Lamenting Star Wars

I didn’t experience Star Wars firsthand. By the time I was born, The Original Trilogy had finished for 7 years. I, therefore, came to it through osmosis, be it VHS tapes at my neighbour’s house, make-believe with friends, or commercials about Star Wars-related memorabilia. It wasn’t until a friend’s 9th birthday that I’d see a Star Wars movie in theatres, and it was the “wrong Star Wars”.

Essentially, my Star Wars experience was a Millennial one. And with that came the baggage associated with it. I had to listen to ridicule from classmates for liking “the awful Prequels”. I had to read my local newspaper’s fan-letters from children about how “icky” Padmé and Anakin’s romance was. Even as an adult, I had to hear diatribes online about how “George Lucas raped our childhood”, something that’s incredibly tone-deaf in hindsight. And I can’t imagine what actors like Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen and Ahmed Best had to endure for appearing in these movies!

So yes, my experience with Star Wars was disadvantaged. This was made worse by Star Wars fans being blatantly toxic and not hiding it. The discourse became so vitriolic that it actively made me despise the original films when I watched them as a teenager. That’s not fair, especially given their legitimate craft. Nor is it fair that that bitterness made it impossible to be honest, and even forced me to jump off the Star Wars bandwagon for years out of concern for my mental well-being.

Fast-forward to 2012, when Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney. It didn’t take long for the announcement of new films and shows to be made to the general public. I had mixed feelings about this: on one hand, this was a beloved property being handed over to a conglomerate. The possibility of it, therefore, becoming homogenized wasn’t zero. On the other hand, there wasn’t much lower to sink. The Prequels had already been so derided that the only way to go was up. And given the talent Disney secured, as well as early rumours and test footage being promising, it seemed like Star Wars was on its way to redemption.

Except…that’s not what happened. At least, not for diehards. In fairness, I’d gotten to the point where I no longer cared if people hated me for liking these movies-I was in my mid-20’s by then, and I had bigger concerns like employment. But even with the enjoyment I got from these movies, I still had to contend with new rounds of vitriol from fans who hadn’t progressed beyond their toxicity: one movie was “a lame rehash”. Another was “a complete ruination of a classic hero”. And the third was “a complete cop-out”.

I was ready to give up. I wasn’t ready to throw away Star Wars, because that’d have been dishonest, but I was discontent with staying in the fanbase. Being a Star Wars fan was all about negativity and anger. And I wanted nothing to do with that. I wanted off the Millennial Falcon.

My tipping point was multifaceted. For one, the fanbase was actively antagonistic to others, even to some of the cast members. It was tragic when Ahmed Best revealed he’d almost contemplated suicide over his role as Jar Jar Binks. The news of Jake Lloyd’s schizophrenia and eventual DUI was unsurprising, as was his refusal to talk about his experience as young Anakin Skywalker. Even Kelly Marie Tran’s harassment for playing Rose, to the point of almost quitting acting, made me feel like garbage. Did the detractors not understand that these were real people?

Two, the antagonism towards those who didn’t mind the movies was something else. Firstly, hating Star Wars lovers isn’t a personality trait. And secondly, why should it matter? Movies aren’t an objective experience. Someone liking a movie you don’t shouldn’t be an indictment of them. People are too multi-faceted for that.

And three, it’s petty to be that spiteful. It’s also missing the point of Star Wars. The franchise started as a science-fantasy commentary on The American Military Complex, with The Empire being an on-the-nose parallel to Nazi Germany. There’s a reason the baddies wear scary clothing, are called “Stormtroopers” and are led by a towering, angry man in a black suit and helmet. George Lucas, for all his flaws, was making a statement about war and the military. It’s in the title! And by being so hateful, you miss that.

As a side-note, it breaks my heart to see the fandom behaving like The Empire. It also breaks my heart to see them act high-and-mighty when legitimate criticism gets lobbed their way. Because Star Wars is a goofy franchise. The writing’s kitschy, the acting’s pretty bad and there are many dramatic moments that are so over-the-top that they end up being hilarious. If you want proof, re-watch the saga. The campy nature of these films isn’t subtle.

I appreciate the irony of me being angry about angry fans. It’s not lost on me. And I recognize that I’m also giving in to this toxicity. But I don’t care, because I do care. I care that a franchise has made a generation this nasty, and that it has real world ramifications. But mostly, I care because it doesn’t have to be this way.

A wise person once said that no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans. I think this is accurate. Another wise person once reminded everyone that Star Wars is a franchise about space wizards intended for children. I think this is also accurate. Besides, Star Wars doesn’t belong to one individual or group. Like a game of Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars is malleable enough to be added to over time. And that’s what makes it great, not if X movie’s better than Y movie.