‘Star Wars’ fans on the dark side
‘The Last Jedi’ actress Kelly Marie Tran has been attacked with misogynistic and racist comments on social media
The dark side of Star Wars fandom recently reared its head when Kelly Marie Tran, the actress who plays Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was run off Instagram by misogynistic and racist messages from fans who didn’t like her character in the movie.
The episode was not an uncommon one. Daisy Ridley, who stars as the heroine Rey, quit social media last year for similar reasons. They are far from the first women to be hounded by bitter, mostly male fans who didn’t approve of their entry into a fictional pop-culture world that some fans feel a misguided sense of ownership of.
Such toxic abuse has long been a staple of darker social-media realms, fan-group message boards and internet comments pages. Obsession — loving or poisonous — has helped fuel the most dedicated fan bases, whose fervour is craved and cultivated by billiondollar brands. But the scorn heaped on Tran — a 29-year-old newcomer who has been overjoyed at her induction into Star Wars — sparked a backlash of its own.
“What’s not to love?” asked Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, with a photo of himself and Tran and the hashtag “GetALifeNerds.”
Affectionate fan art of Tran’s character began circling widely on Twitter. The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson forcefully came to his actress’ defence.
“On social media a few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I’ve met lots of real fellow SW fans,” said Johnson. “We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humour, love & respect. We’re the vast majority, we’re having fun & doing just fine.”
Who exactly is today’s Star Wars fan? Those who stood in line for A New Hope
in 1977 would likely be in their 50s, at least, by now. George Lucas’ 1999-2005 prequels, despite their flaws, helped introduce a new generation to the movies, as have the rebooted instalments of recent years, following Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm. And those films have made a sincere effort to expand the universe of Star Wars with a more diverse array of characters.
Few have gotten a better look at the remaining “manbabies” of Star Wars, as Johnson called them, than Robert Smigel, the comedian behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. When Attack of the Clones was released, he memorably took Triumph to visit fans (many of them costumed) camped outside New York’s Ziegfeld Theatre. Return of the Dorks, Triumph
dubbed it.
A kind of hand-puppet Don Rickles, Triumph eviscerated them as “thousands of 35-year-old men... lonely men.” It was the comedy version of shooting fish in a barrel, and — charmingly — most of the fans loved every minute of it.
“I almost felt like I did when I met Don Rickles. They were kind of excited to be made fun of by Triumph,” said Smigel in an interview. “They were overwhelmingly sweet-natured.”
In a time where Star Wars fandom reached its lowest point — and not because Solo: A Star Wars Story has nose-dived at the box office — it’s helpful to remember that earlier, more innocent, pre-social media chapter in Star Wars fandom. It showed the value of a healthy dose of self-deprecation for any fanboy.
“I am a fan. I’m a fan of Star Trek, too. I have a deep affection for people who obsess on these things because I identify with it. I’m a nerd in different ways. I obsessed on Peanuts when I was a kid, and dressed up that way. Granted, when I was as an adult, I got past it,” said Smigel, laughing.
The vitriol of the fanboy has long been an unfortunately common component of blockbuster entertainment. But just as other long-ingrained practices of a historically male-dominated movie industry are being reshaped, the sway of the sexist superfan may be waning. The treatment of Tran poses a potentially damaging challenge to the franchise: If these are Star Wars fans, who wants to be a Star Wars fan?
Ironically, it was Tran’s rousing moment in The Last Jedi that supplied the best answer.
“This is how we win,” says Rose. “Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.”