"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" came out almost a month ago and although the mainstream media hype has died down, the internet wars have yet to really quiet down.
The internet war is a war being fought on three sides. On one side are the people who despised the movie with every bone in their bodies. On another are the people who loved the movie almost, but not quite, more than life itself. On the third side of this unholy triangle are the people whose only complaint with the movie is that it wasn’t gay enough. This group has been less involved in the internet war this time around, but they still merit a mention because the "TLJ"-haters love to drag them into whatever garbage discourse is happening at the moment.
Anyway.
I first saw Star Wars when I was seven or eight years old, and I loved Episode IV so much that I watched it again the next night. And again the night after that. From there I completed the original trilogy, finished the prequels, downloaded all the music from both trilogies onto my iPod (it was back in those days, everybody), and dove headfirst into the Expanded Universe. I was made fun of for liking Star Wars, and when I say ‘made fun of,’ I mean fairly relentlessly mocked for several years. In short, I am a Star Wars fan if ever there was one, and as such, I feel qualified to say this:
If you hated "TLJ," good for you. But now it's time to stop.
If you’re mad that your favorite character didn’t get more screen time, fine — I’m not talking to you. If you’re still upset that Carrie Fisher won’t be in Episode IX, same. I’m not talking to you either. I’m talking about the people who blindly despise the movie because it failed to confirm their treasured fan theories or didn’t play out exactly the way they wanted.
I don’t care if you’re frothing at the mouth over how un-woke it was. No movie is perfect, and for your kind of person, there’s no movie, book, or TV show that could ever live up to your aspirations of wokeness. The options can’t be “woke movie” or “no movie.”
Baby steps, my friends.
We can celebrate what was good about the movie and point out what needs improvement without flipping our lids every time someone dares to mention that they liked it.
I don’t care if your theory, the one you spent literal hours debating on Tumblr or Reddit or wherever you swamp demons hang out, didn’t pan out. Big whoop. That’s what fandom is for. See, fandom is this magical space where you can pretend that things played out the way you wanted them to, talk to people who agree with you about it, and make lots of art and fanfiction about it. Being upset that your theory didn’t happen is fine.
Claiming that your theory didn’t happen because everyone involved with the production of the movie is a racist, sexist, imperialist homophobe is not. If you have actual, tangible proof that everyone involved is a racist, sexist, imperialist homophobe, fine: Bring it forth for discussion. If not, practice the lesson we all should have learned when we were small — you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.
Look, Star Wars fans: We got a movie that is, on balance, enjoyable and good. Good music, good graphics, good acting, good callbacks to the original trilogy and evolution for both old characters and new. It’s probably too much to ask, but can’t we just be happy about it?
