It’s just like Yoda said: “Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to being a racist douchebag online.”
You’re watching What’s Trending, I’m Martine Beerman.
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Kelly Marie Tran deleted all of her Instagram posts, presumably because of online bullies
who didn’t like her character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Last year, Tran appeared as Rose, a mechanic for the resistance who goes on an adventure
with former Stormtrooper Finn.
She was the first woman-of-color to appear in a lead role in a Star Wars film.
It's incredible.
And, unfortunately, why the heck is it only happening in 2018?
While the film received rave reviews and Tran’s performance was frequently singled out (The
L.A. Times called her an “excellent newcomer”) many fans disliked the character, finding
her motivation lacking and actions questionable.
And, of course, if you hate a character you take it out on the person who acted as that
character.
That seems like a perfectly normal thing to do.
I always wonder about that.
When there are questionable characters who are maybe a villain and if whether people
then decide to treat them differently because of that.
In this situation, she's being treated badly and her character is not even a villain.
Now, while many fans voiced their disapproval calmly and respectfully, others online resorted
to racist comments and taunts, even going so far as to fill her page on Wookieepedia
with epithets.
And so it’s gone since the film’s release last December.
A month after the film’s release, she was met with hate on a birthday Instagram post.
Her birthday!
And again, it’s not just people saying hey you know didn't like the character don't really
like where that headed.
It's racial insults and slurs.
And that brings us to the present.
A fan account on Twitter called Star Wars Facts wrote: “Kelly Marie Tran has deleted
all the posts off her Instagram due to months of harassment she has received for her character
Rose in The Last Jedi”.
And sure enough, her Instagram account is now completely empty.
Something that the online trolls appear to be actively celebrating.
But others, including those who personally know Tran, are coming to her defense and condemning
that culture of negativity that's made this happen.
The Last Jedi's director, Rian Johnson, tweeted: "On social media a few unhealthy people can
cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I’ve met lots of real fellow
Star Wars fans.
We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humor, love & respect.
We’re the VAST majority, we’re having fun & doing just fine."
Kumail Nanjiani wrote: “I totally embarrassingly fanned out when I met Kelly Marie Tran.
Rose Tico was unequivocally one of the highlights of The Last Jedi.
You’d have to be an idiot to disagree with that.”
And Nicholas Levi wrote: “This is the fanbase that Drove Jake Lloyd insane, Made Hayden
Christensen quit acting, Made George Lucas not want to make any more movies, Made Daisy
Ridley delete her Instagram, And recently made Kelly Marie Tran leave Instagram.
I love Star Wars but f*ck the fans.”
He’s right about Daisy Ridley.
She did delete her Instagram account after she was non-stop harassed after a post where
she talked about the horrors of gun violence.
Yeah, that post angered people.
That controversial post about gun violence being bad.
And it's especially upsetting because Kelly Tran is so sweet and her Instagram was truly
delightful.
In fact, in one of her earlier posts, she admitted that she’d avoided joining social
media because she was worried about being picked apart.
She was always supportive of her co-stars and not afraid to show herself on the goofier
side.
And it’s not like we don’t understand because online hate can be really tough to
deal with and is very much a real thing, but at the same time, sometimes you can turn your
trolls into your biggest allies.
On a personal note, I've definitely had people come at me for different reasons, and I think
it's because when you are in front of a camera, people behind the camera don't imagine that
if they say something that a) you're going to read it or b) you're gonna respond to it
or feel anything about what it is that they say, so I personally try to engage people
in the comments, good or bad, and hopefully create a conversation and ultimately maybe
even a relationship where we have a friendship and can support one another.
And I will say, that that's actually amazingly happened here with What's Trending with several
of you guys.
And I'd like to think that we as a society have grown and become more progressive, but
this is really upsetting because additionally, she's the first female person of color who
has taken on a main role in Star Wars, which is a landmark and huge and at this point I'd
hope that the online community would support and love her not shun her.
Ultimately, we hope that she’ll remember the more positive aspects of being a part
of the Star Wars universe, and here’s what she said at the premiere in December.
“A lot of ‘Star Wars’ fans who are specifically Asian never had a character they could dress
up like, or they would and people would always call them ‘Asian Rey’ or ‘Asian fill-in-the-blank.’
I get very emotional when I see people who are able to identify with this character.
That means a lot to me and I don’t think it will ever get old.”
We’d like to end with one of Rose’s quotes from The Last Jedi.
“That’s how we’re gonna win.
Not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
Have you ever personally had to deal with online bullies?
How did you handle it?
Let us know in the comments, and for more trends head to whatstrending.com.