By Brandon Porter
Who knew this would be the Star Wars character that I would relate to the most as of right now.
Someone who was so passionate about something now only fills him with dread, stress, and fatigue. So much so that he wants nothing to do with it...at least not now.
It's been about 2 and a half years since the Skywalker Saga ended with Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. It brought an end to the sequel trilogy and the Skywalker Saga that started in 1977. The years that followed have become the equivalent of a bitter and resentful ex-wife/husband constantly telling everyone how dissatisfied they were with how things went with their partner. The blog posts, the "credible sources" on YouTube with their hot takes, the Twitter threads and Facebook posts talking about what went wrong, how this company ruined this, blaming everything on SJWs, Left-Wing Politics, POC, pandering agendas, or any other stupid BS that they pull out of their behinds these days. The consistency of all of this has made having conversations about this fictional form of entertainment such a freakin chore. For me, it's one of the many reasons why I'm not as passionate about Star Wars as I once was in 2015. Nowadays, whenever I see something in Star Wars that is on the horizon, I don't have the same level of hype that I used to have. The most I'll be is intrigued and then days later it is an afterthought. That isn't something I thought would happen to me, especially with a series that's been part of my life for so long. So what led me to this state? What caused me to exile myself from the galaxy far, far away with little interest, at the moment, to return? Warning that this post could be triggering to some people. These are my raw and honest takes on the state of the franchise, the series' ultra passionate (and at times zealously entitled) fandom, and the emotional baggage that has piled up since the conclusion of the latest trilogy. I've held these feelings in for long enough. Time to put my (sabbacc) cards on the table.
Let me start this out by saying to everyone that I am a huge fan of the Sequel Trilogy. Yes, you heard me. I know I might be one of the only people in the Star Wars community that genuinely enjoyed the story told in Episodes VII-IX. But I genuinely believe this is the best trilogy since the original. I love the characters Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, Rose, and Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo. I love how they grow and change throughout the course of the trilogy, I love the era known as the Age of Resistance. I loved that it gave me some of my greatest moments as a Star Wars fan, and I love that it reawakened my love for Star Wars that had been dormant for so long. But ever since the conclusion of TROS, how the trilogy and era have been treated has me heartbroken and sad. As of now, it is being labeled as the bastard child by the collective fandom, the mainstream media, and at times, the people who helped bring it to life. We all know that the sequels had their share of issues. But a lot of these issues and criticisms that have been consistently thrown around to me are either unimportant, irrelevant or just downright childish and stupid. It's been quite disheartening to see a collection of stories that I love to get beaten like this and ridiculed because it didn't live up to the astronomically unattainable expectations. Something that no studio will ever be able to do no matter how hard they try.
I'm not saying that no one shouldn't be critical of media and be positive all the time. That would make things boring. But I think the route of my frustration with Star Wars right now is the oversaturation of the overly critical hot takes that just boil down to you just being bitter that Disney has control of the brand and isn't delivering what you want. Sometimes to an embarrassing degree. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum at a grocery store because the parent denied them a candy bar. Being the age I am now, I've seen some incredibly repulsive takes that made me think Star Wars fans actually don't know how to watch a movie. In the years during the Sequel era, I myself have been on the receiving end of some of these personal attacks though not as severe as others. From people on social media passive-aggressively belittling my opinion accusing me of being a shill because I have the audacity to have a different opinion than them to people talking behind my back at my place of work labeling me as some white knight for Star Wars. To me, this type of gaslighting is the biggest sign of disrespect. There is nothing more disrespectful than somebody labeling you when they don't truly even know you.
Besides, it's not like the series was in pristine shape before George Lucas signed it over to Disney. George was pretty much bullied into retirement after he was crucified by the fandom after the prequels. If you don't believe me, just look up articles from over a decade ago about how he felt about what was being said about him. All because he had the audacity to do things with something HE made. Sure, I think Lucas can be villainized (a little bit) for his alteration of the Original Trilogy in 1997. But anyone who TRULY knows the man understands he is a perfectionist who was always looking to innovate and progress technology. Anyone who takes that type of psychological flogging is bound to have their spirit break despite how stoic and unbothered they appear to be. Lucas may not have been a perfect filmmaker but I would never say some of the things that "ultra passionate fans" have said to him in years past. Ironic how some of the fans seem to forget the part they played in Star Wars slipping from Lucas' control.
That form of selective amnesia is laughable and it's hilarious when you remind them of it and they get defensive. My personal favorite is when they throw out the "Not All Fans" argument. Newsflash, everyone with a brain and common sense already knows that not all Star Wars fans are entitled pricks who throw around blatant forms of misogyny, racism, or other hurtful things at actors, directors, producers, or other fans but then try to pass it off as "constructive criticism." For me, this not-all mindset seems to be used as a defense mechanism to avoid addressing a real issue in modern fandom. The majority of the fandom community is made up of positive people. But the vocal minority seems to be drowning out the larger majority creating this assumption that everyone in the Star Wars fandom is a whiny entitled manchild. That's not the case but perception is everything, especially in an age where negativity and controversy are like an addictive drug. The problem isn't just that the vocal minority is loud. It's that the vast larger majority hasn't done enough, if anything at all, to keep this toxic vocal minority in check. Then once the valid criticisms come in, the ones on the majority side get defensive. I'm not saying you need to constantly police the toxic fans. No one has the time or temperament for that. Just do more than what you're doing now.
Obviously, for a series that has been around for as long as this one has, the generational gaps are substantial. There are those who have loved the series since the first one was released in 77, there are those in my generation that fell in love with it during the prequel era via the movies and the clone wars, and there is the current generation who first experienced it thanks to Rebels, The Sequels, and even The Mandalorian. I understand that not everybody is going to like the same thing. But if there is one thing I don't want is for Lucasfilm and Disney to ignore and shun an entire generation's Star Wars based on the loud group of entitled individuals who had their egos bruised because of a section of the series that didn't match their in head algorithm. Do stories within the 30 year gap between ROTJ and TFA, do an Obi-Wan series, an Ashoka series sure. But there are fans, like myself, who love and connected with the Age of Resistance era and the chracters within. I pray that the 2 season run of Star Wars Resistance was not an indicator of what was to come for the sequel era. For a show that they "say" was the complete story, it felt very anticlimactic and unfinished just as it was hitting its stride. So much more could have been done with these characters that would have added some context to that era much like Clone Wars and Rebels did with their eras. But it felt like it got cut off at the knees before it had a chance to really make an impression within the universe. Do I want to see Star Wars stories in different eras? Of course. Connecting with different characters and different time periods in the universe will keep the series from getting stagent and reliant on old characters and familiar beats. But for an era and characters that I have a lot of love for that I believe has so much more to offer this universe in conjunction with what we've already seen, stories set within the sequel era could benefit the franchise in the long run. A Finn and Poe series, a Rose series, and new live action/animated series with new characters set during the events of the trilogy. Something to add context to this era and add more meaning to some of the iconic moments in TFA, TLJ, and TROS. Abandoning these characters and the era they inhabit because of loud internet mob mentality would be detrimental to the franchise and the fans that see the value and meaning in what was given instead of what wasn't. If George Lucas had not have stuck to his guns and been adoment about adding context to the prequel era and instead "listened to the fans", we never would have gotten Ashoka, Rex, Hondo, or so many incredidle moments from the Age of Republic.
So I have to ask people, what do you think this crusade against "Disney Star Wars" and their "agenda driven political propaganda" is truly going to accomplish? Taking a page out of film critic Bob Chipman's re-review of Episode I, I can tell you what it is NOT going to do. It's not going to make any of the movies better or worse, it's not going to bring back George Lucas, it's not going to stop new fans who have the blessed luxury of not having all this emotionally draining baggage from falling in love with the series, it won't change the fact that Disney owns the franchise, and it won't stop potentially awesome new Star Wars content from coming out. No matter how many petty "this is better/more exciting/more engaging than" comments are written on social media that just fill me with such fatigue and annoyance or those the stupid as hell "so and so deserved better" t-shirts are worn that just make me roll my eys out of my damn sockets, All this is really going to accomplish is turn the Star Wars fandom into one of the most entitled, whiny and cynically obxious fandoms in pop culture.
I for one don't want to be associated with anything like that at this present time. I have heard more than my share of takes and critiques from other fans about who's fault it is for a series of films "failing" or how franchise being "ruined" or how Disney is raping childhoods and such. But all this is doing, as of right now, is negatively effect how I react to things, putting me in stints of depression, and just killing my mood for an extended periods of time. Combine that with the lack of investment that Lucasfilm has made in continuing stories within the sequel era just makes me not motivated to stay attached to this universe anymore. I will always be a fan of Star Wars. But at this time, hanging up the robes and tossing the lightsaber aside just feels like the appropriate decision right now. Will I pick it back up and be as on fire for the series as I was all those years ago? Who knows. But for now, I'm closing off the force and heading into isolation. I have spoken.
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