Remember when you were a kid, and you went to see the Star Wars prequels and came out excited about them, but then all the critics were mean about the movie or your older sibling said it wasn’t good? No? You’re probably not a millennial, then.
For many of us who had the prequels as our first Star Wars series that was purely ours, we have a deep love for our trilogy, and we remember just how mean everyone was to not only the movies but the cast, as well. And now in gearing up for Obi-Wan Kenobi, I have a real fear that people are either going to forget how mean they were or repeat the same nonsense from before, and I’m here to say: Nope. It’s not happening.
The prequels gave us a whole sea of problems with how fandom reacts to things. People were so aggressive to Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks, and he (years later) revealed that the backlash was incredibly damaging to his mental health. There have also been rumors for years that the reason Jake Lloyd (who played Anakin in The Phantom Menace) quit acting because he was bullied about the movie.
All of that was fandom based. Sure, critics also hated these movies because they forgot that they are (at the end of the day) meant for younger audiences, but fans also forgot that and were a lot louder about their hatred of things, and it was just a mess. It continued on with the sequels, as well. Certain “fans” were racist towards both John Boyega as Finn and Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico for no reason other than to be racist, and multiple stars of the trilogy were bullied off of social media for how fans reacted to things.
It’s … unfortunately a time-honored tradition of new Star Wars properties, and it is long overdue that we end that tradition. We should have ended it with the prequels. In fact, it never should have started, but since it has and continues to happen, I’m saying that it ends now and we end that cycle of hatred and backlash for something with Obi-Wan Kenobi—weirdly full circle in a way I don’t like.
All Star Wars is good, actually
When you stop and think about the franchise as a whole, it is about a dramatic family making their business everyone else’s problem. That’s what it boils down to, and yet, somehow, it has become this bigger-than-life thing that people want to all fight each other about. You’d think if people were that serious about their love of the franchise, they’d realize that Han Solo isn’t a ladies’ man and is, instead, a hermit who wants to just live his life with his furry friend and can’t flirt to save his life.
But that’s beside the point. The point is that this fun space soap opera has turned into a literal war between fans. If you like something, watch out, because you’ll be attacked for liking it for years. I was old enough when the prequels came out to REMEMBER what that hatred was like. I remember everyone hating Hayden Christensen and being incredibly rude about his portrayal of Anakin, and while it hurt me because I was in love with him (still am, if we’re being honest), it also hurt because these are real people.
They’re being trashed for what? Because you don’t like something that George Lucas added to his OWN SERIES that he made up? Okay! Then move on. The cycle of hatred continued with the sequels and even with shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and there was never a moment when everyone agreed on anything.
And that’s fine, we don’t have to, but we do have to stop with the hate. Hearing how much it means to Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to see that people really did love their movies? It is emotional not because they know we’re here and we love it, but because they thought everyone hated it because of how loud those who didn’t were. You don’t have to like everything, but like maybe stop making it your personality to completely tear down something to the point where those involved are emotionally scarred because of it.
We have new characters and actors heading to Star Wars with Obi-Wan Kenobi. I want actors like Moses Ingram and Indira Varma to be embraced by the Star Wars fandom and not have to deal with those feelings that the actors in the prequels did.
Because no one should think that their work is hated by everyone or be forced to quit acting because of something. That’s not fair to anyone—not the actors, not those of us who do like the things, and not fans as a whole. So, what we’re not going to do with Obi-Wan Kenobi is repeat what happened with the prequels. Signed, a prequel fan for life.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
