFL's domestic violence policy, the WNBA had an ugly incident of its own).

But if this means that you're finally admitting that your problem is simply with the premise of the next big SW hero being a woman, perhaps we can stop the pretence that this is somehow about Finn, and conclude our whole debate really just boils down to me applauding a female heroine and you deploring it.