Let’s be honest, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a divisive film. You just need to look at any forum or comment section to see just how divisive. Whilst many of these complaints are aimed at the film’s writing and strange characterization of certain characters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams believes the negative reception to be down to something else – namely Fanboys who are threatened by women. Read on to find out more.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Abrams, who is set to direct the next film in the saga, explained that the hate online came not from people who hate Star Wars, but actually from ‘being threatened‘. He went on to elaborate by saying
“Star Wars is a big galaxy, and you can sort of find almost anything you want to in Star Wars. If you are someone who feels threatened by women and needs to lash out against them, you can probably find an enemy in Star Wars. You can probably look at the first movie that George (Lucas) did and say that Leia was too outspoken, or she was too tough. Anyone who wants to find a problem with anything can find the problem. The internet seems to be made for that.”
It’s true that there has been a very vocal group who dislike the film for this reason, this can be seen in many places, most notably the group on Facebook who claimed to be responsible for tanking the film’s audience score (a similar tactic they are currently attempting with Marvel’s Black Panther) and the fan edit of the film which hit the web last month, removing any trace of a strong female character.
The film definitely features many strong characters in the film, often steering the course of the plot, but truthfully it’s perfectly justified. Every action a character makes sense in regards to the film and these fans seem to forget that the original trilogy gave birth to one of the most badass female characters of all time – Leia Organa, a woman who stood up to Darth Vader, led a rebel alliance and even strangled a gigantic space slug. Basically, strong women are nothing new for this franchise.
That’s not to say the film doesn’t have it’s flaws, it’s got quite a few in fact, but the female characters aren’t one of them. It is a bit short-sighted to claim that is what all the negativity is about because it is only a (very vocal) minority who are making it about this issue. It is unfortunate that it is an issue in this day and age, especially when it results in people cutting down films based on their own insecurities. Hopefully this changes soon.
You can check out J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Episode IX when it hits theaters 20th December 2019.
What do you think? Do you agree with Abrams statement? What did you think of The Last Jedi? Let us know below!