Actress Moses Ingram has suffered from the racist attack on social media for her role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but why is there such a toxic Star Wars fan base?
The series of starwars have become an essential content of Disney+with a large amount of production of both animation and live action series. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latest live action series released on the platform has brought back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, as the Jedi Master, Obi Wan Kenobi and the sinister Darth Vader respectively, breaking audience records on the platform that is missing official figures, It has been confirmed by Disney +, as the most watched premiere worldwide of an original series on the streaming platform, according to the hours of viewing accumulated in its first weekend. A record that until now held Loki by Marvel Studios
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news for the series, which has seen its success marred as a small franchise fan base has launched racist attacks on Moses Ingram’s character Reva, aka the Third Sister of the Inquisitors. , a character who works for Darth Vader with the sole mission of ending the Jedi. Although she has a special fixation for Obi-Wan, we don’t know if she is by order of the Sith lord or something from the past, she could be one of the Jedi temple girls who escaped order 66.
The actress took to social media to open up about some of the racist comments she received and the impact they had on her. Lucasfilm used the official Star Wars Twitter account to support her “There are over 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be racist”, they tweeted. McGregor also came out in defense of his co-star with a video on social media. “If you are sending him racist messages, in my opinion you are not a fan of Star Wars”said the actor, and insisted. “I totally agree with Moses.”
@starwars.videos disgusting #starwarsfan #starwars #obiwankenobi #Ewan McGregor #reva #mosesingram ♬ original sound – Star Wars
It’s amazing to see that in the Star Wars universe, in which the diversity of species, races and religions is normal, that we are talking once again about the toxicity of a small part of the fandom, because that type of fan does not represent all the fans of starwars.
The Star Wars fandom has always been divided
The Star Wars fandom has always been divided. Even George Lucas himself had to deal with fans when he released the special editions, making changes to films that had been a part of so many childhoods and cried out “George Lucas raped our childhood.”
“On the internet, all those same guys complaining that I made a change are completely changing the movie”Lucas complained in an interview with The Guardian. “Good. But my film, with my name, which says that I did it, has to be the way I want». This war between the fans and George Lucas inspired the documentary The People vs. George Lucas.
Lucas’ argument points to a major problem in the Star Wars fanbase; Because fans are deeply invested in the franchise, they feel a deep sense of ownership. Ironically, this is one of the main reasons why the franchise has been so successful since its inception, especially because of its transmedia format that encourages viewers to immerse themselves in the story, make narrative connections between different formats, and question and interpret everything. that they read Disney’s 2012 acquisition of Star Wars, however, could not have gotten off to a worse start when the studio made the controversial decision to brand the old Star Wars Expanded Universe as non-canon (or “Legends”), an act that served to vindicate whose franchise it was now.
A history of Racism and Sexism
Star Wars has not always handled issues of race with due sensitivity, both the first trilogy and the prequels were underrepresented, other examples are the Ming Po, a minor race in Star Wars: The Clone Warswhich were heavily criticized and the prequels included a race known as the Neimoidians who were based on old “Yellow Hazard”. Given this context, it is not surprising that a small part of the fan base has been shown to be extremely racist.
This became more visible when Kelly Marie Tran was cast in the role of Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi , which experienced a backlash that ultimately forced her to leave social media. Rian Johnson, director of this installment, showed his anger on social networks for the attack on his actress, calling them “fake fools ***” so some justified their actions, alleging that they were really only objecting because of the quality of the film or the actress’s performance, and thus avoided acknowledging the racist comments that were being made.
In cases like this, the franchise problem is likely to run deeper. This minority of trolls sense that Star Wars is no longer directly aimed at them, and recognize the presence of characters who don’t look like them as an indication that the franchise is trying to reach a much broader base. The racist backlash is therefore an attempt to rein in Star Wars, to shape the entire franchise in its image. There’s surely a sense of irony in that it’s exactly the sort of approach that Emperor Palpatine himself would approve of.
How should the franchise deal with this situation?
After the series premiere Obi-Wan Kenobi the situation experienced by Kelly Marie Tran, was repeated when a small number of fans attacked the actress who plays Reva in the series. However, Lucasfilm is responding much more strongly to the toxic fans who attack Moses Ingram than they did to those who once attacked Kelly Marie Tran in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
In that earlier case, Lucasfilm seemed to relent to the backlash, with Tran’s character, Rose Tico, sidelining the character in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; he only appeared 76 seconds in the film. But Ingram certainly has the strong support of Lucasfilm, which suggests that the company has finally decided to take a stand. Statements made on social media have clearly been an attempt to shame these toxic fans and call on the broader fan base to unite against them.
Star Wars’ approach to canon also appears to be shifting a bit, perhaps in an attempt to move away from a broader confrontation over ownership. On social media, members of the Lucasfilm Story Group have begun referring to Obi-Wan’s famous quote in Return of the Jedi when discussing what is canon and what is not; “many of the truths that we accept depend a lot on our point of view”. Fans are now encouraged to implement what is sometimes called “main canon” to reconcile continuity issues or even incorporate your favorite Legends stories into the timeline.
starwars It’s not the only franchise to have a divided, sometimes toxic fan base; but it draws more attention particularly for its large mass of fans. The sad truth is that there will always be a minority of toxic fans, including racists. Lucasfilm has decided not to look the other way and confront them, letting them know that if they are not racist they are not true fans of Star Wars, a franchise that looks towards diversity and that everyone feels represented.