Where is the Love?
June 2018
Dave Clark
Its 9:30pm on 5th June 2018 and I am wondering what is happening to Star Wars.
I have been a fan for 41 years, I originally saw Star Wars in 1977 when I was just 4 years old. That viewing is still a strong and abiding memory for me, and one I will take to my grave. More than that though, it established my love affair with a galaxy a long time ago, and far, far away. Since then I have watched all of the main cinema movies, the infamous Holiday Special, and the spin off cartoons including Droids, Ewoks, The Clone Wars and Rebels. I read the novels, and the comic books, I collected the toys and the artwork. I have gotten married and had children – who have been indoctrinated into the Star Wars cult. I have made lots of friends, both face to face and online, with a shared passion of Star Wars.
Never once, in 41 years, have I said, “that’s it, I have had enough”. But, it seems, that for some of the people who purport to love Star Wars, this is very much their position today.
It seems to stem, in large part, from the sale of Lucasfilm by George Lucas to Disney in 2012. I remember thinking at the time that this was excellent. The Clone Wars was still ongoing but we hadn’t had a movie since Revenge of Sith, and the purchase by Disney promised a reinvigoration of a franchise for which George Lucas had decided he would not make any more films.
Jump forward six years and we have had four movies and a new animated TV show which has run for four seasons. On the whole, for me, this reinvigoration has been massively favourable. I am getting all I had hoped for in terms of movies, TV, books and comics. I can watch, read, and listen to, in summary I can ‘absorb’ more and more Star Wars. Excellent! In those six years there has been one blip for me, Episode 8 of the ‘Saga’ did not feel like a Star Wars movie and this is a feeling I appear to share with a large number of fans.
For me, the tone of this movie was off, it was superficially a Star Wars movie but one lacking the heart and soul of Star Wars. You can read my full and candid view of this movie here, or listen to my dissection of the movie on our Podcasts here, specifically podcasts 2,3 and 5 (we had a lot to say!).
That aside, the franchise is doing lots of great stuff. The recent Solo movie is one of my all-time favourite Star Wars movies. It is fast paced, humorous and has the heart of a Star Wars movie. Ron Howard and Kasdan Senior and Junior have produced a wonderful piece of Star Wars canon for us to enjoy. If you haven’t yet seen it (it has been out thirteen days in the UK now and twelve in the US) what are you doing? Forget this article and go out there to watch it. It is excellent.
Despite the misgivings I did have for Solo (it was a movie dogged by problems – a movie expected to deliver a refresh of a treasured character to a timetable of 14 months, with a change of director part way through, a large amount of reshoots, recasting of a main character, and post production just 4 weeks before launch), I went to opening night for the midnight showing. I have since seen it another three times. It was that good. And this on the back of what was, for me, the worst Star Wars movie, ever.
But, to hear the fallout on social media you would think that LucasFilm has just used the Death Star to obliterate a planet. There is a large hate movement on social media directed at LucasFilm and people associated with The Last Jedi. There is a determined effort by a group of people, who have declared war on Solo with their, quite frankly pathetic, #boycottsolo protest. These are so-called fans who seem to want to derail Solo in large part because they disliked Ep8. In fact, this movement seems to want:
This group of people (I won’t use the term ‘Fan’ as I really don’t think it can apply to these people as was said by Andy on our most recent podcast – number 14) seem to think that their view of Star Wars is all that matters and anything contrasting with that view is heresy. Now, as I said above, Ep8 was for me a poor movie and was badly put together by Rian Johnson. But does that mean I now hate all that is Disney? No, it was one movie, and I am hoping that with Ep9 some (not all) of the damage can be repaired (good luck to JJ Abrams there – I think he will need it). But I am hopeful.
Whilst this movement has contributed to the commercial failure of Solo at the cinema, the movie has been mismanaged by LucasFilm in a number of ways, which perhaps has contributed more:
When all of these factors are added together and merged into the toxic movement to boycott the movie, then what else could possibly happen?
So, almost 2 weeks after release the hate movement continues. Kelly-Marie Tran (who played Rose in Ep8) has just taken down her social media presence because she was receiving so much personal hate. Chuck Wendig (author of the Star Wars Aftermath novels) has been subjected to a barrage of hate in large part because one of the main characters is gay and when he finally decided to return fire on the ‘haters’ was subject to abuse from others for not holding his piece. Rian Johnson (for all of my dislike for what he did with Ep8) has been subject to constant personal hate mail and threats and even Kathleen Kennedy (CEO of LucasFilm) has been personally attacked, in large part because she is seen as pushing a feminist movement within LucasFilm. I have even witnessed fan based organisations (who should know better) taking sides in the argument and accusing LucasFilm of failing to gag their talent.
I have had an ongoing ‘conversation’ tonight on Twitter with two of these so-called fans who are both boycotting Solo. One of them even went so far as to blame the comment that Lando is ‘pansexual’ as one of his main reasons, citing that he is defending kids from the hate that Disney is creating. He associated pansexual with paedophilia and necrophilia and simply didn’t see any difference. If this is the mentality of the ‘average’ boycotter of Solo then it really has attracted the very worst elements of conservative society who see any liberalism as a personal attack on them. The acronym ‘SJW’ was used as an insult, referencing the belief that the current management of Lucasfilm is deliberately pushing a political agenda – an agenda which the typical boycotter (white, male from what I have seen) appears to be terrified of. One of the two I was conversing with even accused me of being a Disney Shill – implying that I am taking money from Disney for my positivity – ha! I wish!! A note to anyone from Disney/Lucasfilm who might read this – if there is a job available for a passionate Star Wars fan who will be honest in their appraisal, then please consider me!
This vitriol has infected the fandom and because the movement has attracted the interest of non-fans with similarly conservative, anti-equality views (dare I say it bigoted and racist), it is tarnishing anyone with valid concerns about any movie as being part of a ‘white male dominated’ movement who are ‘manbabies’ and who just need to grow up.
And Star Wars is not the only fandom to be suffering from this movement. I have geek friends with other franchise interests. Dr Who is receiving a similar ‘attention’ by an element of the fandom. The concern by some aspects of this community is that a female Doctor is ‘wrong’ and therefore there is a boycott motion not too dissimilar to the Solo one. The same poisonous aspects of wider society have, again, latched onto this and are making it larger, more vocal, and more venomous.
This is producing an atmosphere where being critical of Disney’s handling of Star Wars is perceived to be an attack on tolerance and equality. Further fueling a fire which does not seem to be cooling.
For me, as a lifelong fan of the franchise, this is the greatest concern. I loved Solo and Rogue One. But they are perceived in some circles as backwards looking fan-fetishes made to appease a dwindling (and wrongly accused) increasingly anti-Disney community. I would rather Lucasfilm focus more on this style of movie than Ep8, as they are, quite literally extensions of the house I grew up in, and in which I brought my children up. But, if the hate and anger doesn’t abate, I worry that Lucasfilm will ignore this part of the fandom to instead focus on a less passionate fans who will buy the tickets but not the love and, more importantly, not cause such a ruckus if the franchise occasionally messes up.
Addendum
It is now 6th June and following the online ‘conversation’ with the two boycotters, one of them decided to go and watch Solo. And you know what, he liked it. He said it was a 'Great Movie in comparison to The Last Jedi' (I cannot argue with that) and that he felt Ron Howard should be allowed more projects in Star Wars.
Perhaps I have made a convert here.
Hopefully he will spread the love.
Do you agree with Dave that the atmosphere is becoming toxic? Do you think that Lucasfilm should be more vocal to call out the hate?
Also, do you think Lucasfilm have thrown Solo under a bus? Was their (lack of) promotion in large part why this movie has not done well at the cinema?
Let us know your views on twitter @TheJedi_Council
Dave Clark
Its 9:30pm on 5th June 2018 and I am wondering what is happening to Star Wars.
I have been a fan for 41 years, I originally saw Star Wars in 1977 when I was just 4 years old. That viewing is still a strong and abiding memory for me, and one I will take to my grave. More than that though, it established my love affair with a galaxy a long time ago, and far, far away. Since then I have watched all of the main cinema movies, the infamous Holiday Special, and the spin off cartoons including Droids, Ewoks, The Clone Wars and Rebels. I read the novels, and the comic books, I collected the toys and the artwork. I have gotten married and had children – who have been indoctrinated into the Star Wars cult. I have made lots of friends, both face to face and online, with a shared passion of Star Wars.
Never once, in 41 years, have I said, “that’s it, I have had enough”. But, it seems, that for some of the people who purport to love Star Wars, this is very much their position today.
It seems to stem, in large part, from the sale of Lucasfilm by George Lucas to Disney in 2012. I remember thinking at the time that this was excellent. The Clone Wars was still ongoing but we hadn’t had a movie since Revenge of Sith, and the purchase by Disney promised a reinvigoration of a franchise for which George Lucas had decided he would not make any more films.
Jump forward six years and we have had four movies and a new animated TV show which has run for four seasons. On the whole, for me, this reinvigoration has been massively favourable. I am getting all I had hoped for in terms of movies, TV, books and comics. I can watch, read, and listen to, in summary I can ‘absorb’ more and more Star Wars. Excellent! In those six years there has been one blip for me, Episode 8 of the ‘Saga’ did not feel like a Star Wars movie and this is a feeling I appear to share with a large number of fans.
For me, the tone of this movie was off, it was superficially a Star Wars movie but one lacking the heart and soul of Star Wars. You can read my full and candid view of this movie here, or listen to my dissection of the movie on our Podcasts here, specifically podcasts 2,3 and 5 (we had a lot to say!).
That aside, the franchise is doing lots of great stuff. The recent Solo movie is one of my all-time favourite Star Wars movies. It is fast paced, humorous and has the heart of a Star Wars movie. Ron Howard and Kasdan Senior and Junior have produced a wonderful piece of Star Wars canon for us to enjoy. If you haven’t yet seen it (it has been out thirteen days in the UK now and twelve in the US) what are you doing? Forget this article and go out there to watch it. It is excellent.
Despite the misgivings I did have for Solo (it was a movie dogged by problems – a movie expected to deliver a refresh of a treasured character to a timetable of 14 months, with a change of director part way through, a large amount of reshoots, recasting of a main character, and post production just 4 weeks before launch), I went to opening night for the midnight showing. I have since seen it another three times. It was that good. And this on the back of what was, for me, the worst Star Wars movie, ever.
But, to hear the fallout on social media you would think that LucasFilm has just used the Death Star to obliterate a planet. There is a large hate movement on social media directed at LucasFilm and people associated with The Last Jedi. There is a determined effort by a group of people, who have declared war on Solo with their, quite frankly pathetic, #boycottsolo protest. These are so-called fans who seem to want to derail Solo in large part because they disliked Ep8. In fact, this movement seems to want:
- Kathleen Kennedy fired
- Disney to sell Lucasfilm (they don’t seem to know who to – perhaps back to George?)
- Ep8 to be de-canonised
- the ‘social justice warriors’ at Lucasfilm (their words – I kid you not) to all disappear
This group of people (I won’t use the term ‘Fan’ as I really don’t think it can apply to these people as was said by Andy on our most recent podcast – number 14) seem to think that their view of Star Wars is all that matters and anything contrasting with that view is heresy. Now, as I said above, Ep8 was for me a poor movie and was badly put together by Rian Johnson. But does that mean I now hate all that is Disney? No, it was one movie, and I am hoping that with Ep9 some (not all) of the damage can be repaired (good luck to JJ Abrams there – I think he will need it). But I am hopeful.
Whilst this movement has contributed to the commercial failure of Solo at the cinema, the movie has been mismanaged by LucasFilm in a number of ways, which perhaps has contributed more:
- A tight schedule to produce a fairly important piece of canon.
- Lots of production issues as mentioned previously leading to a number of Solo related news stories (none of which were particularly positive).
- Movement of the, now normal, release schedule of Star Wars from Christmas – the previous three Disney funded movies have all released a week or so before Christmas. This movie was looking to re-engage with the fans and the previous history of May releases for Star Wars movies. This movement of release has caught less dedicated fans out as they didn’t even know the movie was imminent.
- Poor marketing by LucasFilm on the run up to release: Han Solo is one of the most beloved of characters in the Star Wars universe. Harrison Ford is acting royalty and his portrayal of the character is iconic. To refresh his back story with a new actor is a big gamble for LucasFilm and one that they should have planned better for. For example the first trailer for Rogue One (the only other standalone movie so far) came out 247 days (66% of a year) before the movie hit cinemas in the US and because Jynn Erso was a new character 35 seconds of that trailer was focussed on her to get fans to develop familiarity. Compared to Solo where the trailer hit just 108 days before the US release (29% of a year) and Adlen Ehrenreich (the new Solo) featured for just 10 seconds. This implies to me that the LucasFilm execs did not have confidence in the movie and this was further exhibited by the poor marketing push on the run up to the movie.
- Release of the movie slap bang in the middle of the early summer blockbuster season – 3 weeks after Avengers Infinity War, 1 week after Deadpool 2, and 2 weeks before Jurassic World 2 in the UK. This gave casual movie-goers a smorgasbord of big blockbuster movies to choose from and if there was any ‘unpopularity’ associated with any of the movies then the audience would skip that movie in favour of one of the others.
When all of these factors are added together and merged into the toxic movement to boycott the movie, then what else could possibly happen?
So, almost 2 weeks after release the hate movement continues. Kelly-Marie Tran (who played Rose in Ep8) has just taken down her social media presence because she was receiving so much personal hate. Chuck Wendig (author of the Star Wars Aftermath novels) has been subjected to a barrage of hate in large part because one of the main characters is gay and when he finally decided to return fire on the ‘haters’ was subject to abuse from others for not holding his piece. Rian Johnson (for all of my dislike for what he did with Ep8) has been subject to constant personal hate mail and threats and even Kathleen Kennedy (CEO of LucasFilm) has been personally attacked, in large part because she is seen as pushing a feminist movement within LucasFilm. I have even witnessed fan based organisations (who should know better) taking sides in the argument and accusing LucasFilm of failing to gag their talent.
I have had an ongoing ‘conversation’ tonight on Twitter with two of these so-called fans who are both boycotting Solo. One of them even went so far as to blame the comment that Lando is ‘pansexual’ as one of his main reasons, citing that he is defending kids from the hate that Disney is creating. He associated pansexual with paedophilia and necrophilia and simply didn’t see any difference. If this is the mentality of the ‘average’ boycotter of Solo then it really has attracted the very worst elements of conservative society who see any liberalism as a personal attack on them. The acronym ‘SJW’ was used as an insult, referencing the belief that the current management of Lucasfilm is deliberately pushing a political agenda – an agenda which the typical boycotter (white, male from what I have seen) appears to be terrified of. One of the two I was conversing with even accused me of being a Disney Shill – implying that I am taking money from Disney for my positivity – ha! I wish!! A note to anyone from Disney/Lucasfilm who might read this – if there is a job available for a passionate Star Wars fan who will be honest in their appraisal, then please consider me!
This vitriol has infected the fandom and because the movement has attracted the interest of non-fans with similarly conservative, anti-equality views (dare I say it bigoted and racist), it is tarnishing anyone with valid concerns about any movie as being part of a ‘white male dominated’ movement who are ‘manbabies’ and who just need to grow up.
And Star Wars is not the only fandom to be suffering from this movement. I have geek friends with other franchise interests. Dr Who is receiving a similar ‘attention’ by an element of the fandom. The concern by some aspects of this community is that a female Doctor is ‘wrong’ and therefore there is a boycott motion not too dissimilar to the Solo one. The same poisonous aspects of wider society have, again, latched onto this and are making it larger, more vocal, and more venomous.
This is producing an atmosphere where being critical of Disney’s handling of Star Wars is perceived to be an attack on tolerance and equality. Further fueling a fire which does not seem to be cooling.
For me, as a lifelong fan of the franchise, this is the greatest concern. I loved Solo and Rogue One. But they are perceived in some circles as backwards looking fan-fetishes made to appease a dwindling (and wrongly accused) increasingly anti-Disney community. I would rather Lucasfilm focus more on this style of movie than Ep8, as they are, quite literally extensions of the house I grew up in, and in which I brought my children up. But, if the hate and anger doesn’t abate, I worry that Lucasfilm will ignore this part of the fandom to instead focus on a less passionate fans who will buy the tickets but not the love and, more importantly, not cause such a ruckus if the franchise occasionally messes up.
Addendum
It is now 6th June and following the online ‘conversation’ with the two boycotters, one of them decided to go and watch Solo. And you know what, he liked it. He said it was a 'Great Movie in comparison to The Last Jedi' (I cannot argue with that) and that he felt Ron Howard should be allowed more projects in Star Wars.
Perhaps I have made a convert here.
Hopefully he will spread the love.
Do you agree with Dave that the atmosphere is becoming toxic? Do you think that Lucasfilm should be more vocal to call out the hate?
Also, do you think Lucasfilm have thrown Solo under a bus? Was their (lack of) promotion in large part why this movie has not done well at the cinema?
Let us know your views on twitter @TheJedi_Council