Toxic Star Wars Fans
I'm writing this because of the recent stories about Kelly Marie Tran having to quit Instagram due to racist and sexist comments. And I'd just like to make it clear, the writers of those comments can go run into a wall repeatedly until their brains squish out of their fractured skulls. I'm constantly confused by Sexism and Racism (and homophobia to add one to the list), I just don't get them at all. I dislike people based on how they act, what they say, and who they are, I don't care about colour of skin, what sex organs you have, or what sex organs excite you, I just care about how much I can tolerate you.
So, nasty things have been said to Kelly Marie Tran, and before her Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, all of whom I consider wonderful additions to the Star Wars pantheon, these young actors are great to watch, and while I may not enjoy everything they do, if you look through my reviews of the movies they're in, you'll find that I commend each of the actors for their skill on screen. I've not seen much that Kelly Marie Tran has done off screen, but John Boyega and Daisy Ridley have been fantastic exponents of Star Wars and worthy of hero worship alongside, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.
But I have to say to the people saying these things, STOP IT. You're ruining it for all of us.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a movie with massive problems, it's badly edited and doesn't stylistically match with The Force Awakens, and doesn't even thematically hang together as a movie (Its message is let go of the past, but ends with kids telling the story of Luke Skywalker, totally undermining it's own message). But now, everyone who has criticisms of the new movies from Force Awakens onwards, is now grouped in with the racists and sexists, and can be easily ignored.
"Oh, you don't like Rey, then you must be sexist!"
But not everyone who dislikes the character is sexist, while I do like Rey as a character, considering her a mary-sue isn't sexist (as I've seen it called in the press today). Rey gains all her training in 2 lessons from Luke, and is then considered a Jedi, so there's grounds for saying she just gets her powers because the writer wants her to, not because she earns them.
Now, I know there were cut scenes from The Last Jedi, which explained that Rey was absorbing Kylo Ren's training through their mental link, which totally explains everything. But they cut that scene, so what's left doesn't make sense. It would have been a better movie had that been left in, but we can't judge Rey's characterisation, or the plot of the movie by what was left on the cutting room floor, we can only judge what they put into the final cut. So, calling her a Mary Sue is completely justified (and to say once again, not something I personally believe).
All arguments against Disney's handling of the movies, and criticism is now bundled in with hate speech and the pathetic ramblings of misguided fools, and therefore ignored. The more they can ignore relevant and useful criticism, the more they will continue making poor choices. So again, racist and sexist idiots, just STOP IT, you're ruining it for all of us. You're making it easier for them to continue to ignore fan criticism, and believe that they're better than us. While still wanting our money.
And to the people in charge of Star Wars at Disney, and the directors, who may be considering as apparently Rian Johnson told Mark Hamill to "ignore the fans". But as the box office from Solo suggests, ignore the fans at your peril. We want the best from the movies, and while Force Awakens was considered to be a virtual remake of A New Hope, we still watched it, and still made it a huge hit. We recognised that it had its reasons for being what it was, that you had to prove you could make Star Wars, before you started to tell your own stories. But at least make them the stories we want to hear. Don't bundle everyone together into one easily ignored group, but still expect us to fork out the cash when you release a movie and insult us for being "fans".
But I'll leave on a final word for the Racist, Sexist Scum who send insulting messages to actors who are just doing their jobs. STOP IT. YOU'RE RUINING IT FOR ALL OF US. GET A LIFE, GET SOME COMMON SENSE, AND GET LOST, we really don't need your sort around here.
Comments made about this Article!
14/Jun/2018 23:46:23
|
Posted by hellstormer1
|
|
There are things I would love to add, but I don't think I could do so without being my usual jerk self.
|
|
15/Jun/2018 12:57:00
|
Posted by asikari
|
|
Unfortunately, in the information age, these toxic fans, who always existed in some fashion, can spread their vitriol to a much larger audience. They can then stroke their egos with feedback on their soapbox speech from the resultant echo chamber, and decent people get caught in the crosshairs. These "fans" extrapolated their own vision of Star Wars, and when the directors and producers fail to deliver that vision, they lash out at anyone the decided "ruined" the franchise.
For example, I am fairly certain many of these "fans" expected in "The Last Jedi" Luke would come out of hiding and single-handedly exterminate the First Order (might be overexagerating). With the sequel trilogy, they wanted a continuation of the Skywalker story with the original characters (Luke, Leia, Han) front and center. Boiling it down even more, they wanted the Thrawn trilogy.
They got JJ Abrams and Disney playing it safe with "The Force Awakens" and rehashing Episode IV. They got Rian Johnson writing "The Last Jedi" before TFA was finished, resulting in a perceived jarring plot inconsistencies. For whatever reason, the premise starships ran on --shocking-- fuel, which could run in short supply, completely destroyed their vision of the Star Wars universe. These "fans" nitpicked every detail which flew in the face of "their" Star Wars story. And they took every line of script at face value - it couldn't possible by that any of these characters, I don't know, *lied*?
The result, they projected their anger and disappointment on the actors - because they had faces. Used the perceived "trash" Disney had made of the franchise as an excuse for their own biases and, as Freddy alluded, their bigotry. And why - because they can without fear of repercussion or reprisal.
I liked The Last Jedi, for reasons that most people who vehemently dislike the movie are unwilling to consider. It had it's issues, but this is not the time for that discussion.
Thanks for airing this out, Freddy.
|
|
16/Jun/2018 08:01:06
|
Posted by Freddy
|
|
Hellstormer: You basically ran this site when I was otherwise occupied, you've earned the right to say whatever you want.
Don't insult anyone personally, but feel free to air your thoughts, they are what a lot of people visit the site to see.
asikari: While I've my problems with The Last Jedi, they're mainly down to editing, as I've a feeling there's a darn good movie in there struggling to get out, it certainly wasn't with the actors, all of whom were amazing. Blaming them seems to me to be akin to screaming at the person behind the counter when a massive corporation screws something up.
There's a youtube video about how A New Hope was saved in the edit, and they preys heavily on my mind when watching The Last Jedi.
Back on topic, there seems to be a bunch of people who have problems with the new movies being female led, a problem I never noticed, as I've always considered Star Wars to be more ensemble movies. I never considered Luke to be the leading man in A New Hope, it was Luke, Leia and Han, likewise in the new movies, it's Finn, Rey and Poe.
But these people are definitely a tiny minority, as I've not encountered any in person, or even online. I've spoken with loads of people, some of whom love the new movies, some who don't, and all have been sensible, well spoken, polite people. So this tiny minority of idiots, are getting us all a bad name, as we're all being labeled Toxic.
|
|
16/Jun/2018 11:14:05
|
Posted by monk2024
|
|
My feelings are TLJ are complex but I entirely agree with what You've said particularly the part about them ruining it for the rest of us, Star Wars was one of two things that made me love sci fi and it makes me angry that the real flaws of the movies will be ignored because of those people.
None of the real problems of the movie were because of the actors and nobody should be blaming them
|
|
16/Jun/2018 13:29:56
|
Posted by Freddy
|
|
|
First Page | Next Page
All text, HTML and logos done by FreddyB
Any complaints, writs for copyright abuse, etc should be addressed to the Webmaster FreddyB.