Culture The Acolyte Isn't Ruining Star Wars - You Are - Lucasfilm's latest series is the franchise's most promising, but fans are too blinded by their hate to see it.

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No one hates Star Wars more than those who claim to be Star Wars fans. Sure, the past few years have given the fandom plenty to critique. The sequels splintered the fanbase beyond recognition, and Lucasfilm’s efforts to expand the galaxy on the small screen have been mixed, at best. And in some cases, criticism is inevitable: not everyone will find something to like in the franchise’s recent output. At a certain point, though, the discourse reaches a fever pitch, and even Lucasfilm’s most promising projects get swept up in the drama.

The Acolyte is not the first Star Wars project to face the brunt of fan backlash, and it likely won’t be the last. But the new live-action series is also one of the best additions to that galaxy far away in a long time, embracing decades of nostalgia while also thinking critically on the franchise’s legacy. It also might be the most diverse Star Wars story yet — and while that’s definitely a boon for marginalized fans, it’s made The Acolyte the target of a vocal splinter of the fandom.
Whether you know them as the Fandom Menace or a cluster of blue checkmark users on Twitter, it’s impossible to escape their orbit. The same folks that review-bombed diverse swings like Marvel’s Eternals and the Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power have now set their sights on The Acolyte. To hear them tell it, the series is the worst thing that’s ever happened to Star Wars, and its showrunner, Leslye Headland, is just as fiendish as Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. To them, The Acolyte’s “woke” agenda is something to be feared. It’s ruining Star Wars; it’s poisoning pop culture itself. It needs to be stopped by any means necessary.

We realize how ridiculous that all sounds, right? God, I hope so. But if not, let’s try this: The Acolyte is not actually “ruining” Star Wars, but the bigoted backlash is definitely ruining the fun for everyone else.
It’s not outright shocking to see something like The Acolyte marred by racist, misogynistic, and even anti-LGBTQ backlash. That Star Wars devotees would share multiple bad-faith treatises about the series on YouTube, or tank its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, is just par the course at this point. This is, after all, the same fandom that launched consistent attacks against actors like John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Daisy Ridley; the same fandom that were publicly admonished by Ewan McGregor himself when Obi-Wan Kenobi faced similar pushback.

The problem is that nothing has changed. In the 10 years since this vocal minority suddenly cried out against diverse casting and more nuanced storytelling, they’ve yet to actually learn their lesson. Their arguments are bleeding into even the casual discourse surrounding The Acolyte. Comments on set design and screenwriting have turned into misogynistic microaggressions against Headland; even critiques on the series have been weaponized by its haters. There’s no room for nuance when it comes to The Acolyte: you either stand with the series, flaws and all, or you’re irrevocably against it.
The origins of this toxicity aren’t difficult to figure out. At the end of the day, it boils down to entitlement: many male fans feel like they own the franchise, and are determined to safeguard it from anyone that could challenge that ownership. That makes it hard for disparate groups to coexist, and it’s even harder for any non-white, non-male creatives hoping to tell stories within the franchise.

What began as a relatively niche issue has become Lucasfilm’s biggest hurdle moving forward. The Acolyte can weather the storm (after all, it’s been well-received by critics) but what about the fandom, and its relationship to those guiding the franchise now? As the discourse spirals out of control, it’s getting harder to ignore it outright. There’s no easy way out, but something has to change, otherwise, this vocal minority will end up ruining Star Wars for the rest of us.

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Article includes some pictures, presumably from the series, but I'm not certain about local protocol of posting those.

 

[Male Idiot]

Agreed, and the best part is you don't even have to do anything but exist. It's a real boon to lazy hatemongers everywhere, the sleepy racists and laid-back misogynists and homophobes in need of a nap.

Star Wars is some silly, silly shit and the fanbase that remains is beyond retarded, not that it was ever any different. Try consuming media aimed at adults for a change.

From the Space King guys:

 

[Vect]

At least the author's honest.

It's funny, I had literally no problem with the 'diverse' cast of Disney Star Wars until they started using them as meat shields for their obnoxious politics.

 

[Woe-B-Gon (TM)]

I notice a distinct lack of any praise for the actual content, probably because they realized they couldn't support the "murder mystery" angle once everyone saw the first episode. And I doubt anyone's going to praise characters who consistently contradict themselves scene-to-scene.

thinking critically on the franchise’s legacy.

Only in the critical theory sense.

It also might be the most diverse Star Wars story yet

Other than extras, the entire cast of the first two episodes is either human or humans wearing castoffs from the Star Trek DS9 makeup department.

But that's not what you meant.

(I feel a bit sorry for that Squid Game guy. Learned a whole new language just so he could get used as a token.)

a cluster of blue checkmark users on Twitter,

Remember when that was an insult used against precisely the kind of person using it here? Musk turned the ecosystem on its head, I'll give him that.

The same folks that review-bombed diverse swings like Marvel’s Eternals and the Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power have now set their sights on The Acolyte.

Please tell me this "writer" has referred to anything as a "conspiracy theory".

To them, The Acolyte’s “woke” agenda is something to be feared.

I do like how even they're openly admitting it has an agenda. We've passed "It's not happening." phase and are in the "And if it is happening it's a good thing." phase.

the bigoted backlash is definitely ruining the fun for everyone else.

Try not living on the Internet. Oh, wait, you can't because your only enjoyment of the show is not watching it but instead getting on the internet and praising its agenda for digital asspats.

Yeah, they're going to ruin that fun.

 

[frozen_runner]

Are they seriously trying to "gaslight" with this BS?

The gaslighting doesn't work with audiences. I don't think that's the purpose.

Rather, there's a real possibility it works with other Hollywood bullshitters. A town full of people getting new jobs by blaming the failure of their older work on deplorables? What a great multipurpose escape hatch for losers!

And it's a luxury belief that signals to the ingroup, obviously.

 

[CHARizard]

It's funny, I had literally no problem with the 'diverse' cast of Disney Star Wars until they started using them as meat shields for their obnoxious politics.

One of the most iconic characters from the prequel trilogy, guess they forgot about him. Motherfucker had a unique lightsaber and everything.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

"ENJOY OUR TRASH, BIGOT"

 

[Pruto]

... and that´s a good thing!

 

[Chocolate Wombat]

Someone compared the lead actress to Rick James due to her hair and now I can't unsee it. So I made a thing:

Spoiler: Context

Old man Rick James hair:

 

[Not a bee]

I watched it, and I am not a fan of Star Wars, but even from an unbiased point of view the writing and acting were terrible. The designs were okay.
It did nothing to keep my attention to continue watching. Good writing keeps their audience, new and old fans, even neutral-standing people, engaged.
The characters' personalities are bland, and their emotional responses are predictable.
It was typical goyslop. I put more effort into this than Disney!

 

[JohnnyG]

No one hates Star Wars more than those who claim to be Star Wars fans

Midwit here probably expected this to be profound or ironical or something, but it's exactly what you'd expect: those most devoted to the original story are going to be the ones most put off by seeing it gutted and worn as a skinsuit by Current Thing.

She spends the majority of her time looking for ways to spotlight women of color in traditionally-gatekept genres, those she grew up loving — and critiquing the disparities that marginalized filmmakers face.

Schrodinger's Victim: muhpression kept us down, but also muh duhbersity was always in everything and definitely not shoehorned in six weeks ago. These genres were heckin' gatekept and raycisterino, except when I ackchyually loved them growing up, which is why I want to rewrite them into something unrecognizable...

Here is the author's glam shot, a less glamorous but still posed/filtered one, and the picture she chose to represent herself on Twitter:

 

[Bland Crumbs]

View attachment 6076270

One of the most iconic characters from the prequel trilogy, guess they forgot about him. Motherfucker had a unique lightsaber and everything.

Yeah that faggot has said multiple times that Anakin blew up the Death Star.

 

[Mitt Doggy Dogg]

yap yap yap, if it's got nothing to do with the Yuuzhan Vong it's not canon

Right the Yuuzhan Vong was the absolute best story in all of Star Wars, I can't believe they haven't made a show or movie about that yet. They were fucking scary for to many reasons to talk about. But i donnu The Acolyte was alright, Andor was way better but its only been 2 episodes maybe it will get better. I don't see why everyone is freaking out about it

 

[The Gene Genie]

You WILL love the corpo goyslop!

 

[Absolutego]

Thanks, inverse.com, for the total confirmation that this shit is hardcore flopping

 

[blablabla]

Who the fuck cares about Star Wars anyways. The IP peaked with kotor 1 AND 2 anyways

 

[Back me up!]

yeah
when the prequels came out, the neckbeard manchild audience hated them but little children (like me) loved them, they created a whole new generation of star wars fans. plus there were also a lot of really good star wars video games coming out during that time which helped get these kids more invested.

i'm not sure if the sequel trilogy and all the disney content that is coming out now is accomplishing the same thing. i don't think little boys in 2019 were going crazy for the rise of skywalker (lol) like we did for revenge of the sith in 2005.

What I love, what I truely love, is that Disney bought Star Wars to create a money avenue for young boys since Disney really only had the Princess line for girls. And what did Disney do? Hand it off to a girlboss that made the whole franchise into a girl series. Disney just COULD NOT help themselves to make anything boy positive. And now? Star War is considered lame chick crap cy most boys. I really wish in 10+ year we get a really good business deep dive into how Disney blew a billion dollar franchise.

And it was such a great boy's property! Jedi's were the perfect blend of the Knight and Wizard archetype that let boys basically customize if they wanted to be more Knight or more Wizard and with anything inbetween!

 

[GunCar Gary]

I watched it, and I am not a fan of Star Wars, but even from an unbiased point of view the writing and acting were terrible. The designs were okay.
It did nothing to keep my attention to continue watching. Good writing keeps their audience, new and old fans, even neutral-standing people, engaged.
The characters' personalities are bland, and their emotional responses are predictable.
It was typical goyslop. I put more effort into this than Disney!

instead of using an existing IP to boost viewership to a new series that they put work into to make it even more popular, Disney keeps cashing in their reputation and the reputation of all the IPs they've bought to trick people into watching the cheapest, shittiest shows possible with as much DEI garbage shoveled in that will fit

Disney and all the IPs they own are starting to run out of reputation to cash out on, and building that back up takes a looong time

 

[TETRABAX]

Unpopular opinion:
Star wars has always sucked. Retards just got hooked up in the soundtrack and were too dumb to see that they were watching literal shit. None of it makes sense, the characters don't act with any rationality and just seem to do random things to make story events happen. The whole idea of "the force" is fucking retarded, even D&D figured out that you have to put limitations on magic or nothing will make sense. If Harrison Ford and John Williams had nothing to do with Star wars, episode 4 would have bombed and we would not have to hear about this heap of garbage anymore

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

One of the most iconic characters from the prequel trilogy, guess they forgot about him. Motherfucker had a unique lightsaber and everything.

Yeah that faggot has said multiple times that Anakin blew up the Death Star.

At least share the archives of them being that stupid for the rest of us. Do you know how many results "actor says something stupid" returns on the internet?

 

[Pedophobe]

I love the fact that me being a Straight White Male in CURRENT YEAR is what's causing all these things to collapse. Feels great man.

You're doing the Lᴏʀᴅ's work there Spud.