I’m going to be completely honest: There are few fandoms with as much capacity for toxicity as the Star Wars fandom. Of course, that’s not the whole fandom, which we’re all happily part of, but if you don’t like a certain thing or if you are a newer fan, you can wind up subjected to an endless barrage of fans yelling at you about it. If you’re actually in the movies, it’s ten times worse. I truly feel so badly for both Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley for the amount of hate and attacks they received during the releases of the sequel trilogy.
But that fandom, and the toxicity that has taken over some fans of the franchise, has reached even stars like Mark Hamill. The Luke Skywalker actor has long had his fair share of fans asking him about Luke, and then, with The Last Jedi and into Rise of Skywalker, that was greatly ramped up because … well … Luke Skywalker became one with the Force, and then everything became a mess of fans thinking they all knew better.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, the actor brought up his own thoughts about the movies and, more specifically, Luke Skywalker, because he’s been with the character for so long. But he did point out that he didn’t know when the fandom became so contentious:
I don’t know when, over the period of time, fandom became so contentious. But people are really opinionated, and you can’t help but be opinionated yourself, because you’ve lived with the character so long. So whether it was on Episode VII, VIII or IX, I’d have disagreements, and I would say to whoever it was, “Well, I don’t know if that’s right.” But everyone shares the same goal: you want to make the best movie you can.
Look, he’s right. It wasn’t always this contentious, but that’s just because social media didn’t really exist during the first two trilogies. Here’s the thing: I’m a woman who has loved Star Wars since I was a kid. I’ve come in contact with men who think they know more about the franchise than me frequently, so I’m very familiar with the more toxic aspects of the fandom and how long they’ve been around.
The thing is: We’re all very protective of Star Wars and maybe we need to take a step back and realize that yelling at other fans continually isn’t the way to go. I know that I’ve yelled about things pertaining to Star Wars, normally when it comes to Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, but still, I’ve yelled. But I try to pride myself on the fact that I’ve not screamed at another fan for liking something.
I might disagree, but it’s not my place. You like Rise of Skywalker? Happy for you! But me liking The Last Jedi doesn’t make me any less of a fan; it just makes us different. That contention that Hamill talked about has always existed, but it has shifted from a boy’s club mentality to a “If you don’t like this part, then you are not a fan.”
Gone are the days when a man would fight me over where Han Solo is from (Love that I was always right in saying Corellia to them), but now we’re faced with “WHICH OF THE NEW TRILOGY DID YOU LIKE? IF YOU ANSWER WRONG I’LL KNOW WHICH KIND OF FAN YOU ARE.” Maybe that’s why I’ve clung so desperately to The Mandalorian now. I know that baby Yoda is universal, and we all can fall in love with this Space Western.
But let’s let Mark Hamill live? I know he’s very online and truly one of the sweetest actors out there, but continually yelling at him about Luke Skywalker is unnecessary.
(via CinemaBlend, image: Lucasfilm)
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