The Star Wars collection has been one of the most popular and most successful since its origin in 1977 with "A New Hope" (Episode IV). The action-packed, nail-biting series never fails to cause an uproar among fans when plans for a new episode are released, and chaotic urgency to see and comment when it finally is. Over the years Star Wars has without a doubt taken a turn as far as production and casting go, differing from the original episodes in most prominently diversity and inclusion. This has only bettered the storyline, if you ask not only me but a significant population of the series' fans. However, those who consider themselves the "fandom" and go above and beyond have their disagreements and discrepancies about the newer episodes.
Star Wars has been seen at least once by almost everyone, making it barely arguably the greatest movie franchise around (possibly only beaten by Harry Potter). As quoted in "How I Met Your Mother" by Marshall Erikson (Jason Segel); "The only people in the universe who haven't seen Star Wars are the characters in Star Wars, and that's 'cause they lived them!" is pretty much as accurate as you can get regarding the legend that is behind the Star Wars series. As society has changed positively the casting directors and writer (George Lucas) of Star Wars seem to have changed as well- not so much to change the story, but enough to support minority groups and evidently wreak havoc amongst the self-proclaimed "fandom."
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi", released in December of 2017, beat the box office with over a billion dollars of tickets sold on opening weekend, reigning as the sixth best box office seller since 2002. "The Last Jedi" had the most significant changes as any Star Wars film; especially considering casting. The main character whose story we followed most closely was a white woman actress, Daisy Ridley (Rey). Her co-stars with just-as-important-to-the-story character lines were John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran; an African American man and a Vietnamese-American actress. While there were obviously other important white male roles (i.e. Mark Hamill, Adam Driver), the inclusion and diversity seen in "The Last Jedi's" main cast is significant and important, a step in the right direction as far as the movie industry and inclusivity are concerned. Boyega played Finn- the StormTrooper adhering to the First Order turned resistance fighter. Tran portrayed Rose, Finn's evident side-kick and eventual love interest, who serves an extremely important role as she teamed up with Finn to complete a secret mission of sorts on Canto Bight, finding themselves battling the First Order to protect the Resistance and Rey. The film was of excellent quality, clearly popular through opening weekend and even after, as it gains newer, younger fans.
Unfortunately to not only Star Wars but every single fan of Star Wars, the predominantly white-male "fandom" seems to strongly disagree with the casting and characters introduced in "The Last Jedi". Recently, Kelly Marie Tran (actress of Rose Tico) deleted all presence off of social media- reportedly as a result of constant harassment from anti-fans. Tran received threats and complaints from "fans" who disliked her character's purpose and apparently the fact that she played said character since opening weekend of the movie. She was belittled and complained at for doing her job, for following her dream and being successful with it. All because the "fandom" did not love her character. Tran did not write the ending of the movie, or the plot for that matter. She did not choose that her character would save another, ultimately ruining his plan. Tran acted as she was told to. And did it well.
There is so much wrong with this fact. Harassing an actress because of her character is not acceptable behavior by anybody; I do not care at all that you proclaim yourself part of the "real fandom" of Star Wars. A "Real Fandom" does not drive stars of movies off social media with threats and harassment. A "real fandom" gives helpful feedback without hateful rhetoric. A "real fandom" would write the writers and producers of a franchise before hurting and attacking a star playing a character. Actors/Actresses do not write their parts; they portray what is given to them. It is absolutely unacceptable that any person let alone entire fandom would harass a star of a show to the point of disappearance. It is unacceptable to harass anybody for any reason, really. The "fandom" that does not accept positive inclusive change is as toxic and negative to existence as poison gas. We cannot let this go by without recognition of the horrendous behavior portrayed by this "fandom."
