Toxic Fandoms: A Star Wars Story

In recent years as things that were once considered nerdy like comic books, anime/manga, fantasy, sci-fi, etc have gotten more mainstream attention, the concept of fandoms have been introduced into the public consciousness, although more often than not it’s for all the wrong reasons. We’ve seen toxicity from fans of a certain thing that they like numerous times in both online message boards and news media. Bronies-fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic-typically come to mind when bringing up toxic fanbases, as does Steven Universe, Sonic The Hedgehog, fans of anime and manga who call themselves otakus (despite the fact that otaku in its Japanese context is meant as an insult), and of course Rick And Morty. Each of these groups have their own history and reasons for being toxic, but that is besides the point and would take too long to dive into.

However there is unfortunately a more recent fanbase that has turned to absolute shit. It has certainly hit close to home for me, as I have been a fan of the series for as long as I can remember, and my interactions with fellow fans prior to some recent events weren’t very negative. Of course, the fandom I am referring to is the Star Wars fanbase.

In case you are unaware, Star Wars is a trilogy of movies that became a cultural phenomenon, spawned three prequel films, two sequel films, two anthology films, comics, novels, video games, board games, cartoons, a ride at Disney World, a godawful Christmas special, two made-for-TV movies that no one wants to talk about, and an extensive amount of merchandise. In other words kind of a big deal.

But something happened recently that changed everything: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The movie took the series in a wildly different direction, with a different perspective of the mythos of the world set up in Star Wars, on top of new cinematic tricks that while fairly commonplace in action and genre movies haven’t really been done in a Star Wars movie before. I was there at the pre-screening for the film, and while there are things that rubbed me the wrong way for the most part I loved how Rian Johnson flipped everything on its head and gave us something unlike what we had seen in Star Wars. I honestly think there are cases when he could have gone further.

But of course, not everyone was open to such radical change. And I can understand why they might be; if they don’t like it that’s their opinion and we can debate the matter civilly and learn from the discourse, as all good art is meant to do. But you’re reading this article, which means that I wrote it, which means that things are not that way, which means shit’s all fucked up. And while it may seem like it’s only gotten this way recently, toxicity from Star Wars “fans” is nothing new.

Let’s rewind the clock. To understand the toxicity of Star Wars fans, we need to go back to 1999 and the release of Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace. When it was announced that more Star Wars films were being made there was a lot of hype. And this was a little over 10 years after Return Of The Jedi, with not much in the way of Star Wars material besides the occasional novel or comic book, which were notoriously hit or miss in this era, with some that are really good but also some that are…um…not. So this was big. However when the movie actually came out people had no idea what to think.

I honestly believe that The Phantom Menace (and the other two prequel movies) actually isn’t as bad as people make it out to be; there are definitely some good things about it, and things it does right. However there are also quite a few things that looking back on it as an adult that it does very wrong. You’ve heard it all, and the point here isn’t to defend the artistic integrity of TPM so recounting everything fans and critics took issue with is redundant here. Except however for one complaint: Anakin Skywalker. More specifically the actor playing as him: Jake Lloyd.

Now Jake Lloyd was only eight years old when George Lucas cast him as the young boy that would grow up to be Darth Vader. I think I should reiterate that because as strange as it seems, I am of the opinion that little tidbit of information may be important. He was eight years. A CHILD. And if you know anything about child actors you should know that they really can’t act. You know, because they’re CHILDREN. But apparently people were somehow unaware of this, as there were fans and critics who relentlessly thrashed Lloyd’s performance. People were also incensed that a young Anakin would ever be portrayed as being…well a kid, born into a harsh and unforgiving world.

But it went beyond just merely nerds and film critics shitting all over his acting however. Lloyd (who I will reiterate once again was a literal child) was heavily bullied at school, and although he will make appearances at conventions he is still subject to hecklers. The years of harassment has caused him to hate the entire Star Wars franchise, and has led to several mental health crises, including being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2012, which-in a case of dark irony-was the same year that Phantom Menace was given a theatrical re-release in 3D.

Next of course is Attack Of The Clones, with many of the same cast but with Hayden Christensen as the nineteen year old Anakin. While the movie had a better reception then TPM, it also had complaints and problems. Once again, one of the biggest complaints was at Anakin’s portrayal. Now I’m not going to act like the criticism of his acting was invalid, or even unearned; some of his scenes are pretty cringe-worthy. But that is beyond the point. He received thrashing and harassment similar to Jake Lloyd’s before him.

Hayden Christensen had very few major film roles after the prequel trilogy, and even quit acting. While it’s bad enough that he had such a bad reputation that he eventually said “screw this” and gave up, there seems to be more to the story. See George Lucas is more of an ideas guy: when it comes to plotting his films he’s incredible, and has proven to be good at delivering well-choreographed and visually stunning action sequences, but when it comes to writing dialogue, or directing individual actors he falls flat. That’s no secret, and many people have made the point that that is precisely what happened with Christensen. He has had some good acting roles, but he himself said that George Lucas completely misdirected him. So Lucas screwed up, and he was the one who took the blame.

And now we finally reach The Force Awakens. Ten years after Revenge Of The Sith, and set thirty years after the original trilogy, a new Star Wars trilogy was unleashed. The franchise was now a property of Disney, which is something that raised skepticism among some fans. Heck, I’ll admit that even I was opposed to it and The Force Awakens at first. And what do you know people were upset about an actor playing the protagonist. However, this anger started before the movie came out. The two main characters who were introduced in the film were Finn played by John Boyega, and Rey played by Daisy Ridley. The idea that the two main characters were an African-American man and a woman pissed off people. Although Boyega was at the brunt of racist insults, I want to look at Ridley’s situation.

You should have seen the pattern by now: Daisy Ridley was harassed because of her role as Rey by the same likes of miscreants as before. If anything, because of the fact that she was a woman, these low-lifes gave her even more shit. She was chased off of Instagram by these people, and the because of the harassment she got when even she wasn’t talking about Star Wars.

And of course we have come to the newest case: Kelly Marie Tran. Kelly Mari Tran was Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The film is the most controversial Star Wars film ever made, pushing the series to bold new directions with creative choices that not only push the franchise into a new course, but challenges what is known about Star Wars. As I’ve said before, not everyone liked these changes, and are vocal about their dislike to the point of hyperbol. And part of this is the complaints lodged against Kelly Marie Tran’s character Rose.

Why do they hate her? Again, you already know the answer as to why. Her social media was flooded with hate comments, and even Rose’s page on the Star Wars wiki was edited with racial slurs and insults. She ended deleting all of her posts on Instagram, and like Daisy left the site. This however, got some pretty big attention from news outlets, making it clear that it was obvious the vast majority of the harassment was because she was a woman of colour. Luckily, she got lots of support from people online with many standing by her. However there were replies to the people that posted in support of her that still felt the need to throw in a jab. In the replies for a Twitter post by Mark Hamill who shared a photo with him and Kelly with the hashtag #GetALifeNerds, there were many people who had to bring in the movie and Rose into it, missing the entire point. This is a real life person, and even if you didn’t like their character in a movie that is irrelevant.

So as you can see, the fandom has been this toxic for quite a while. Nothing’s changed: we just are more aware of it now. But why? Why are these people like this? There is one thing that is clear: they cling to a closed mindset about the franchise that they like, and refuse to accept any changes to it. They put the original trilogy on a pedestal, and view anything that tries to add to the series beyond that is heresy. But that doesn’t explain why they are this toxic. And maybe we won’t get a logical explanation out of them, and even if we did it chances are it would be delusional and contemptible.

Is there a solution to this? I will admit that I don’t know how to solve the Star Wars fanbase’s toxicity problem, but there are things that can be done to at least help. If people can be decent human beings and not be abhorrent scum, keep an open mind of new changes that will come from new Star Wars movies and media, and when debating with other fans that have differing opinions be civil so even if no one’s mind is changed by the end of the discussion you can at least learn something from the other person, and get a different perspective.

Star Wars is a central part of pop culture and has become a part of people’s lives. And guess what? We are living in a time that the audience who saw A New Hope never could have imagined. I remember seeing Revenge Of The Sith in theaters when I was eight, and it was like a once in a lifetime event; the Star Wars saga had been completed, and I was there for it. And now a whole new era has begun, with new stories and a whole new generation to discover the galaxy far far away. If you don’t like the new movies, that’s fine, but why be toxic? Why be cynical when you can be open minded? Why be cantankerous when you can add to the discourse? Why cling to the past when there is so much going on in the here and now? Maybe none of this will fix the problems in the fanbase, maybe I’m just shouting into the void, but it’s sickening what’s going on and what has been going on, and something needs to be done.