‘Russian trolls’ slam Last Jedi

How much did movie fans hate Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Perhaps not as fiercely as social media might suggest, according to a US academic study which found that half of negative tweets about last year’s movie came from bots, trolls or political activists, some of whom may be Russian.

The Last Jedi, which focused on ageing Jedi Luke Skywalker’s reluctance to be drawn back into the battle against the dark side in the sci-fi saga, prompted criticism online after its December 2017 release.

Many lashed out at key roles given to women and actors of colour, while others were dismayed at the apparent death of Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.

The Disney movie took home $1.3 billion (R19 billion) at the global box-office, compared to $2 billion for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

A study by University of Southern California research fellow Morten Bay, released on Monday, analysed the language, Twitter handles and IP addresses of more than 1 200 tweets sent to The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson’s Twitter handle in the seven months after the film’s release.

“Overall, 50.9% of those tweeting negatively was likely politically motivated or not even human,” Bay wrote.

He said they appeared to be using the debate around The Last Jedi “to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality”.

“A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls,” Bay added in the paper, titled