Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Properly Explains The 'Toxic Fandom'

Star Wars: The Last Jedi might have been a commercial and critical success for Lucasfilm, however, the movie also became one of the most divisive entries in the Star Wars franchise.

Sure, the film might have quite a number of fans, but there are some who've been attacking the film because of its attempts at subverting fan expectations and because of its "misuse" of legendary characters like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Not only have The Last Jedi haters been criticizing the film for its "faults" but some have been going as far as attacking the film's cast and crew.

Speaking in an interview with Variety to help promote his latest project, Knives Out, director Rian Johnson has decided to open up about The Last Jedi and the "toxic fandom" that's been lurking around online.

"You always have to contextualize how small a part of the fandom that section is. I'm not talking about people who like or dislike a particular movie. I'm talking about the people who have dedicated themselves to abusing people who are involved in the films," the filmmaker clarifies before going on to talk about the "toxic fandom" that he's faced as the director of The Last Jedi.

Johnson has had a lot of experience dealing with the toxicity of the Star Wars fanbase. Sure, we understand that fans have different tastes and that they look for different things when they watch a Star Wars movie, but there are some who go as far as abusing Johnson constantly online.

"It's so small, but it gets blown up. Having been in the hurricane for the last two years, I can tell you that 95% of what I get even on Twitter is lovely and thoughtful and engaged, even when people don't like my movie. Having said that, it's a problem that every type of fandom is dealing with. It's almost a byproduct of this system that is the internet," Johnson explains.

We can all agree to disagree about the things that we enjoy in a Star Wars movie, but fans ought to learn that attacking the cast and crew of Star Wars films isn't something that should be tolerated. We can always express dissent in a civil manner. Let's hope that things start to change now that the sequel trilogy is coming to an end this year.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres December 20, 2019.

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