Begun, the Twitter Backlash has

As a Reylo, I'm very happy. They'll always have Force Ghosting. And as some people have half-jokingly mentioned, Force Ghosts can interact with things physically now so ...... Ben and Rey be all good ;-)

 

I'm greatful that The Cantina is one of the few places that doesn't use those extreme adjectives. We may disagree, but for the most part it doesn't go that far. People forget that these are just movies and shouldn't be taken that seriously.

 

This place is the best SW message board as 99% of the posters are respectful of differing opinions. It’s a smaller site that doesn’t get as much traffic as others, but the positive of that is it keeps out the trolls.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. I would put it slightly differently, but I think coming from the same place - I think it's ok to take movies, or any art, “seriously”, so long as that is done respectfully, and not used an excuse to insult others or act in a bigoted or condescending manner that doesn’t allow for a sensible discussion of differing views. After all, art is subjective and it’s only natural differing views will exist, whether differing in positive angles or differing in more critical aspects, or both.

 

It's been pretty tamed on Facebook. I read many comments on various SW posts and most of the comments are fairly positive to meh

 

This is just sad, really... Quite pathetic to threaten another person just because of a f'kin' movie, just because it was not the story one had imagined it would be. Wouldn't count on too many functional braincells in such a person. I mean, I love love Star Wars just as much as any one of us here, but that does not mean that I start bawling if the movie somehow didn't add up to my expectations... Some of the stuff I've read here and there have honestly been so full of childish whining, that maybe a healthy dose of therapy would be a good suggestion? Idiots! At the end of the day it's still only a f'kin' movie!

 

"TROS abandoned Rian Johnson's ideas!"

• The force bond is expanded on constantly in TROS.
• Kylo leads The First Order as a brutal dictator.
• Leia's force sensitivity is expanded into her being a Jedi Master for Rey.
• Rey being drawn to the dark side cave is explained by her bloodline.

What else do you want?

 

I get the disappointment, I have many disappointments with the film and I'm not a shipper of anyone. So I understand voicing your disappointment, but I find the comments about "my life is over and I'm depressed" because you didn't like the story or (and here's the biggest concern for me) "Ben died so JJ Abrams should die" yes, that was an actual tweet, to be so far over the line and way past just talking about disappointments. Anyway, I'm glad to see that you're a shipper with some common sense!

 

This is my favorite one. I love little babies. Always have.

 

I'll call out anyone that's being hateful because that's unacceptable. However, I can't tell you I wasn't depressed last weekend.

 

It's funny, I don't think there's been much of a backlash (all things considered). Sure there are pockets of people who are disgruntled (some more than others). And yes I have seen the Reylos on Twitter going pretty far off the deep end. But your Time Line on Twitter is what your curate yourself. You can mute key words or hash tags to avoid conversations you don't want to see. And the Reylos were using very specific hash tags, if you didn't want to see them vent, you could mute the hash tag. I'm not excusing their comments, but I do feel like you'd have to go looking for the disgruntled pockets to perceive an actual backlash.

 

i probably have most of the worst of the fandom menace either blocked or on mute on twitter, but here's some observation for what it's worth.
full disclosure: i was always a Bendemptionist since 2015. i never cared about (nor objected to) "Reylo".

backlash after TLJ:
most perceived injured parties: fans of Luke, people against Disney Star Wars

most common hashtags: #lastjedisucks, #RuinJohnson, #notmyluke, etc.

disappointed fans:

created a strawman funding to reshoot TLJ (no actual money was collected and you could pledge as many times as you wanted).
created a change.org petition to strike TLJ from canon.
created memes mocking creative choices.
created fan edits to remove offending scenes and women from the film.
​

backlash after Episode IX:
most perceived injured parties: fans of Ben Solo, people against Disney Star Wars

most common hashtags: #BenSoloLives #BenSoloDeservedBetter #thankyourianjohnson

disappointed fans:

created actual gofundme to support non-profit AITAF, (raising nearly $50k and counting) in the name of Ben Solo's legacy.
created change.org petition to continue Ben Solo's story.
created memes mocking creative choices.
created fan edits to provide their happily-ever-after ending.​

there are some nut outliers who are raging against the machine out there (and from what i've seen it's still largely anti-Disney people who basically hate everything), and yes, there are a handful of deep-ended "stans" who i think most Reylos would not cross the street to spit on, but the overall tenor of this backlash is completely different because the people who are upset (by and large) believe in letting other people enjoy things even when they don't. they have been very active in pushing the hashtags on the official sites, but generally from what i have seen aren't outright trolling others, which was a huge issue with the TLJ backlash.

again, there are definitely some crazies out there.
in the last four years, i've gotten to know both sides of the community pretty well.
and the ethic the Reylos are pushing is not to attack the creators, the actors, or other fans.
whereas i have literally seen anti-TLJ groups target and harass people just for liking the movie.
and don't forget, the Reylos did "win". they just aren't happy about what it cost.
and their response has been mostly creative and constructive.

for me it's been an interesting opportunity to study the ebb and flow of fan behavior.
over the last four years i have watched the rolling tides of both twitter and AO3 as a means to gauging certain attitudes in the fandom.
the truth is that the fandom is very vocal, often myopic, sometimes insightful, occasionally self-absorbed to the point of narcissism, and ultimately just very very passionate about the things they love.

how they express all that is not always healthy and there is a tribal mentality about all of it.
i once belonged to the #SaveBenSolo tribe.
to be honest, i'm much happier now to walk alone.






tl;dr: Star Wars fans gonna Star Wars. [shrug]. XD

 

Important: What I'm about to say does NOT apply to everyone who disliked TROS. I understand there are real fans who truly did not like it.

But specifically on Twitter, I get the sense that a lot of people jumped onto the Star Wars bandwagon because of The Last Jedi, specifically because of the ways in which The Last Jedi was different from other Star Wars movies. They liked the psychological focus, the subversion of expectations, the idea of "Rey from nowhere" as a symbol of individual power not related to a man.

And when Rise of Skywalker came along, and it felt more like a nerdy space fantasy than a psychologically focused indie film, this group of fans checked out.

 

I've just blocked a whole bunch of people in my timeline. I don't need that kind of discourse in my timeline.

 

Ok I'll say it (because it seems like no one else wants to). The Reylo backlash is an entire movement. Their toxicity is not benign, or less far reaching, or less irrational. It is quintessential toxic fandom. And folks have definitely not kept "the same energy" in calling them out. Not just on this site (but definitely on this site) but also in the media in general.

1. TRoS backlashers have made literal death threats against JJ Abrams, you all know that right? And the media acknowledgement of it is almost non-existent. As of 1:27 EST on 1/2/20 if you google "JJ Abrams Death Threats" there are literally more articles referencing death threats that Rian Johnson received whose movie came out 2 years ago. In fact there is only ONE that points out that JJ has for TRoS. I do not believe that this is by accident. I believe the silence is an accidental acknowledgement that the campaign against TLJ critique was dishonestly conceived and applied. They felt they could cow people into silence with a media blitz labeling all dissent with a variety of progressive caricatures for TLJ. Where is that blitz now? Oh, that's right. The bad behavior is coming from a demographic they cannot effectively tar and feather in the same way. So instead of calling out the death threats (and assigning collectively responsibility to all dissenters as they did in the aftermath of TLJ) they simply act like it hasn't happened at all.

2. The people principally upset with TRoS are Reylos who have gotten the story wanted... until now. Even though LFL telegraphed that Ben was going to die by insisting that this movie would be the end of the Skywalker Saga. And now surprisingly there's no "manbabies" labels being tossed about for people acting badly. No one arguing again that this movie about space wizards for children and they're taking it too seriously. No one patronizing them saying, "I'm sorry you didn't get the movie you wanted". Where is that same energy?

3. Reylos just literally attacked John Boyega en masse for a joke on New Years (Had his name trending on Twitter and everything)

The lack of acknowledgement, and indeed, the willfully obtuse refusal to call it out for what it is, is conspicuous and telling. I'm just glad that John didn't play nice this time and fired back repeatedly.

 

Thank you for saying it. Since the ST started, media and various fans who liked or at the very least tolerated the ST issued, but definitely the media would launch labels at those who were more vocal about their dislike of the path of the ST. Yet, you have the Reylos, and factions within, actually saying things and have said them that the media often falsely attributed to others.

 

There are some on twitter who think they control the universe. It's a strange place of narcissistic people who think twitter is the real world.

Not everyone, but quite a lot.

 

Sorry, but John made a clown of himself on twitter, full stop. No other way to look at it.

 

I mean, I can kinda get the joke, and it's fine.

But it kinda reminds me of all the "jokes" Hamill has Tweeted, too.

Don't get me wrong, celebrities should be able to have some lighthearted fun at their franchises expense on Twitter. But sometimes it's necessary to read the room and realize now isn't the time.

 

Well, it's unprofessional, too. The term John used was a gross one I had to look up on urban dictionary (yes, I'm old now).