I think you are a bit hard on Star Wars fans. While I might disagree with them regarding Kathleen Kennedy's importance as a film maker historically (she's one of the most important producers in pop cinema history), I think her performance as studio head has been mixed and that her handling of SOLO is a good example of it. I like SOLO as a film, but needing to change directors midstream because things were getting off the rails isn't a good look for a studio head.
I think that critical Star Wars fans are typical of historical fandomsy. You can see this mentality in FREE ENTERPRISE (and in the continuing critiques of Robert Meyer Burnett who is far from and Edgelord) and in Simon Pegg's SPACED. I know that Pegg has apologized for that movie, but that's out of professional courtesy and guilt. The fact is that fandoms, all fandoms, have historically been very protective of the things they love. As I wrote about in my piece on The Eye of Argon, fandoms can also be quite cruel and while things may align along political lines today the cruelty of fandom has always been non-political.
I will also say that I think the "critical class" has been too dismissive of what they call "review bombing." My own personal experience with younger people, in this case college students, the opinions of many of my students match the negative reviews. I think the "review bombing" is sincere, even when I disagree with it. There are big disconnections in social groups right now and the expansion of the culture wars into pop culture, which used to be the target of rather than the vehicle for culture wars, is yet another annoying aspect of polarization.
Were I to update one of my favorite books on Polarization (Prius or Pickup?), I might call it KENNEDY OR SNYDERVERSE?
All of this reminds me that I really need to write my piece about toxic fandom. It discusses the time Forrest Ackerman (of Famous Monsters fame) attacked the writing of Clark Ashton Smith along the lines of the current Star Wars fans, only to be lambasted by H.P. Lovecraft and his Circle.
I think Robert Meyer Burnett may once have been far from an edgelord...but he has been moving into that territory for quite a while now, as have the Film Threat guys (whom I like personally, but seem to be really into hate-clickbaiting these days).
There is absolutely a right-libertarian-MRA subset of Star Wars fans that, for example, pre-hated the Acolyte because the showrunner was lesbian. By talking primarily to college students, your representative sample could be filtering them out; however, I suspect they are primarily NOT young people but angry aging Xers.
There certainly is a lot of pre-hate going on across pop culture along Culture War lines and I think it is right to point that out. One of the things I find frustrating about it is that it makes it hard to discuss the problems with a film like THE LAST JEDI because people assume any critique or praise is linked to pre-conceived positions.
Speaking of which, I would argue that there are just as many who are predisposed to like pre-like things that align with them politically too.
Oh yeah, and I think a lot of Andor fandom comes from that segment too. "It's more explicitly anti-fascism, therefore I love it."
The common thread between both the left and right fans of Andor, IMO, is they don't really like what Star Wars is now, and embrace, for differing reasons, the one show that to me feels furthest from it.
Follow-up question - are young people even into Star Wars any more? I know one 18 year-old fan in my social circles, though he doesn't have Disney+ and has mostly not seen the streaming shows
Seems like they are. My daughters and their friends love it. Sure, there are other properties (Minecraft and other things from their youth) that rank as high or higher, but it's still there.
I think that Star Wars, like Comic Books, trying to appeal to the fans as they age is a problem. They should do what Comic Books used to do before the "British Invasion" and the rise of Comic Books as Literature, and continually aim for younger audiences. Comics made the mistake of aging up and it's hurt them sales-wise. Star Wars looks to be making the same mistake in a lot of the properties. They should be, at least with Skywalker Saga films, aiming at the child in all of us.
I think you are a bit hard on Star Wars fans. While I might disagree with them regarding Kathleen Kennedy's importance as a film maker historically (she's one of the most important producers in pop cinema history), I think her performance as studio head has been mixed and that her handling of SOLO is a good example of it. I like SOLO as a film, but needing to change directors midstream because things were getting off the rails isn't a good look for a studio head.
I think that critical Star Wars fans are typical of historical fandomsy. You can see this mentality in FREE ENTERPRISE (and in the continuing critiques of Robert Meyer Burnett who is far from and Edgelord) and in Simon Pegg's SPACED. I know that Pegg has apologized for that movie, but that's out of professional courtesy and guilt. The fact is that fandoms, all fandoms, have historically been very protective of the things they love. As I wrote about in my piece on The Eye of Argon, fandoms can also be quite cruel and while things may align along political lines today the cruelty of fandom has always been non-political.
I will also say that I think the "critical class" has been too dismissive of what they call "review bombing." My own personal experience with younger people, in this case college students, the opinions of many of my students match the negative reviews. I think the "review bombing" is sincere, even when I disagree with it. There are big disconnections in social groups right now and the expansion of the culture wars into pop culture, which used to be the target of rather than the vehicle for culture wars, is yet another annoying aspect of polarization.
Were I to update one of my favorite books on Polarization (Prius or Pickup?), I might call it KENNEDY OR SNYDERVERSE?
All of this reminds me that I really need to write my piece about toxic fandom. It discusses the time Forrest Ackerman (of Famous Monsters fame) attacked the writing of Clark Ashton Smith along the lines of the current Star Wars fans, only to be lambasted by H.P. Lovecraft and his Circle.
I think Robert Meyer Burnett may once have been far from an edgelord...but he has been moving into that territory for quite a while now, as have the Film Threat guys (whom I like personally, but seem to be really into hate-clickbaiting these days).
There is absolutely a right-libertarian-MRA subset of Star Wars fans that, for example, pre-hated the Acolyte because the showrunner was lesbian. By talking primarily to college students, your representative sample could be filtering them out; however, I suspect they are primarily NOT young people but angry aging Xers.
There certainly is a lot of pre-hate going on across pop culture along Culture War lines and I think it is right to point that out. One of the things I find frustrating about it is that it makes it hard to discuss the problems with a film like THE LAST JEDI because people assume any critique or praise is linked to pre-conceived positions.
Speaking of which, I would argue that there are just as many who are predisposed to like pre-like things that align with them politically too.
Oh yeah, and I think a lot of Andor fandom comes from that segment too. "It's more explicitly anti-fascism, therefore I love it."
The common thread between both the left and right fans of Andor, IMO, is they don't really like what Star Wars is now, and embrace, for differing reasons, the one show that to me feels furthest from it.
Follow-up question - are young people even into Star Wars any more? I know one 18 year-old fan in my social circles, though he doesn't have Disney+ and has mostly not seen the streaming shows
Seems like they are. My daughters and their friends love it. Sure, there are other properties (Minecraft and other things from their youth) that rank as high or higher, but it's still there.
I think that Star Wars, like Comic Books, trying to appeal to the fans as they age is a problem. They should do what Comic Books used to do before the "British Invasion" and the rise of Comic Books as Literature, and continually aim for younger audiences. Comics made the mistake of aging up and it's hurt them sales-wise. Star Wars looks to be making the same mistake in a lot of the properties. They should be, at least with Skywalker Saga films, aiming at the child in all of us.