I have loved Star Wars since childhood. My parents showed me the original trilogy when I was only a few years old, and I was immediately enamored by the different worlds, the characters, the sights and sounds and magic of it all that swept me off the couch and carried me into a new imaginative plane. The galaxy far, far away became my new home and helped me foster my budding creativity. As the prequels were released and I got a little bit older, I began to see myself as truly part of something, a follower of a cult classic that featured strong, dynamic woman characters and an admirable moral message.
When I turned twenty and The Force Awakens was released, I felt my time had finally come. This was to be my generation’s Star Wars trilogy, with a cast led by women and people of color, and while I was nervous to see Disney’s spin on one of my favorite franchises, I was elated with the results. The buzzing criticism surrounding the film didn’t bother me much at the time. I was too happy with Rey, Finn, Poe, and my princess Leia.
But when The Last Jedi was released, the criticism disgusted me. People were saying that it was the worst Star Wars film ever made, that it didn’t align itself at all with the original meaning of the franchise, that it had sold out, and I was confused. The film delighted me. As someone specializing in war studies, I was thrilled to see a discussion of the realities of warfare, including moral ambiguity, masculine vulnerability, and diversity. However, as I read through more comments bemoaning the state of Star Wars, I began to realize that people’s problems with The Last Jedi were greater than the film itself. Given that the majority of harsh–sometimes even vile–criticism was coming from white men, I want to pose a question for that demographic based on the nature of their complaints:
Are you sure you didn’t dislike the film because you’re actually racist and sexist?
Let’s unpack some of their claims:
There was way too much social commentary for Star Wars.
Listen up, fuzzball, if you think that social commentary has no place in Star Wars, you have clearly never seen a Star Wars film. The entire driving force behind the original trilogy is a small, rag-tag, diverse group of R E B E L S trying to dismantle a violent, totalitarian E M P I R E. Is this not social commentary? Because if your argument against The Last Jedi is that it’s too heavy on the justice, you must clearly hate The Empire Strikes Back, too. Star Wars has always been a criticism of tyranny, violence, and imperialism. This is nothing new.
The feminists are making my Star Wars soft.
First of all, fly boy, Star Wars was never yours. Men have never owned it. While it may not have been today’s shining image of intersectional feminism, the original trilogy did not shy away from appealing to women through strong, complex, independent women characters. While Luke was shooting womp rats on Tatooine, Leia was already a distinguished rebel leader who was risking her life for her people and their cause. Many, many young girls like myself found Star Wars at a young age and have loved it ever since. Chances are, we can smoke you at trivia.
Second of all, your claim that the newest films are making the franchise “soft” is problematic in so many ways. What does “soft” mean? Including women characters who find more comfort in diplomatic solutions than shooting blasters? A female vice admiral whose plan to preserve what was left of the resistance did not entail attacking a star destroyer and decimating an entire artillery division? Luke Skywalker finding peace with the force rather than resorting to anger and violence? It was this softness that allowed the resistance to survive. As the film shows, heroism does not always look like jumping in an X-wing and shooting at stuff; sometimes, it looks like saving the people you love and driving a cruiser through a star destroyer at light speed to give them a chance to live. Sometimes, it looks femme. If I learned anything from The Last Jedi, it’s that you can be just as much of a badass with a cute hairstyle, with a crush, and with never lifting a hand to harm anyone.
I hated Rose.
Did you hate Rose because you genuinely found her annoying and problematic, or did you hate Rose because you are a racist piece of trash? Kelly Marie Tran is the first Asian woman to be cast in a major role in a Star Wars film, and her character showed an immense amount of depth. It was Rose who came up with the plan to sneak onto a star destroyer and shut down its hyperspace tracking, who stunned Finn when she saw he was trying to escape, who called out cowardice when she saw it, and who faced certain death on numerous occasions. She is brave, intelligent, and resilient. Furthermore, she spent the film coping with her sister’s death. Rose sees war in a different way than many of us are used to, in that her outlook is not dangerously masculine. She believes that wars are won not destroying what a group hates, but saving what we love, and before any nerf-herders head this way screaming “Wars are won by soldiers!!!1,” consider the British homefront during the Second World War: wars are won by surviving. By continuing to live each day despite insurmountable odds. Kelly Marie Tran is of Vietnamese descent; consider her family’s struggle just to live out another day in the midst of conflict. That is Rose’s message, and that is what makes her such a wonderful, complex, enduring character.
Rey is such a Mary-Sue. How does she know how to use a lightsaber!!!??3*$
I will only address this once because this crap makes my blood boil. Think back to A New Hope. Luke Skywalker had no formal flight or weapons training, and yet he was still able to wield a lightsaber and fly an X-wing. Sound familiar? That’s Rey’s story, too, yet you only get annoyed with Rey. She is obviously force sensitive, and we don’t even have a midichlorian count on her yet; she could be more powerful than Anakin. So why do you hate Rey for having the same abilities that Luke had? Even Mark Hamill thinks you’re a bozo.
In conclusion, if you did not like The Last Jedi, I want you to ask yourself this: did I not like the film because it had genuine cinematic errors, or did I not like the film because I actually hate women and people of color?