To say that 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' completely divided the fans of the galactic saga would not surprise anyone. You don't have to look far to see how fans' discontent provoked avalanche after avalanche of negative comments on social media, some directed at the director, Rian Johnson, and others even demanding that the film be remade. But what if these hate comments for the eighth 'Star Wars' episode were not actually the responses of real fans?
The Hollywood Reporter have highlighted the study carried out by Morten Bay which was published a few days ago: 'Weaponizing the haters: The Last Jedi and the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation'. In this study Bay confirms that behind the campaign against the film starring Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill there were strong political motivations. He points out that only around a fifth of tweets about the film were negative in the first place and adds that: "Overall, 50.9% of those tweeting negatively [about the movie] was likely politically motivated or not even human." He divides the negative critics into three categories: those with a political agenda, trolls, and the so called "true fantagonists", that is to say the actual fans of 'Star Wars' who genuinely did not enjoy the film.
The study went further than simply classifying the messages of social media, pointing out that the American far right and Russian federation were large instigators of the movement; he suggests that this was with the aim of continuing "a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society". Bay confirms that "a number of these users appear to be Russian trolls". The study seems to be well informed, considering the extreme bullying from alt-right groups that the actress Kelly Marie Tran suffered on social media, as well as the manipulation of the reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes site.
The Directors Criticise Fans
With or without trolls, the reactions of a few so called fans of George Lucas' universe has been criticised by various people in the world of cinema, starting with Mark Hamill, who claimed that he could understand the criticism that he received for his last work. But not only those within the world of 'Star Wars' have shown their disagreement with the attitudes of these fans; directors James Gunn, James Mangold and Christopher McQuarrie have made it clear what stance they take with regards to the messages on social media about 'The Last Jedi'.
While we wait to hear near details of the next stage of the franchise, we are getting closer and closer to the release date of 'Star Wars: Episode IX', although it is not coming to cinemas until December 2019.
