Star Wars fans dressed up in character costumes during the Mark Hamill Drive on July 30, 2017, at San Diego, California.
Star Wars had nearly catapulted George Lucas to a Demi God status among geeks by the start of 1997. There were some voices of discontent about things, but, all in all, George Lucas had created a series of mythological proportions. The underlying message was of the importance to win over the inner evils and fight the dark side for universal good.
However, Lucas made the mistake of tampering with the very things that made him an icon and released “Star Wars: Special Edition” in early 1997. While loyal Star Wars fans failed to understand why would you want to change a 20-year-old blockbuster, this special edition raked in millions of dollars and a new league of fans. What was not realized then, was the fact that it pushed George Lucas down the slope regarding fan base.
A couple of years later, the fan discontent became loud and clear when the prequel Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, hit the screens. Fans were split into two sections. The older generation of loyal Star Wars fans expected a darker film featuring annihilation of the Jedi whereas the kids and younger fans who connected to the new film in a way that they couldn’t relate to the older ones. The newly invented internet gave them the medium to battle each other.
As per Bobby Roberts who is a key figure in the “Star Wars” community and edits Portland Mercury News stated:
“Generational splits occur in the fandom for the same reason they occur in general culture. People tend to be more conservative the older they get, and change becomes seen as an intrusion into a routine rather than a progression into a better future.”
With the passage of time, the fan dislikes mellowed down about “The Phantom Menace” as well as other prequels as the younger fans aged and became more dominant in the Star Wars community. However, this divide of old and new generation is not the only voice of discord in the Star Wars fan world.
There were certain areas where the divide was more hateful. “The Clone Wars” cartoon series ushered in a new phase of “Star Wars” and a whole generation of kids associated “Star Wars” with cartoons. This generation didn’t give any value to the movies. These fans idolized a female character Ahsoka whose voice was done by Ashley Eckstein. When “The Force Awakens” arrived on the scene, the character of Rey portrayed by Daisy Ridley put the female fans of the series in the front seat. A lot of fans criticized vociferously and claimed that the “Star Wars” no longer related to fans and the changes are hurting “Star Wars.”
Tracy Duncan who manages a highly popular “Star Wars” fans website called Club Jade explained that there were always a lot of female fans of the franchise. She said, “I’m nearly 40, and I’ve been here since I was 16 and I know women who saw ‘A New Hope’ in ’77 when they were 16 and are still fans.”
The female fans used to bond in a nearly unseen and quiet manner till the time the social media gave them a strong and visible medium. This caused a lot of conflicts. “The walls between these various parts of fandom are coming down. The more women you see publicly espousing fandom, the more willing others are to come forward,” Duncan said.
However, the outcry didn’t pour in just from the sexist fans, but, also the White supremacists came out in protest against the casting of John Boyega in “The Force Awakens.” Large groups of fans who staked a claim as “True Fans” because of their opinions about certain portions of the story and unleashed fury against those individuals who contrasted from their standpoint.
“There will always be jerks,” Duncan cautioned. “Sometimes those jerks will be us. That’s just human nature, and there’s no cure for that. I see a lot of real viciousness out there, which may have more to do with the general cultural wave than anything specific to fandom.”
The proliferation of “Star Wars” productions will keep creating further divisions among fans as well as will connect new legions of friends into common groupings. There is no doubt that the “Star Wars” fan world is getting bigger and better, but then there is always that one controversy, remark or idiotic joke about female heroes that keeps creating new divides.
In Roberts’ opinion, ‘Your focus determines your reality, ” and this was something we saw in the case of Qui-Gon Jinn in the film “The Phantom Menace” and we regularly see in the case of the fans. He said “ Fandom’s always going to seem like a tattered wreck of warring opinions if all you focus on are the myriad disagreements. Focus on the good voices, the helpful voices, the open, considerate, thoughtful voices. It helps drown out the mean-spirited, divisive rabble.”
Now This Is Interesting
A coordinated attack was launched on the author Chuck Wendig for his book “Star Wars: Aftermath.” A nasty segment of fans was angry about the new version of the old storyline and the fact that Wendig had included a gay character in the narrative. They got together to give his book a single-star Amazon review and also undertook personal attacks on the author on Twitter.
