Let The Past Die. Murder It If You Have To.
That was the unofficial tagline for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Not only did it sum up the spirit of the film’s story, but its intent as well. Apparently a lot of long time, hardcore Star Wars fans didn’t get the memo.
Sometimes after completing a movie review I like to pop over to imdb.com to peruse some of the early user reviews to see how similar my take is to some of theirs. It’s actually a pointless exercise because even the worst movies have their fair share of positive or charitable reviews (IMDB usually likes to keep those at the top when a movie debuts). But after wrapping up my review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I was shocked by the sheer venom I saw. These weren’t merely negative or angry reviews; they were pure, unadulterated contempt.
After scrolling through pages upon pages of absolute vitriol I was soon wondering if these people had seen the same movie I had.
Instead of fading the backlash escalated. On the one hand you had plenty of headlines about the movie smashing the box office (it’s 220 million dollar opening weekend and eventual 620 million dollar domestic haul stand as one of the best domestic performances of all time), while on the other there were countless fans screaming how horrible it was. They declared it the worst entry in the franchise (did they miss the Prequels?). They accused Disney of killing both Star Wars and their childhoods in one fell swoop (seriously though, if your childhood can be murdered by a single movie, either your childhood really sucked or you should consider therapy).
Anyone who liked TLJ, they would tell you, was both blind and stupid. I lost count of how many online temper tantrums escalated into name calling and threats.
(For the record, I liked The Last Jedi. I didn’t think it was the best movie in the franchise and I freely admit it had its fair share of warts. Nor was it probably worth all the hype but I had a good time and thought it was worth my fifteen bucks. But I was still shocked by the unadulterated hatred this movie got, especially from the fandom that claimed to love Star Wars so much.)
It pandered to women and minorities! they screamed. Luke Skywalker would never act that way! It didn’t worship the old heroes enough! It was SJW garbage! There were jokes! It wasn’t enough like the others! It didn’t follow my fan fiction! You can’t drop bombs in space! (laser swords and space wizards are OK, but bombs in space was the logistic hill they were prepared to die on).
And it hasn’t died down on the months since. In the last few weeks, youtube has become littered with fan backlash videos promoting a boycott of last week’s Solo: A Star Wars story in an attempt to sabotage the franchise and, more importantly, current Star Wars head honcho Kathleen Kennedy.
I can honestly say I’ve never seen a fandom turn on anything with such ferocious, vindictive passion.
Following last weekend’s dismal box office performance for Solo, I lost count of how many Star Wars “fans” were doing gleeful cart wheels online (with virtually all of them blaming The Last Jedi). The movie’s disappointing result didn’t just make them happy, they were downright euphoric.
There’s always been a small portion of Star Wars fandom who have been upset that the franchise is in the hands of a woman and celebrating female characters. There have even been a few who have raged against the inclusion of more ethnicities. But they represent the thinnest slice and most of those voices belong to outsiders trying to co-opt Star Wars for their own backwards politics.
I have to admit, outside of that meagre group, I had been at a loss to explain this visceral reaction. But while it did take me a little while, I think I have finally put my finger on what’s behind so much fan rage.
They’re angry because, for the first time in their lives, Star Wars no longer revolves around them. They’re angry that the franchise has moved beyond their thirty and forty year old concepts. They’re angry that the heroes they grew up idolizing have become fallible and reduced to supporting characters. And most importantly, they’re incensed that they are no longer in control of the franchise’s direction.
In short, they’re pissed that Star Wars no longer belongs exclusively to them.
I’m going to try and be as diplomatic as I can here, but I can’t think of any way of saying this without being blunt. These “fans,” need to get over themselves and shut up. Simply put, Star Wars doesn’t need you anymore. It’s looking towards the future, welcoming a diverse new generation of fans while it tells new and fresh stories.
Let The Past Die isn’t just a tag line, it’s the franchise’s new mission statement. And I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you are part of that past.
You’ve had this franchise to yourselves for over forty decades but now its time for a new generation to take the reigns and enjoy the ride. The same stories and ideas and characters that flew in the 80’s are obsolete now. You may not like hearing this, but the world has changed and tastes in popular culture and entertainment have changed right along with it. Star Wars has to adapt or risk extinction. It can’t cater to what you want or desire or need any longer as a matter of survival.
Otherwise Star Wars dies when the generation of fans who insist it cater to their every whim does.
Remember how bummed you were when Toys “R” Us called it quits south of the border? One of the reasons the former toy juggernaut (along with many other chains, all of whom once enjoyed time at the top of the retail food chain) crumbled was because it failed to read changing market forces and shifting consumer trends. By the time it woke up and smelled the market share coffee it was too late (being saddled with five billion dollars in debt courtesy of Wall Street didn’t help either).
If you need a better example, look no further than Sears Canada. For years Sears took it’s customers for granted. They were positive that the people who shopped there would always shop there. Like voting and worshipping, children would follow their parents’ footsteps when it came to where they spent their consuming dollars. That was Sears cardinal marketing rule.
Until it wasn’t.
Sears failed to give subsequent generations a reason to shop there and was soon considered the store where old people went. All of Sears attempts to court younger consumers and lure them away from their preferred specialty stores and the Internet failed. Sears became a casualty of a new business reality they failed to see coming.
Disney isn’t Toys “R” Us or Sears. And it certainly isn’t going to risk Star Wars becoming the movies that only old people want to see. Disney has proven time and again that not only can it predict the direction progress is moving, but that it can get out in front of change and dominate the new word that emerges.
Disney saw the potential for a shared universe, where multiple movies could share a collective narrative. Not only did Disney build the first Shared Universe, it turned the MCU into the model that every other studio has tried (and failed) to duplicate.
The House of the Mouse saw the potential for CGI animation and between Pixar and their own in house animation banner, Disney now has the most impressive resume for animated movies in the world (Google the Oscar winners for the Best Animated Picture if you don’t believe me).
Disney has definitely stumbled a few times (The Last Dinosaur, the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and yes, Solo), but there is a reason it is the most successful entertainment company on the planet right now.
It adapts. It changes. And its movies and its franchises evolve along with it.
Could you imagine Black Panther working just ten years ago? It wouldn’t, but Disney (who has turned obscure characters like Ant-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange into successful movie franchises) rode the changing social tides and not only was Black Panther the latest in a long string of blockbusters for Marvel, but it was also a cultural touchstone the way Wonder Woman and Get Out were last year.
Star Wars is no different. The new trilogy isn’t meant for old fans. You got your nod in The Force Awakens (which was pretty much A New Hope with a fresh coat of paint). But The Last Jedi was a transition, the old guard passing the torch to the new. The original characters can now rest while fresh ones takes their place.
Star Wars belongs to a new generation of fans now and that’s why so many “fans” are so angry. During your childhood (or at least the parts you remember through the distorted haze of nostalgia) everything was about you. You were the centre of the universe and Star Wars was another chapter in your personal story.
And now it isn’t.
But you don’t have to say goodbye. You don’t have to forget Star Wars or the joy it gave you. Just because it doesn’t need you anymore doesn’t mean it doesn’t want you. You are welcome to tag along on the new ride, you just aren’t the guests of honour anymore.
Scream all you want. Rant and rave and cry, it doesn’t matter. Star Wars isn’t going anywhere. Han Solo won’t be a billion dollar movie (it will be the first of Disney’s Star Wars films that isn’t) but I guarantee you 2019’s Episode 9 will be. And Disney has grand plans for Star Wars moving forward. More movies and even TV shows are on the horizon. And they’ll be doing them with or without you.
If you had legitimate gripes about the franchise aside from the superficial ones so many have parroted, then more power to you. But if your hatred for Star Wars is based on the fact that it doesn’t conform to your nostalgic expectations, then its time to realize that Star Wars has outgrown you. It has evolved and changed and you haven’t.
I’m pretty sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Image Disney and Lucasfilm
