Toxic Fandom Is Killing 'Star Wars'

Hollywood Reporter ^ | June 11, 2018 | Marc Bernadin

[EdnaMode]

Racist harassment of 'Last Jedi' star Kelly Marie Tran and the 'Solo' backlash: Lucasfilm’s problem isn’t the movies, it’s trolls who want only the nostalgia of their youth, like "old Luke Skywalker hiding on an island from everything new," writes columnist Marc Bernardin.

Fandom has always been an us versus them proposition. In the early days, it was because you loved something that the world at large found silly, be it comic books or Doctor Who. It was you and those who felt like you, against everyone else. Star Wars redefined fandom because it built a bigger tent than had ever existed before. Suddenly, the "everyone else" also loved Star Wars. Your mom knew what The Force was. Mark Hamill was on The Tonight Show. There was Yoda underwear. It was the first real “fan” thing that exploded into a phenomenon. But fandom always needs a “them.”

Star Wars is in an interesting place right now. The most recent film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has been drastically underperforming at the box office. After two weeks in release, it had pulled in a mere $271 million worldwide. Analysts believe Disney will lose $50 million or more on the film, and Solo comes on the heels of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which — despite making $1.3 billion worldwide — proved itself an incredibly divisive film. While critics loved it (judging by the 91 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes), fans were split.

Some loved the bold liberties of writer-director Rian Johnson. They understood that there was room under that big tent for characters like Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), women placed alongside Carrie Fisher’s Leia and Ridley’s Rey at the center of the Star Wars drama.

[Little Ray]

Actually, Disney is killing Star Wars with snow-flakery and virtue signaling.

I think they have forgotten who the original fans are, who stood in line 1977.

[Williams]

Well they treated the Leia character with respect because of gender, but considering Carrie Fisher died loaded with drugs, I doubt she was much help on scripts. Unless that explains everything.

[C19fan]

Some loved the bold liberties of writer-director Rian Johnson. They understood that there was room under that big tent for characters like Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran),

Two characters who added nothing. If you kill off everyone except Mary Sue and Kylo the series one would not miss a thing.

[KC_Conspirator]

"Toxic customers are killing the business."

Face palming dumb.

[a fool in paradise]

We are now as far away from the original Star Wars as the country was (timewise) from the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials that inspired the original 1977 film.

I don’t think the studios are trying to get people over 50 in the seats. But they won’t even have a perennial cash cow or decades long franchise if they keep bowing to contemporary generational cultural trends.

If Disney wants it to be successful like the Marvel Comics movies, put rap, metal, and disco songs on the soundtrack, ironically, but it won’t age well.

[trisham]

Well said.

[setha]

Someone needs to buy out the Star Wars franchise, reintroduce the Extended Universe as canon, and end the practice of introducing identity politics into a *movie*.

[a fool in paradise]

When China eventually buys it for $40,000,000,000 we won’t even recignize it.

[ClearBlueSky]

My sincere apologies for the multiple posts. Cellphone texting before coffee is never a good idea.

[ClearBlueSky]

My sincere apologies for the multiple posts. Cellphone texting before coffee is never a good idea.

[ClearBlueSky]

Here are the facts about Mark. He was approached by Lucas to sign for more movies BEFORE he sold to Disney. So his contract was sold to Disney along with Lucasfilm. He thought more films were a bad idea and that it should have been left alone, but it was a JOB and I defy anyone to turn down millions. There was NO script when he signed on, no clue what Disney would do. Lucas told he and Fisher it would be all three of them(Ford included) or none of them, they would be written out. Fisher agreed immediately-Mark never thought Ford would reprise the hated role. He signed on BEFORE there was a hint of a screenplay and once he learned more he tried to influence what was filmed. He was ignored. When he told Johnson they had to give the fans what they wanted, Johnson told him they would give the fans what Disney wanted to give them. He criticized the films openly-and still does to an extent. If he is still under contract for future films that would explain his backpedaling some. Best guesses are he made about $11million for TLJ. He took the job, didn’t like it, but did it anyway. Business and artistic conscience are often at odds.

[pepsi_junkie]

One of the great missed opportunities in SciFi cinema was when the powers that be, seeing the success of Star Wars, approved a Star Trek movie and the creator decided that his inspiration would be the spectacle but plodding boring pace of 2001 instead of the exciting space opera of Star Wars. That movie is all but unwatchable because of that dumb choice and a proper Star Trek movie at that time, right on the heels of Star Wars, could have been massive.

[RinaseaofDs]

The customers are wrong.

That attitude has launched a thousand successful brands/s.

The Force isn’t female. The Force used to be genderless. The Force got poisoned with estrogen.

Now it’s a Farce.

[DungeonMaster]

Sci-Fi is dead, long live Fantasy and Marvel!!!

[Little Ray]

The original Star Wars soundtracks were timeless.
Rap, disco, and other assorted crap would turn the franchise into another forgettable mediocrity.

And 50 year olds do go to movies. Problem is, we think a bit. I haven’t seen a Star Wars show since Rogue One, and, barring some sort of amazing transformation, am unlikely to see another.

[DiogenesLamp]

Lucas made it before Star Wars but he was lucky “for awhile” and went off the rails.

A lot of people really liked American Graffiti. In my opinion it was merely okay, but nothing to write home about.

Yes, Lucas went off the rails. He was a little off the rails from the beginning, and i've read it was mostly the intervention of his wife that prevented the original star wars from being a flop.

Mr Plinkett of "Red Letter Media" does an excellent job of demonstrating how "off the rails" George Lucas was, even when he was making the original Star Wars.

[alexander_busek]

It’s not just the feminist nonsense. In the first movie, when Kenobi wanted to duel Vadar he had to get in a spaceship and travel across the universe to do so - in this movie Luke just astral projects himself to the scene of action. It’s crap like that which also makes people reject the current abomination.

In the first movie, Kenobi didn't set out to duel Vader. Rather, he traveled to Alderaan with absolutely no intention to confront Vader, was astonished to discover that the planet had been destroyed, and was then tractor-beamed in by the Death Star. However, he did duel Vader for essentially the same reason that Luke later (apparently) duelled Kylo Ren: To distract the antagonist and allow the heroes to escape. (Only now do I realize that "The Last Jedi" recycled that plot point!)

Second reason: Vader (at least, the Vader of the original trilogy) was no fool, and wouldn't have been deceived by a "force projection," so Kenobi didn't attempt it.

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

Make the heroine an inexplicable Mary Sue (Han, Luke and Leia all had back stories to explain their abilities)

Han was "merely" a hot-shot pilot. However, he knew his spacecraft and all its idiosyncrasies (and customized upgrades) intimately. He was something of a braggart, but - when his bluff was called - could actually back up most of his braggadocio with his piloting and sharpshooting skills. Nevertheless, he was not an aeronautical "god," like Rey, and we (the audience) could see that he knew that his bluster was in part just that. None of the other characters stood "in awe" of him.

Luke was a naive, over-confident, hot-headed country boy who often wouldn't listen to older, wiser, and cooler heads (not because he discounted their wisdom, but rather because he had to save his friends). His uncle catches him in a lie ("Going to Hoshi Station to get power converters - My ass!) He underwent lengthy training, during which he was frequently shown to fail - sometimes spectacularly (e.g., with Han "breaking his balls" while Luke practiced against the "remote" en route to Alderaan; failing to balance the stones and Yoda on Dagobar; his "failure in the cave;" losing a hand while duelling Vader). No one "stands in awe" of Luke; he needs Ben to "save his bacon" in the cantina; Han dismisses him, calling him "kid;" Leia asks him if he "isn't kind of short for a stormtrooper".

Leia shows genuine fear vis-à-vis Vader and Tarkin, and is emotionally devastated when Alderaan is destroyed. She needs to be rescued (but is not totally passive - rather, she soon takes charge). She is apparently unable to fly the Falcon or fire the Falcon's weaponry.

Rey almost never fails (at worst, she sometimes needs a few seconds to familiarize herself with some piece of complex machinery she has never seen before - but then she masters it). She needs two tries to master the Jedi mind-trick. Everyone she meets is in absolute awe of her within seconds - most notably Finn (well, awe mixed with puppy love), Han (who offers her a job), Maz ("Who is this girl?!"), Leia (who ignores Chewie and embraces her, a stranger).

Rey is a classic Mary Sue.

Regards,

[Political Junkie Too]

But airbrushing Han Solo's blaster out of the movie posters because of gun control had nothing to do with it?

-PJ

[afterhoursarmory]

Overall the movie was ok. But that stupid SJW robot is what eventually made me go “meh”. I don’t think I would even pirate this movie having seen it once already.

Disney is killing the franchise.