It is a period of civil war…
The very first words from the title crawl of Star Wars foreshadows what would eventually happen to fans of the franchise over forty years after the words were written into the crawl. It is no secret that since the Disney-acquisition and the dawn of a new era of Star Wars, the fan base has been completely divided. Following the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII- The Last Jedi, the fan base became more divided than ever: those who thought The Last Jedi was great, and those who believe that it is the worst movie to ever be put on film, and that it should be struck from Star Wars “canon.”
Though this piece is not intended to be an editorial, I am personally a huge fan of The Last Jedi, and think the majority claims against the film are quite ludicrous (just want to put that statement out there).
The latter half of the fan base, the ones who believe that The Last Jedi is a piece of Bantha fodder, are also split into two: those who dislike the film for its narrative, and those who dislike the film because of it being inclusive of all genders and races. Though the opinion regarding the narrative is valid, as that aspect of the film is subjective, it is disgraceful that the conversation regarding inclusiveness is even existent in the present day. Five years after the film’s release, some viewers still have strong, negative feelings toward The Last Jedi. It became clear that the numerical majority of viewers had no qualms with the film, but it was the numerical minority of haters that became the vocal majority.
Before getting into greater detail about the situation regarding the “civil war” amongst the Star Wars fan base, I’d like to take you back in time to February 2018– two months after The Last Jedi’s release…
Best known for directing films such as Super 8 (2011), Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens (2015), and Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker (2019), J.J. Abrams is also known for being a strong advocate for female and POC representation, equality, and inclusion. Abrams, who served as executive producer on The Last Jedi, has made an effort to diversify the film industry– both in front of the camera and behind the camera.
In February 2018, I was fortunate enough to attend New York City’s Athena Film Festival at Barnard College. This festival, which began thirteen years ago, is a four-day event celebrating the great achievements of women throughout the film industry that year.
Among the talented honorees, J.J. Abrams was presented the Leading Man Award, which is awarded to a man that is an advocate and promotes female inclusion, and has done so throughout his career.
In an article from IndieWire, Mr. Abrams defended The Last Jedi when asked about the film’s mixed reactions. He said…
Their (The Last Jedi haters) problem isn’t ‘Star Wars,’ their problem is being threatened [by women and female inclusion]. ‘Star Wars’ is a big galaxy, and you can sort of find almost anything you want to in ‘Star Wars.’ If you are someone who feels threatened by women and needs to lash out against them, you can probably find an enemy in ‘Star Wars.’ You can probably look at the first movie that George [Lucas] did [Star Wars: A New Hope] and say that Leia was too outspoken, or she was too tough. Anyone who wants to find a problem with anything can find the problem. The internet seems to be made for that.
Everything that Mr. Abrams had said… is true.
The majority of the complaints regarding The Last Jedi were criticizing the strong inclusion of strong female characters and other minorities. Although the conversation was brought to a new level with The Last Jedi, it really started ten years ago while the production of The Force Awakens was underway.
The film received a lot of pre-hate for casting John Boyega, a person of color, as a lead role in the movie. Right after The Force Awakens came out, the conversation picked up again, this time complaints directed toward the character of Rey. Many people complained that Rey was overpowered, and dare I say it, a “Mary Sue.”
Back to the conversation regarding The Last Jedi, the argument that there are too many female characters is irrelevant and illogical. First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having female representation. I honestly can’t fathom why so many people feel threatened. What is there to be threatened by? As for The Last Jedi, there is the same amount of main and supporting strong female characters as there are male characters.
Issues with bigotry aren’t just contained within hate for a fictional story, but the hate’s real impact is on the real world. After The Force Awakens’ release, haters were in full force bullying the Sequel Trilogy star, Daisy Ridley, off of Instagram (Ridley has since returned to the platform). After The Last Jedi’s release, history repeated itself and the same group bullied Kelly Marie Tran off of Instagram. This group was known as the “The Fandom Menace.”
In addition to harassing actresses and hacking movie-ranking sites to lower the score consensus of recent Star Wars films, these people are also constantly ripping apart and calling for the resignation of Lucasfilm’s president, Kathleen Kennedy, who is arguably the most successful movie producer in the history of cinema (she has produced some of the greatest films of all time including: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, and of course, all of the recent Star Wars films).
But why? There is nothing to lash out at them for. As Mr. Abrams said, these people feel threatened by diversity in the Star Wars universe, even though diversity has been a main player in Star Wars right from the start!
In the IndieWire article regarding his Athena Film Festival award, Mr. Abrams added, “I wish it weren’t something that there was a need to do. It’s a bit like Black History Month, like why should it just be a month? Why can’t it just be part of history? Why does there have to be a special award for someone who is working to be as collaborative with as many women as possible? The endgame is equality.”
When watching Abrams give his speech, I was in awe of the humbled words of acceptance he had to say. You can watch his full acceptance speech here.
In the five years since The Last Jedi argument began, the Star Wars online community became completely toxic; but maybe it was for the best.
Throughout the last half-decade, the fandom was able to weed out the people who share inhumane morals, and the fans who value inclusion and diversity. So, maybe the fandom dividing straight down the middle wasn’t such a bad thing after all. The true fans know that there are plenty of people they can converse with about Star Wars without having to get into a heated debate. It makes the online realm of Star Wars discourse feel cliquey in a sense, but at least the light side and the dark side is as clear in the fandom as it is in the movies.
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