It’s Time For Star Wars To End It All
As a guy who’s been happily going to theaters since Star Wars was nothing but the single movie that was later renamed A New Hope, I think it would be great if we finally let the whole thing end. Allow the screens to go dark and let what has been created stand the test of time. Not because there aren’t more stories to be told, but because the stupidest, most narrow-minded, most intolerant and hateful corners of this crippled fandom have learned how to monetize the myopic, pseudo-intellectual vomit they call “criticism” and are making not just the Star Wars fandom—but social media and the Internet as a whole—an even uglier and more threatening place than it already was.
Star Wars Cannot Make A Move Without Hate
Have you ever withstood the verbal abuse from an acquaintance—perhaps even a family member—who would criticize you for anything you did or said? Literally, anything at all? Any word, any movement, any sound?
Someone who makes you so horrifically self-conscious that you just can’t stand to be anywhere near them—because even resorting to complete silence and inaction around them will attract verbal abuse?
That is the Star Wars fandom as it exists today.
Star Wars needs to end because the franchise cannot do anything, anything, without hate. If Star Wars releases a movie, a television show, a trailer for a movie or a television show, concept art, a snippet of an interview from a director, a tweet of a movie poster, a gameplay video, an action figure, a comic book, a collectible popcorn bucket, anything—it is met with a wall of hate. Not criticism—hate.
And guys, it’s not a mystery. We all know what it’s about.
We All Know What It’s About
Star Wars needs to end because the first teaser for The Force Awakens featured a few seconds of a Black guy in a stormtrooper outfit, and a brainless crowd of Star Wars fans acted like Immortan Joe finding an empty harem.
Star Wars needs to end because Obi-Wan Kenobi cast a Black woman as an imposing, threatening villain and an army of YouTubers whispered “Hallelujah” and got their videos ready to get enough hate clicks to fund their hentai appetites for the next few years.
Star Wars needs to end because once the fandom found out the open-world game Star Wars: Outlaws would feature a female lead, the reaction to the news was like what would happen if Nintendo had a press conference just to say “actually, no—Zelda is the dude.
Star Wars needs to end because the haters can talk about bad writing and canon and fight choreography and CGI and pacing all they want but we know what it’s really about, guys.
I’ve been an entertainment writer and editor for a while now and I’ve written and/or edited tons of stories about the harassment—including death threats—endured by Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, John Boyega, Moses Ingram, and Amandla Stenberg.
Yet somehow I do not believe I have ever written, edited, or even read stories about similar harassment endured by Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Ewan McGregor, or Ray Stevenson.
Gee.
What a divide. I wonder what differences I can sniff out between those two groups. What an impenetrable mystery.
Star Wars Fans Are About To Threaten To Kill Children
Star Wars needs to end because some time within the next few months, the hateful part of the fandom will flood the social media pages of the young cast of Skeleton Crew with death threats.
You know I’m not wrong. It’s just a matter of time.
The harassment and the threats probably won’t even wait until Skeleton Crew premieres on December 3. Disney+ will release another trailer. Then maybe one of the child actors will say something in the trailer that someone like YouTuber Star Wars Theory will speculate might, maybe, possibly, if said in the correct intonation, if uttered while Mercury is in retrograde, could, just maybe, Force helps us all… contradict canon established in one of the 1980s Marvel Star Wars comics that included the green talking rabbit.
Then that will be it. Star Wars needs to end because something as trivial as that will be enough for the uglier part of the fandom to think, “this totally justifies traumatizing children.” And then they will.
Who’s Going To Make Star Wars Anyway?
Star Wars needs to end because it will end anyway—who do you think is going to keep putting up with this?
Here is the only way Star Wars doesn’t end—if somewhere there is a completely undiscovered island populated by a tribe of people who somehow have been exposed to Star Wars and for some reason the entire tribe has become nothing but aspiring actors wanting to appear in Star Wars projects, while at the same time they have not been exposed to any media other than Star Wars, including the stories of fandom harassment.
Because eventually, guys? No one’s going to be willing to show up in these movies and shows anymore. Why would they?
Saying yes to starring in a new Star Wars project, especially if you’re not a white guy, is the same thing as saying yes to intense trauma.
Star Wars Needs To End Because There Are So Many Other Things For The Fandom Menace To Watch
I’m not stupid—Disney paid billions for Star Wars, so it won’t end. But if it did end? There’s still so much for the people who hate all the current Star Wars content to watch.
I think all of Friends is streaming on Max. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on Hulu. Supernatural is on Netflix. Is Cops streaming anywhere? It’s probably streaming somewhere.
Plenty of chances for you to see plenty of people who look just like you, and they’re the only heroes.
Have you seen the trailer for Tires? Watch Tires! I haven’t watched it, but judging by the trailers that thing is whiter than than the opening credits of Friends. They’ll be there for you.
