No fandom is without its less desirables, just as no franchise is free of harsh critique or decisions deemed unanimously poor. I wrestle with my own fandom, especially in an era of reboots and sequels breaking box office records multiple times a year. Star Wars fans remain on high alert as new additions to the saga, stories, and television series become more abundant, worried that we will be hurt again by a product that is less than perfect. As the fanbase grows exponentially with Disney and their global market at the helm, many fans aren't prepared to go in these ne directions with a franchise that seems to be reaching more towards an audience of the future rather than the ones of the past. If the internet has taught us anything, it's that nerds don't like change, too easily taking personal biases into the theater, thin skins bruising.

The latest target for the trolls of fandom highlights all these issues and is honestly making it difficult to defend the Star Wars obsession. The worst kind of critics have taken to social media to harass actress Kelly Marie Tran, the first woman of color to take on a leading role in the Star Wars franchise. Depressingly, we know what comes next, we all remember when that storm trooper took off his helmet on the sands of Jakku, revealing John Boyega's face. Racism it turns out, hides and rears its ugly head everywhere, even in a franchise ultimately designed for children.

I'll be the first to admit it: I did not particularly enjoy The Last Jedi. Did my least favorite scenes include the two characters mentioned earlier? Absolutely. Was it the actors that had me rolling my eyes backwards during the more superfluous scenes? Absolutely not. Relating with new characters in an established universe is difficult enough, but Rian Johnson and team did not make it any easier. Rose (Kelly Tran) and Finn (John Boyega) are thrown into scenes packed with new creatures and landscapes during an ill-advised heist that just doesn't seem to fit with the naval battle feel of the main plot. Rose, a rebel soldier who is extremely dedicated to the cause, is distracted by the animal abuse on Canto Bight, convincing Finn that their time must be spent freeing the CGI space horses and not the enslaved children of the stables. The writing may have been weak, but that certainly is no fault of the actors.

Here's the thing Star Wars fans, we must understand that this story reaches across an entire galaxy. So, does it really make sense to cast every hero as a white person? We attach ourselves to Yoda, Chewbacca, and Asoka Tano even though they are as far from a white human male as one can ask. There is no excuse for the hate sent to Trans Instagram, misplaced your anger is. Here is one example of feedback sent by a fan on Tran's Instagram with the personality of a gundark:

"Ching Chong Wing Tong is a dumbass fucking character Disney made and is a stupid, retarded, and autistic love interest for Finn. She better die in the coma because she is a dumbass bitch."

Quite the reaction towards a character who is supposed to highlight the importance of love over hate in a galaxy torn by war. Tran has since deleted the majority of her Instagram content in a wake of hate sent by fans. And who could blame her? She was dealing with an ambitious script in a lot of uncharted territory all in the name of a fanbase that refuses to be satisfied. Rian Johnson made plenty of tone-deaf decisions in my opinion. Snoke was built up to be some kind of badass but is dispatched, butt on throne, no retaliation to be seen. Princess Leia/General Organa is almost killed on the bridge, but is miraculously brought back, regardless of Carrie Fischer's actual passing. Finn had potential to end his arc with heroic sacrifice but is saved at the last opportune moment by Rose to deliver a line seemingly picked straight out of a Disney/Pixar flick. With Johnson handing the baton back J.J. Abrams for episode nine, I am expecting an even more ambitious script. One director cannot solve the racial tensions of a subculture or quiet the trolls online. We can only hope that the writers are ready to raise the stakes for each character and allowing them more agency in the overall story, giving fans a reason to cheer them on. More fans deserve to see strong characters like them in the greatest cinematic saga of all time. The rest need to get used to sharing that big galaxy.