As a film enthusiast who’s had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing the darker side of fandom, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of empathy for actors like Ahmed Best and Amandla Stenberg, who’ve faced an unjust share of hate and vitriol in their pursuit of bringing life to beloved characters. The cruelty that certain ‘fans’ display under the guise of “critique” is far from it – it’s pure ugliness.
As a die-hard Star Wars enthusiast and the man behind Jar-Jar Binks, I’ve seen firsthand how some parts of this fandom can cross the line. Recently, I found myself standing alongside Amandla Stenberg, the talented star of The Acolyte, after she faced a wave of negativity following Disney’s cancellation of her series.
As a fellow film enthusiast, I can empathize with Stenberg’s situation and felt compelled to express my solidarity on Instagram: “I stand firm in support of artists who pour their heart and soul into their work. Keep radiant, queen.” Much like Stenberg, I too faced an overwhelming wave of negativity back in 1999 when I portrayed Jar-Jar Binks in ‘The Phantom Menace’. The relentless hostility even drove me to consider taking my own life. Here’s a glimpse into my experience through the post I shared below.
A Problem in the Star Wars Community
Best and Stenberg certainly are not isolated incidents with Star Wars involving a certain subset of people who refer to themselves as fans crossing a line of harassment, all under the guise of “critiquing” the writing and while still attacking the performers who have no control over it. In addition to Best, his fellow prequel stars Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen received a lot of hate from the Star Wars fanbase. Like Best, Christensen knows what it is like to be on the other end of fan hatred and even recorded a special video welcoming Stenberg to the Star Wars franchise. While actors like Christensen and Best have now since been welcomed into the Star Wars fandom, fans are clearly still forcing newcomers to the saga to face the same level of cruel comments the prequel actors faced.
Daisy Ridley temporarily left social media due to the barrage of unfavorable remarks she encountered while portraying Rey in the Star Wars sequel series. The harshly critical, racist, and sexist feedback aimed at Kelly Marie Tran for her performance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a wake-up call that the Star Wars fan community needed to examine itself, but instead, some persisted and used negativity as their main focus. Ewan McGregor, who stars in Obi-Wan Kenobi, felt compelled to address racist comments directed at his co-star Moses Ingram for her portrayal of Reva, going so far as to state that those making such reprehensible remarks do not truly embody the spirit of Star Wars.
Among several individuals such as Kelly Marie Tran, Moses Ingram, Ahmed Best, and more recently Amandla Stenberg, there is a commonality: they are all individuals of color, with Tran, Ingram being women, and Stenberg using gender-neutral pronouns. This issue has come to be linked with the Star Wars franchise – to an extent that Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, has cautioned actors about potential backlash – yet it’s not exclusive to Star Wars; it’s also prevalent in other widely recognized film series, notably the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Read More
- BODEN PREDICTION. BODEN cryptocurrency
- GHST PREDICTION. GHST cryptocurrency
- BETA PREDICTION. BETA cryptocurrency
- STRD PREDICTION. STRD cryptocurrency
- Mango Markets Exploiter Found Guilty Of Fraud And Manipulation
- GBP EUR PREDICTION
- MATIC PREDICTION. MATIC cryptocurrency
- LOOKS PREDICTION. LOOKS cryptocurrency
- BRN/USD
- TNSR PREDICTION. TNSR cryptocurrency
2024-08-31 12:01