I make predictions, because I’m a scientist, and this sort of stuff interests me. I hope TROS will get the reception it deserves. If it’s great and widely accepted by the fandom, and the public in general, I hope it succeeds. If it’s bad or another extremy divisive film, which further deepens the rift in the fandom, I hope it sinks faster than Titanic.
Personally I don’t think we should be cheering for the failures of things that refuse to play it safe or don’t fear what will happen if they don’t satiate the desires of some fans. I couldn’t care less what the fandom at large (or at small) thinks. I just care if it’s good or not.
The divide between fans goes well beyond the merits of a single movie. A climate has been created by the creators, media, and fandom, that has led to some very ugly situations, and people being demonized for having an opinion on a movie, whether positive or negative. If that climate is perpetuated, I won’t care about the future of the franchise one way or the other. Star Wars to me is more than a bunch of films, it is a relationship, and the fandom is an integral part of that relationship. If the fandom is broken, all that will be left is a bunch of blockbusters with the Star Wars brand slapped on it. So, I believe the creators should think out of the box AND do their part to make that relationship work.
That ‘climate,’ hate to break it to you, is largely imaginary.
Personally I find it easy to separate the work from the fandom. Most fandoms are obnoxious, SW perhaps moreso than many. Personally, I’m not going to let that affect my enjoy of the films any time soon.
There’s nothing imaginary about being called an SJW for liking Holdo, and Rose Tico, or a misogynist or man baby for disliking those same characters.
The imaginary claim is in regards to the creators. Yeah, the fandom says stupid shit. That’s why I said fandom is obnoxious and best ignored.
The fandom, the media, and Lucasfilm employees have directly or indirectly kept adding fuel to the fire. From the very beginning critics were branded as haters, misogynists, manbabies, and what not, and not just by obnoxious fans. In the mean time Lucasfilm, and Disney did very little to set the record straight, that most critical fans had no association with toxic elements in the fandom. So, yes the creators didn’t directly attack fans for the most part. They had the media do the dirty work for them. All they had to do is stay silent, while the critics were all painted with the same toxic brush. I guess, it was in their interest to perpetuate the myth, that criticism against their products was mostly limited to toxic fans, driven by sinister motives, and Russian bots. Let’s get real here, even on this forum the motives of critics are continually questioned. We’re annoying, unreasonable people, that didn’t get what we want, and therefore hate Disney Star Wars, and desperately want it to fail…
I’ll add a different interpretation of events - in the interests of balance…
Critics were not, from the very beginning, ‘branded as haters, misogynists, manbabies, and what not’. I recall people associated with the films made it clear that valid and genuine criticism was okay and differing opinions on it were fine, and that they couldn’t please everybody out there (as it has been for many previous films and franchises) - which are reasonable and fair enough views.
I imagine over time the death threats, announcements of their deaths, actors being harassed and abused to the point of being chased off social media, as well as becoming aware of the abhorrent racist and sexist comments online… took their toll. Friends, family and associates explaining to others around them (including kids) that so and so isn’t actually dead as been posted up on the internet (news like this spreads quickly - who knew?) - and does have an effect on people.
Yet people around the film still stated it’s okay to have differing or critical opinion - though some people around the film and franchise also called out the more toxic, sexist and racist elements - and rightfully so.
Unfortunately, in doing this, some of the critics with genuine and valid issues have somehow seemingly felt their views were denied or rubbished - or somehow their legitimate criticisms were being put in with those sexist, racist and toxic views.
Also, some of the more more clickbait and monetised based media - used this criticism of the sexist, racist and toxic views - and spun it as criticism of many people who just didn’t like the film itself - further polarising the fanbase - yet also ensuring future subscribers and revenue streams.
Profiting from hate and division, it seems, is a nice little earner. Especially online in the age of monetised channels. Some of the more toxic channels have come together in a bid to boost their respective subscriber lists and revenues with other like-minded social media outlets.
And those that do profit from hate and division won’t be giving that nice little earner up anytime soon…
It’s a shame that more people who have genuine and valid issues with the film - seemingly do not call out others who do derogatorily criticise it on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, and disability more often - and instead stay quiet, or ignore it, or overlook it.
Or even criticise people who have taken issue with those that have these abhorrent views - seemingly because they mistakenly feel attacked for having genuine criticisms of the film.
Feel free to disagree, tear it apart, or whatever. That’s all I’ll be saying on the subject in here - and I don’t wish to derail DrDre’s intriguing thread.
I can get behind this. Nice one!