One of the most hot-button issues in the entertainment industry, particularly in genre filmmaking, is the idea of toxic fandom. After “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” actress Kelly Marie Tran left social media following rampant verbal abuse, including racism and sexism, a light was put on a small segment of fans that go beyond trolling to actually insult the creators, actors, and those involved in films they just simply didn’t like.
In the weeks since Tran’s social media self-imposed exile, we’ve seen multiple instances of other people involved in “Star Wars,” as well as superhero films, getting insulted at every turn. The latest filmmaker to speak up about this sort of abuse is “Guardians of the Galaxy” mastermind James Gunn.
After the director shared a recent article about how Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best talked about how his experience on the “Star Wars” prequels hurt his career and how he contemplated suicide, Gunn was apparently inundated with comments from toxic fans. At that point, Gunn had read enough and decided to post another couple of tweets focused on those “fans.”
“People responding to this post saying, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t the actor’s fault! It was the writer’s!’ are missing the point. Critique it. Don’t like it. But spewing hate and bile at individuals just doing their best to tell a story, even if the story sucks, is lame. Don’t watch it!” tweeted Gunn.
He continued, “Star Wars (or any movie) may be important to you, but it doesn’t belong to you. If your self-esteem depends on how good you think the current Star Wars is, or your childhood is ruined because you don’t like something in a movie, GO TO THERAPY.”
So now Gunn joins the ranks of Rian Johnson, Christopher McQuarrie, and others who have had enough of these so-called fans and have tried their best to rationalize with them. However, as anyone who spends even the smallest amount of time on Twitter knows, these fans aren’t known to let things go and are not afraid to hold grudges.
Star Wars (or any movie) may be important to you, but it doesn’t belong to you. If your self-esteem depends on how good you think the current Star Wars is, or your childhood is ruined because you don’t like something in a movie, GO TO THERAPY.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 4, 2018