MovieChat Forums > Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) Discussion > The online toxicity of the fan base.

The online toxicity of the fan base.

posted 3 years ago by JakeSWITCH (504)
1 reply | jump to latest

The 'Star Wars' film and TV series has been all over the place in terms of quality. At the moment, it's finding more success on TV due to the popularity of 'The Mandalorian', while films like 'Rogue One', 'Solo' and 'The Rise of Skywalker' have suffered from studio interference and unclear direction.

I understand fans being dissatisfied with that inconsistency, but that doesn't excuse the increasing amount of venom leveled at actors like Jake Lloyd, Kellie Marie Tran and Moses Ingram, who are simply reading the lines that have been written for them.

Gatekeeping has become subtly woven into the fandom experience, and gatekeeping within fandoms is often emblematic of larger social issues like bullying, racism, sexism and xenophobia.

Jake Lloyd's youthfulness - not to mention silly lines of dialogue like "yippee!" - put off viewers, leading to a harsh and unwarranted online bullying campaign against the young actor. Starring in a film as big - and as disliked - as 'The Phantom Menace' made him a target. Because of the teasing he received at school, Lloyd retired from acting in 2001, the year he turned 12.

Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks, has reported that he considered suicide after the bad reaction audiences had to his character.

It feels like social media has only emboldened a big segment of Star Wars' fan base and made the gatekeeping worse. Now people can directly message Moses Ingram and not just criticize her acting, but tell her she is a "diversity hire" and "ghetto" and only included because Disney is trying to make Star Wars "woke". It's similar to how Kelly Marie Tran was badgered off of social media when fans reacted badly to her portrayal of Rose Tico in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' in 2017.

I'm not sure how Disney can solve this problem as they continue to make products for an increasingly ugly and vocal crowd. Educate adult fans on the difference between bad acting and a cheesy script, and to leave race, sex and age out of it? Tell people to spend less time on the internet?

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14486) 3 years ago

They aren't making these films for the fans. They're making them for the toxic assholes in Hollyweird and on Twatter. That's what the problem is, and with a feminazi bitch like Kathleen Kennedy in charge, the bullshit is gonna keep going until she dies or retires, and I have a feeling she's gonna work there until the former.

By the way, Kelly left social media long before the alleged "bullying," and the studio was deliberately baiting people to attack Moses just so they could turn her into a tool for their woke program. And yes, she is a dumb diversity hire who will either be forgotten, or not remembered fondly when this madness ends.

A little advice: get away from social media while you can, before it's too late. And vote with your wallet. If you like spending your money on people who constantly piss on you and get mad when you don't buy their lie that it's rain, that's your own business, not ours. And for the record, it was never about how black Moses was. It was about the racism and bigotry towards fans.