After episode 3 of Obi-Wan, I made a grave mistake that I’m happy to say I tend not
to make as much these days: I looked at people’s opinions on Twitter.
And after about 5 minutes of scrolling, I thought to myself the title of this video:
Why do Star Wars fans hate everything?
Now obviously this is a generalization focusing on a small but very vocal sector of Star Wars
fans, I know there are many who just watch the movies and shows and like and don’t
like what they like and don’t like and carry on with their days, but there is definitely
a piece of that fandom that gives the impression that they hate everything.
So today I wanted to try to explore what has led to this culture that can be seen with
lots of franchises these days but especially around Star Wars and why the discourse can
feel so intensely negative.
Ok first things first, Twitter sucks, just as a ground rule.
If you want to be in a bad mood, go on entertainment Twitter, it’s people arguing and then people
being dicks and then people arguing about people arguing and then people being dicks
about that and it’s an endless cycle of frustration and annoyance and god, it makes
you happy for the ability to close your computer or turn off your phone and just go do something
else.
My point is, I’m aware that toxic movie culture is amplified on Twitter because it's
just an awful social media, but I do still see these kinds of overwhelmingly negative
Star Wars opinions elsewhere.
The thing that fascinates me most about Star Wars fandom in general is a shift in attitude
towards films as time passes, and more specifically as people get older.
When the Star Wars prequels came around, people who had grown up on the original Star Wars
trilogy saw them and generally hated them, they were a weird bastardization of a lot
of things they loved, they were poorly written and acted, they added unnecessary lore, they
had this character, garbage we hate it.
And there was an intense backlash in the following years that was one of the first famous examples
of extreme fan backlash, leading to real consequences for actors involved and showing that Star
Wars fans could be a little too intense about their fun space wizard movies.
Like what you like, don’t like what you don’t like, critique what you want, don’t
harass actors though, you know?
Pretty basic rule to live by.
However, you know who did love those movies?
Kids, who don’t write film reviews.
Kids who are around my age or a little older, born between 1997 and 2003, that range.
And as those kids have grown up and gotten more vocal, the love for the Star Wars prequels
has increased online, now to the point where they're seen by some to be better than the
originals.
At first it started in a bit of an ironic way, lots of meme templates being used, and
slowly the narrative has shifted to unironically these films now being beloved, mainly from
younger people who grew up with them now getting older and having more of a voice about films.
And I think this may be an element of, something you love as a child in older years you stand
by it, you almost treasure it and protect it cuz it’s something personal to you, even
if you can see flaws with it, you go that movie is goddamn awesome cuz it was part of
your childhood and you have a connection to it.
To a certain extent I think that's how some fans acted with the original trilogy as well,
ignoring some of its flaws because it's attached to childhood memories of theirs and promoting
them to this godly status of film.
I’m guilty of this too, the National Treasure movies I can admit are not masterful works
of art and yet I’d still vehemently defend them cuz I loved them so much growing up.
Also side note, I also think it’s really interesting how meme culture and film or TV
meme templates shift as again the younger fans of something get older, we saw it with
Star Wars prequels, the original Spider-Man films, tons of Dreamworks movies, all of these
are from the same era, and now Breaking Bad as people like me who watched it when let’s
be honest they were probably too young to be watching it have gotten a bit older, I
don’t know it's very interesting and can affect the discourse around films.
The Raimi Spider-Man films were always well liked and not as controversial as the Star
Wars films but they’ve ascended to god tier movies as of late because kids who grew up
with them are now older and the ones having the film discussions online, I guarantee you
in a few years the Garfield Spider-Man films will be in a similar way and then the Holland
Spider-Man movies like 15-20 years from now.
Anyway I am getting off topic here.
The kids who loved the prequels growing up are now teens and young adults, and they now
see that as the benchmark for Star Wars film quality.
And that is where I think some more of this hate is coming from now for this modern Disney
era, in a similar way to how the prequels were hated for so many years, it’s different
from the thing I liked growing up and for that reason it is bad.
Now again I’d like to stress I am talking about a specific sector of Star Wars fans
who are very toxic and seem almost determined to feel negatively about the new Star Wars
stuff.
There are some people who just didn't like the new movies and obviously that's fine.
It’s when people are so angry and hateful about it that it perplexes me and why I wanted
to make this video.
And even with this new Star Wars saga it’s been fascinating to watch the public perception
of it evolve as well, when Force Awakens came out it was beloved, everyone was like oh my
god Star Wars is back, and then within a few years and some film choices it’s like these
are the worst movies ever.
And that's that fandom mentality that doesn't just apply to Star Wars but it is a great
case study for it, something is either the worst thing ever or the best thing ever.
Also before you come at me, that also does just make for a good title and thumbnail alright?
The Last Jedi did some controversial stuff with the lore and then Rise of Skywalker wasn’t
great, this whole new Disney era is garbage.
As opposed to when Force Awakens came out and it was the best thing to ever happen.
To elaborate on a point I made earlier, it is obviously fine to like or dislike movies
and to talk about why you like and dislike them, that's literally my job.
It's this pattern of hate mixed with nostalgia mixed with shifting emotions around Star Wars
and a simplicity of this is the best thing or worst thing ever that just seems exhausting
and why I tend not to read comments or look at Tweets anymore.
All of these films have flaws, in my personal opinion the original trilogy is good and fun
and I think people maybe take them a bit too seriously because they're fun goofy space
movies that definitely have silly parts to them, but they're enjoyable.
I think the prequels aren’t great but have some fun stuff in them but are poorly written.
I think the new trilogy started really strong and had some interesting ideas and Rise of
Skywalker was pretty bad.
And you can agree or disagree with any of that and that's totally fine, but it’s preferable
to handle it in the way of these are fantasy movies that can be fun to talk about rather
than this movie was disappointing and that is an affront to your very being.
Now I get that being over-the-top and whatnot when discussing movies can be fun or you can
slip into that, honestly if you listen to the Poorly Planned Podcast Freddy and I do
slip into that rhetoric of this is the most boring movie I have ever seen in my life,
and that kind of stuff, and it can be fun to nitpick stuff, like when Freddy and I talked
about Doctor Strange 2 and went over how dumb some little moments were, that can be fun
to do.
Or like when the Weekly Planet talk about the Harry Potter films and spend most of the
time talking about how dumb little details of that world are and how many plot holes
there are, those are some of their most hilarious episodes.
Obviously film criticism is a normal thing and it’s fine to be a bit over-the-top or
nitpicky on plot holes at times.
And this is not me trying to cover my ass if people come and say well you talk about
things being the best or worst thing ever on the pod, because sometimes yeah I could
definitely tone that down I’ll own that, you get caught up in the conversation, and
also the pod is inherently a bit over-the-top in a jokey by design, but anyway my point
is, it can be fun to do that especially if you’re having a conversation with a friend
or you’re trying really hard to express how something made you feel or whatever, especially
if you’re a bit self-aware of it, but why does that have to be a constant state when
discussing films and media.
Like that constant this is the worst thing ever or that constant nitpicking of tiny details
just feels so exhausting, like I saw a thing about Obi-Wan on Twitter that was like, they
really made Obi-Wan Kenobi wear goggles in this scene….so?
There was no criticism there and there was nothing funny there or you were trying to
have an interesting conversation, it’s just a slight detail that you personally seem not
to like for some reason, maybe Ewan McGregor doesn't pull of these goggles aesthetic in
which case I’m sorry, but also why are you so mad about it.
And my final note here, and this one might be a bit controversial, but it's about the
modern era of fandom and movie TV culture and how invested and obsessed people are with
these properties.
Now I’m not here to fan-shame or nerd-shame anyone for being really into a certain TV
show or movie franchise or whatever, because a) that’d be a dick thing to do and b) it’d
be the most ironic thing in the world considering, you know, all of this.
I pay for the roof over my head and my food by being so interested in movies that I started
making YouTube videos about them when I was 12, ok, I am not here to nerd-shame.
I do think there is something to be said for the unhealthy investment and obsession some
people have in entertainment franchises that leads to genuine anger and ruining of their
days when a movie or show does something they don’t like.
And I get being disappointed by a movie you were really excited for, or being annoyed
a franchise you’re super invested in did something you think is dumb, if in the next
Creed movie, Adonis dies in the first 5 minutes and the rest of the movie is Rocky carrying
his corpse around Weekend at Bernie’s style until he somehow wins a boxing match, I would
be pissed.
Probably more so confused but pissed.
But there is this next level of investment in these properties that I think the Internet
age has brought with it, and also the kind of franchise boom of the last 10 years, where
with the Internet movie discussion with millions or people is extremely easy and accessible,
and now there is so much content because there’s a new Marvel or Star Wars thing every month.
Back in 1980 you had to wait 3 years between Star Wars films, now there’s a new film
or Disney Plus show or comic or whatever practically everyday.
And I think those two factors have contributed to some people getting so invested in these
franchises like Star Wars that I do think it genuinely negatively affects their lives
when something they don’t like happens and that's part of why there’s so much seemingly
over the top anger.
And maybe that's why if for example one Disney Star Wars thing was really bad in their opinion
now everything is terrible from Disney regardless.
It’s like saying this movie ruined my childhood, which is kind of just thrown around now but
some people mean that without any exaggeration, they feel personally attacked by the quality
of a film.
Or like this movie ruined Luke Skywalker, you can think that, but to stew on it for
years and take out hate on the people making these movies feels a bit unhealthy if you
ask me.
True story, when I saw Age of Ultron in the cinemas when I was 13, I was so excited for
it, the first Avengers movie was my favorite movie of all time at that point, I was beyond
hyped.
And when I walked out, because it was just ok and it was kind of disappointing, I honestly
felt bad, like the rest of my day I wasn’t happy.
And that's one moment when I realized, maybe I’m too invested in this stuff because my
fun hobby of being into these movies genuinely crept into my real life that day and made
me unhappy.
I sometimes even get that with UFC now, I’m so invested that if a fighter I really like
loses sometimes in the past it has affected the rest of my day.
And I just don’t think that's a healthy relationship with media, it’s important
to remember this stuff is entertainment, and the movie discourse, no matter how into it
you are now and you run a Star Wars hate blog or whatever, all of us movie nerds online
started out doing that because it’s fun, and
I think that's something people need to remind themselves of sometimes.
As much as you may not like a show or movie, and you can express that opinion online, remember
that it’s also completely optional to watch this stuff and it isn’t that serious.
It is entertainment, it is a fun bonus to your life, it is not everything.
Also I know I said final note but quick last thing
here, I know there is also an element of racism and sexism and whatnot in the toxic fandom
conversation, seen recently with Moses Ingram in Obi-Wan, and I haven't really talked about
that here because I’m addressing a different sector of fans, fans who are vitriolic about
the quality of these products and seem to hate everything but not ones who are racist
or sexist, in that case that's just dumb obviously..
But that's not the conversation I was trying to have here because that's open and shut,
this was more about the nuances of fan culture that isn’t racist, because fan culture that
is racist should not exist.
So in conclusion, I am aware this video was a bit rambly and all over the place, I’m
sorry I just had a lot of thoughts in my head that I wanted to get out there.
This started as a Star Wars specific thing and kind of weaved in and out of general toxic
fandoms discussion and I hope it was generally coherent.
My conclusion would be, I think it appears a certain sector of Star Wars fans are overly
negative and always angry because the nature of social media that highlights those with
the most controversial or volatile opinions, the growth of over-the-top fandom and movie
discussion that has come as the Internet has grown, the fickleness of some fans and how
opinions change over time as different generations grow older, and, and this is something I didn't
touch on a lot in this video but I think is important, people get swept up in a narrative
and some people don’t like nuance, some Disney Star Wars stuff can’t be good and
then some is bad and then some is ok, it's either all amazing cuz Disney is our savior
or it's garbage cuz Disney is the devil.
Narratives are a big thing here too that people get swept up in.
That's basically all I wanted to say.
Even if no one watches this video, it felt good to get all these thoughts out of my head
and structured, though somewhat loosely.
As far as my thoughts on Obi-Wan Kenobi so far?
Yeah, it’s pretty ok.
So those were my thoughts on fandoms these days, especially the Star Wars one and why
movie discourse can seem so intrinsically negative from some people at times.
What do you think of…all of this.
Let me know all your thoughts down below in the comments.
While you’re at it, be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram and Twitter
@bhl_hudson, my TikTok @bhlhudson, my Letterboxd @realbhlhudson, check out this podcast that
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called The Poorly Planned Podcast, and subscribe for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.