Star Wars' Toxic Fandom - A War Without End

"This is why fans can't have nice things."

There are so many situations where that line can easily apply to a subject, and so very many instances in real life. Star Wars over the past few years has become a lightning rod for such issues, time and time again, and the latest of these has become the straw which has broken the camel's back for many. In the face of near-relentless abuse over her Instagram account, Kelly Marie Tran (the actress playing Rose Tico) has quit the website. Suffice to say that the comments made were often quite disgusting, featuring no small number of racial slurs, hateful remarks and lines no sane person should have ever crossed. This is something I wish to talk about here, offering a few thoughts on the subject and the situation itself.

Now, more than a few readers are already going "Bellarius, didn't you say that you wouldn't be commenting on anything past the end of the Expanded Universe?" True, I did effectively wash my hands of it. After relentless dissatisfaction and constant disappointments (save for the Battlefront novels and Star Wars: Complete Locations, both of which I highly recommend) I decided to try and part ways with it. However, that was with the main universe and not the fandom surrounding it, so I'm going to take advantage of this loophole to hopefully offer some sanity to the situation. This isn't going to be a formulated article as usual, not a singularly structured one, simply a few general thoughts on how things have gone, and why I can see this becoming so much worse. Why? Because we have ignored this problem for far too long.

People will already know that this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened. Daisy Ridley stepped away from online backlash under similar circumstances. Prior to that, you could argue that George Lucas selling the license was the result of this, and certainly that Jake Lloyd's departure from acting and mental state stemmed from bullying by so-called fans. It goes right back to the prequels, and even beyond that. Because, and this needs to be said, every franchise has suffered from this. Babylon 5 was one of the first shows to fully use the internet to its advantage, but decisions leading into its final season resulted in showrunner J. Michael Straczynski facing death threats and middle-of-the-night calls. Ioan Gruffudd (of Hornblower fame among other accomplishments) was active online until he was driven away by particularly deranged "fans". This is also to say nothing of how Tammy MacIntosh was treated when she joined Farscape, or how dislike for Captain Janeway's characterisation on Star Trek Voyager bled over to Kate Mulgrew.

The simple point of this all is that, right from the original Star Trek onward, there has always been an undercurrent of this sort of thing in one form or another. No matter how fair, open or charitable a fandom might try to be, it will always draw in fanatics, morons and racists. Some of them might be driven by how they cannot separate the character for the actor, or in other cases it is simply down to pure bigotry and spite. The problem is that, as the internet has become ever more prevalent in our lives, it gave these people more of an opportunity to speak on every level. Just as it encouraged others to find one another continents apart, converse, discuss, argue and occasionally create wonderful things, it allowed the malcontents to do the same. Well, save for the "wonderful things" bit, obviously.

Arguments arose, debates, conflicts and the like followed when disagreeing groups met. So, as with all things, they sought out those who agreed with them in various places. It's the reason you see so many subreddits with morally reprehensible titles over and over again. These people constructed their own echo chambers, their own small areas to keep discussing their same ideas over and over again with no room for discourse or disagreement. It emboldened them, encouraged them to become more active, and thus to start speaking out. People can easily hide their faces, easily avoid responsibility for their actions and the repercussions which come from it. So, they act however they want. The more time was given to these groups, the more that was offered for them to group together and discuss all that was going on, the worse things became. Especially when they were given an excuse to think they were being emboldened.

With so many social media outlets unable to effectively police its accounts (Youtube and Twitter for two) and others which are more concerned with selling on their user data to companies (Facebook, I'm looking at you) there was even less of a reason to hold back. Then, combined with the growing number of excuses given for these people to voice themselves - from those in positions of power having standings which aligned with their own, to even the rising tide of far-right extremism - they were given every excuse possible to speak out. The end result of all of this is that you end up with wave upon wave of harassers, scumbags and whoresons hiding behind anonymity and using it as an excuse to throw an endless wave of hateful insults toward those they disagree with.

Yet, none of this specifically says why Star Wars specifically is suffering this problem of late. Many others have undergone changes that many fans disagree with, or retain many of the same elements as here. Star Trek: Discovery is one obvious option, and Doctor Who is another, of course. You could argue that part of this is down to how Star Wars is typically linked to the childhoods or earlier memories of its fans. You could also argue that it is easier to follow an initial trilogy backed by comics, novels and games which are largely open to new readers than it is a multi-season franchise. Both would be viable points, but I think part of this stemmed from the direction the franchise took. Also, and it has to be said, how its creators voiced their dissatisfaction with some comments.

Previous readers will know that I had a few issues with Chuck Wendig's Aftermath series, both in terms of its quality and the poorly defined nature of its characters. One novel after the next found entirely new ways to keep dropping the ball, and to be blunt, it still ranks as one of the single worst trilogies I have ever personally read. Unfortunately, a great deal of hype was focused on the misconception that it featured the first homosexual characters in Star Wars. This, unfortunately, resulted in a few morons going spare and offering one-star reviews with one-line comments, mostly directed toward the presence of said characters and little else. These were a juvenile series of retorts which retained no substance, nor criticism which served either potential customers or those buying it. They were, however, a relative minority and often were ignored in favour of the more comprehensive reviews. However, Wendig decided to focus on these and only these ones, and treated them as the main source of his criticism. We went over this here, but suffice to say, he was rather vocal about the whole thing.

Unfortunately, like all such mobs, Wendig's actions only encouraged them. He didn't shun them or drive them away, he gave them a spotlight, a platform and something to actively push back against. As a result, this didn't banish or shame them, it just helped him to write off all criticism of his books as those from homophobes and narrow-minded fools. Something which helped him personally, but would only serve to harm the fandom as time went by. Katherine Kennedy's own comments hardly helped, as it seemed she did not learn from this. Whether or not you feel that her actions toward promoting diversity were appropriate, misguided, tone deaf or self-serving as a means to deflect criticism, the point is all the same: It only offered the bastards in the fandom more reason to keep pushing back. Plus, it kept following the continued suggestion that any who disagreed with the decisions made, was simply in line with them.

The films, one after another, would keep following the direction above with mixed results. Some loved them, some hated them, but it started to establish a steep divide. As such when The Last Jedi was released, and was made with the intent of dividing audiences, this only further increased the divide. For many, this was the last straw, and it encouraged what had been a growing undercurrent to bubble up to the surface, loudly and violently. This disagreement was a breeding ground for slur spewing individuals, and it perhaps mentally gave them the justification that they were right to do anything they felt was necessary in order to go after those they hated. The end result is that what was previously a minority within fandoms has been given a voice, and they have no reason nor desire to stop. Every action following this has only further encouraged them, and we end up with situations like this.

Unfortunately, this is only half of the problem.

Now, the individuals who went after Tran or the others? They are the absolute bastards in this story. I don't care what justifications those with them try to offer, and I have no desire to listen to any excuse which justified actively stalking someone online and filling their every active moment with bigoted insults. There is simply no excuse for their actions, and if there is any party which deserves to have the majority of the blame for the toxic environment the fandom has descended to, it is clearly them. Yet, with this being said, there have been other negative reactions which have only amplified this. The sort of behavior which, knowingly or not, has mirrored the first steps down the road those they oppose and have only succeeded in making things far, far worse as a result.

After Tran departed from social media, there was an outcry of support for the actress and trying to prove that she was not held in contempt by the overall fandom. This was done to decry those who opposed her, and to prove that they were a minority. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for some, and what turned into support started to use the incident as a case of online martyrdom. Those who saw this as that seemed to take it as a sign that they should actively drive such individuals from the fandom, and ensure that it is safe for all others. It's not a bad sentiment, and in some ways it's one I would agree with entirely. The problem is that these people tend to have a very broad definition as to who this counts toward, and have little in the way of self-awareness.

Rather than, say, focusing on those who issue misogynistic or openly hate-filled comments, apparently simply saying "I hated The Last Jedi and recent stories" is enough. Those who oppose such views, comment on their opposition to the film, or their general disillusionment with Disney as a whole are tarred with the same brush as those who are genuinely hurtful. Wendig, as mentioned before, was the start of this with many of his comments focusing wholly on treating his critics and opposition as homophobes who hated his books purely for the gay characters involved. While there was the occasional, almost begrudging, offhand remark that others were fine to dislike it, only to go right back to relentlessly mouthing off about the worst elements of humanity hating his book. It's an old trick, where someone focuses on one element of something so much that the implication solidifies as fact in their mind. As such, those who are open to it (out of respect or the like) end up actively opposing negative comments and regarding them as purely being part of those discussed. So, you end up with him producing Twitter posts saying things like this:

“Their names change — MRA, incel, gamer-gate, comics-gate, sad puppies, Real Star Wars fans — but at the heart of it is the same fragile rage born of the poisonous chemical combination of white supremacy and toxic masculinity.”

Then, because of such comments, you end up with the fans treating all those who dislike or oppose the recent films as being part of these groups. You end up with them treating all those who say "I seriously dislike the rampant plot holes of this story" as incels, Nazis, misogynists and racists. It's a matter which has only been made worse by Rian Johnson's vitriol and mockery toward all those who vocally dislike The Last Jedi's story, and referring to them almost universally as "manbabies" in multiple tweets. Once things reach this stage, it stops being an effort to fix the fandom, and turns into a crusade to drive away those whose thoughts do not align with the mob. If you believe that this is false, well, just take a look at the last article linked about how Rian Johnson split the fandom and how it ended. Actually, better yet, I'll quote it to you:

"Some people just like to watch the world burn, in this case, the Star Wars universe. Honestly, this is the best possible thing for the franchise moving forward.

With a solid portion of the franchise looking at the Star Wars galaxy through an original trilogy colored lens and not accepting fans who enjoy the prequels and new material; it’s time for those fanboys to move on.

If you don’t like the daring tone of the franchise, you don’t have to watch it. Stick solely to the original trilogy initial editions and Legends material. They haven’t gone anywhere. Embrace what you love, not what you hate.

You’re holding on. Let go!

Find something you love, instead of spewing hate and anger towards the current ambassadors of quan for a galaxy far, far away. We don’t like your kind around here, stay outside of the establishment with the droids, please."

While it is humorously dressed up, the message is simple: "This is OUR fandom, this is what WE like, and it has been made with US in mind. If you are the half which disliked this, YOU are wrong, and YOU need to leave, you has-beens." 

I've seen the same thing commented time and time again, focusing on such problems as only belonging to the older fandom or directly associating them with those who supported the EU. Really, look into most comments threads surrounding this and you will see a comment of "fuck Legends" or something trying to depict it as beginning with the older generation of fans, and thus can purely be associated with them. One such example is this Twitter thread here. Also, that's probably the one time you will see me bothering to refer to anything written by Bryan Young.

The irony of this all is that it swings back to the early stages of what so often makes a fandom toxic in the eyes of these fans. Specifically "I own this." It's being tailored with them in mind, Disney has reworked the entire franchise to tailor itself to this new audience, and it is THEIRS as a result, and those who do not agree with them are outsiders who must be opposed. It's why you end up with situations like fans of the new trilogy repeatedly criticising The Last Jedi's detractors for buying tickets for something they hate, and then blaming the same group for the Solo's failure when it doesn't meet expectations. These outliers and extremists, while certainly the infinitely lesser of two evils, end up trying to police comments and shout down those who don't agree with them, seeing it as their duty to drive them out of the fandom. The worst thing is that none of them see this as wrong.

The end result of this is just a continuing cycle because of this sort of thing. You have misogynists and absolute bastards going after the people behind the films for either their own pleasure to vent their hate. They get a response, and the creators and/or their fans fight back, but against anyone they deem to be a part of this group, no matter how inaccurate a comparison it might be. This only makes things worse when those fans start to fight back in turn, and things continue to snowball from there. The result of this all is an environment of relentless hostility and hatred, which only intensifies as time marches on.

Again, I want to stress that those who drove Tran from social media are the ones who are the real criminals here, there's no doubt about that. If anyone deserves to be punished for what has happened, it is singularly them. Yet, with that said, it needs to be remembered that there are those who oppose them, but seemingly see no problem in behaving just as badly as them at times. If you want a good example, well, just look at this blog. Ever since the original Star Wars: Aftermath review, I've been censoring hateful comments in one form or another. While they have died down after the initial wave, there are those which still crop up, determined to spew hatred in my direction. I made a point of screenshotting and compiling a few of the recent ones before deleting them, just for this article:

It's not exactly flattering, is it. It's not new either, as this has been happening for years now. So, if there is any message you want to take away from this article, anything at all, it's simply this: The Star Wars fandom does need to be purged. It does need to be fixed, and it does need to be corrected. Yet those who are most ardently screaming "Burn the heretics!" and trying to hunt down such individuals are not much better than those why oppose. One side is definitely worse, but it wouldn't take much for the other to be just as bad.