The ‘Last Jedi’ Backlash Is Another Example Of Fandom Gone Wrong
(Welcome toThe Soapbox, the space where we get loud, feisty, political, and opinionated about anything and everything. In this edition: addressing the toxic, dangerous fan backlash toStar Wars: The Last Jedi.)
It’s okay to dislikeStar Wars: The Last Jedi. Your opinion is your own and no one can take that away from you. However, there’s something rotten in theStar Warsfanbase. People on the internet have decided to devote countless hours to tearing down a movie that plenty of others love. And while no movie is perfect —Star Wars: The Last Jedileast of all — what’s the point in taking the fun out of movies? Is it retribution for a ruined childhood or vindication that your opinion is right? Or is all this backlash toThe Last Jedisimply another product of the internet’s penchant for knee-jerk reactions and instantaneous gratification?
This past weekend,Star Wars: The Last Jediopened tocritical fanfareandskyrocketing box office numbers. But those accomplishments have been overshadowed by a looming force in the sci-fi franchise’s fandom. Some fans are calling it the worstStar Warsmovie yet. A few more are harassing directorRian Johnsonon Twitter. Others are petitioning thatLast Jedibe removed from the series canon immediately. And the difference between the Rotten Tomatoes user and critical scores are very wide. So let’s examine what caused this rift between the critical community and the die-hard fans, and whether it says something about the movie itself, or a growing toxicity in fandom at large.
Warning: Spoilers forStar Wars: The Last Jediahead.
Burn It All Down
It started Thursday night, immediately after the highly anticipated early screenings ofStar Wars: The Last Jedi.Tweets began pouring inwith claims thatThe Last Jediwas the worstStar Warsfilm yet and that its shoddy plotting and characterization were on par with the prequels — which, I would like to remind people, werepretty well-receivedat first.
Now, some valid criticisms were made about the film, which explicitly tore down the lore and legacy that the previous films had built up and refused to answer questions to fan theories that had been bubbling for the past two years. Jacob Hall says better than mewhy exactly this works, but like all movies,Last Jediisn’t immune to criticism. First, the overly long run time and extraneous subplots and characters — Canto Bight especially — were some of the film’s biggest missteps. The abundance of wry humor and winking jokes may have worn thin on fans who expected a grim, serious follow-up to the nostalgicStar Wars: The Force Awakens. And then there’s the absence of nostalgia altogether, a quest to “let the past die.” (Though arguably, in handing the power back to the ordinary people, it’s more loyal to the intention of the original trilogy than ever.)
And while I don’t necessarily agree with them, there areplenty of thoughtful critics and fanswho are laying out meaningful criticisms ofLast Jedi— Joanna Robinson at Vanity Fair gives adetailed breakdownof the reasons thatLast Jedididn’t quite work with fans.
However, there’s a difference between criticizing something and doing this:
This was just the beginning. Petitions have sprung up demanding thatRian Johnson apologizefor his movie, or that Disney remakeThe Last Jedialtogether. And don’t check Rian Johnson’sTwitterfeed if you have any empathy towards fellow human beings: users are sending nasty messages in response to his tweets, often complaining about inane issues like “too many close-ups.”
Plenty more are refusing to acknowledge thatLast Jediis canonical at all, largely on account of the movie’s treatment of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. The movie takes a radical approach by painting the former hero as a complex, broken man who has fled from his duties as a Jedi, guilt-ridden over a fleeting moment of weakness in which he nearly killed his nephew. And fans who are condemning the film are being fueled by Hamill’s ownadmissionthat he too was initially disappointed by Johnson’s take on Luke:
“I at one point had to say to Rian, ‘I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character. Now, having said that, I have gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you’ve created and do my best to realize your vision.'”
But Hamill walked back that statement, later tellingVarietythat “it took me a while to get around to his way of thinking. But once I was there, it was a thrilling experience. I hope it will be for the audience, too.” But with a small, vocal subset of the fandom steadily dominating the conversation surroundingThe Last Jedi, it seems like it wasn’t.
Rotten Luck or a Deliberate Campaign?
The complaints range from the ones mentioned above, to hysterical accusations thatStar Warshas been taken over by the “liberal SJWs” or race-tinged complaints about new characters like Rose Tico. When limited to Twitter, they would be easily ignored, but those complaintshave made it overto Rotten Tomatoes, whereThe Last Jediboasts the biggest difference between a critical and audience score in anyStar Warsfilm yet.
This gives a huge contrast to other polls that measure audience reaction like CinemaScore, whereLast Jediscored an “A,” and IMDB, where user ratings give the film a 7.9 out of 10. So why the disparity? Online scores are often skewed toward reactionary fans who have more extreme opinions about movies. So it’s possible that the subset of the fandom who absolutely despised the movie could have overrun the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
But something more sinister may be afoot. One Facebook userclaimed to be manipulatingthe audience score on Rotten Tomatoes through bot accounts, though this cannot be confirmed.
In response to the negative audience reactions on Rotten Tomatoes, Disney president of theatrical distribution Dave Hollis released a statement toDeadline:
“Rian Johnson, the cast, and the Lucasfilm team have delivered an experience that is totallyStar Warsyet at the same time fresh, unexpected and new. That makes this aStar Warsfilm like audiences have never seen – it’s got people talking, puzzling over its mysteries, and it’s a lot to take in, and we see that as all positive, that should help set the film up for great word-of-mouth and repeat viewing as we enter the lucrative holiday period.”
Whether the Rotten Tomatoes audience score will make much of an impact is uncertain — though withThe Last Jedi’s$220 million haul this weekend, probably not — but it is certain that Disney should not be apologizing for fan reactions to the film. Studios previously have not had to apologize for the way a film played with audiences, nor have directors have had to explain themselves to fans. It’s part of a growing phenomenon in franchises with passionate fans, and it’s not good.
Crisis on Infinite Fandoms
This isn’t the first time that a movie has found itself victim to malicious fan campaigns. Paul Feig’s all-female reboot ofGhostbusterswas perhaps themost infamous victim of internet ire, receiving hundreds of negative IMDB scores before the film even came out.
On the other side,Justice LeagueandBatman v Supermanfans came out in droves to attack critics who disliked the films, convinced that critics were out to tank the film or that Disney — which owns rival superhero company Marvel — was buying out critics to give the films negative reviews. Hilariously, the “Disney is bribing critics"conspiracy theory is coming backforLast Jeditoo, but time time it’s for…good reviews?
In both cases, and in the case ofThe Last Jedi, it comes down to fans feeling ownership of a franchise — ownership that they don’t have. It’s when passion turns to possessiveness that fandom turns toxic. It’s like a weaponized version of the death of the author theory: that the subject shouldn’t be interpreted based on the author’s biases or influences. But while it’s valid to have your own interpretations of your favorite movie, text, or characters, that doesn’t make it the only universal truth.
We’ve seen this fandom ownership spring up long before the internet came about —Sherlock Holmesfans wrote to Arthur Conan Doyle demanding that he bring back the detective after he was killed off in “The Final Problem” — but campaigns have grown in size and malice since fandom went global. Social media and internet forums have helped to cultivate dangerously possessive ideas of fandom. AndThe Last Jedibacklash is just the latest example of that.
Like What You Like
Just don’t tell others what they can’t like. That’s the easy solution to all this hoopla. While we perhaps can’t persuade others that their opinions are wrong — it’stheiropinion after all — perhaps we can all be a little bit kinder and remember: it’s entertainment. George Lucas conceived ofStar Warsas achildren’s film, and to an extent it still is. No, I’m not calling out ignorant man-babies who are harassing directors or petitioning for a new movie — though you better watch yourselves — I’m calling attention to the fact that these films are made to be enjoyed. Maybe don’t make it your mission to spoil everyone else’s fun.
