Star Wars: Attack of the Fans

BY MICHAEL BERNARDI i am a star wars fan. as such, i can attest to

the fact that being a Star Wars fan is hard. It’s not as hard as being discriminated against, or experiencing inequality, or not having the “high ground.” Those things are objectively terrible. They lead to suffering. Being a Star Wars fan is hard because I love it. Star Wars brings me joy—and joy is terrifying. Joy can turn to sorrow. Love can make you vulnerable. Sand gets everywhere.

There in the silent blackness of the screen, an ethereal blue sentence appears.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....”

It hangs there for a moment. For a Star Wars fan, that moment is sacred. It holds so much imagination, excitement, anticipation, awe, and reverence for what is to come that we are forced to take a breath— to center ourselves—before the orchestra bursts to life and the star wars begin. We must live in the moment while being mindful of the future. That moment is the closest any of us will come to being a Jedi.

For some, however, that moment begins a journey to the dark side. It transforms them from fans into fanatics. Their zeal turns to zealotry. More machine now than (wo)man, they are twisted and evil. Posting toxic commentary online, they eviscerate the films and filmmakers, disparage and dismiss thoughtful, good-faith discussion, and demean and dehumanize the actors with hateful, villainous rhetoric ranging from the racist and sexist to the obscene and violent.

Sadly, some zealots and fanatics are irredeemable. They are Emperors Palpatine. They embrace the dark side because they think it makes them powerful. The hate flows through them just...because. They hate that the main protagonist, Rey, is female. They hate that Finn is not white. They hate that Luke is world-weary and that he died. They hate that The Force Awakens is too similar. They hate that The Last Jedi is too different. They hate a second Death Star. They hate Ewoks. They hate Jar Jar Binks and Rose Tico, but they also hate Ahmed Best and Kelly Marie Tran. Some of them laughed when they heard Ahmed say in an interview that he considered suicide in the wake of the reactions to his performance as Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace. More than a few were pleased when Kelly said she had no choice but to leave Twitter due to all of the harassment she received following her turn as Rose in The Last Jedi. I figure one or two

who have read this article now hate me for putting a “(wo)” before “man” in my earlier cutesy reference.

How do you help an Emperor Palpatine? How do you hold force lightening in your hand? Yoda only knows. Knows only Yoda? Knows Yoda only? One of those.

The rest of the noxious fanatics are Darths Vader. They are not deserving of sympathy—after all, regardless of the tragic nature of Vader’s fall, he was still a committed demonic murder-machine for almost 25 years—but there is still good in them. It hasn’t been driven from them fully. They are, at least, deserving of empathy. Like Vader, they turned to the dark side because of love. In this case, their love of Star Wars. The same love as mine.

Love makes it tough to stay on the light side of the force. Anakin couldn’t manage it. He loved his mother but couldn’t save her when her situation was bad. He loved Padme and their unborn children (well, according to what they knew, “child”—apparently for all the technology in The Republic, pregnant Galactic Senators can’t get a sonogram to see if they’re having twins) so he chose a dark path to prevent a worse fate. Ben Solo embraced being Kylo Ren because he loved his Uncle Luke and was devastated by Luke’s momentary betrayal. Kylo’s disappointment in his own internal struggle has led to an infatuated love for the Darth Vader version of his grandfather.

Even Luke barely made it through without turning. Frankly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he did. A terrifying masked, mechanical man clad in all black with a Mufasa voice cuts off my hand, tells me he’s my dad, then, instead of apologizing, offers me work. Later on, I’m fighting him in front of his boss and he tells me my sister is his new favorite kid. And I’m supposed to resist the urge to kill him in spite of having the power (the force) and the permission (Palpatine) to do otherwise?

These characters show us that when things are bad or disappointing, we are susceptible to the dark side. And the harsh truth is that Star Wars is fantastic at being bad or disappointing.

I still roll my eyes every time I watch the yellow scroll of Ep.I read, “Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.” The first line of the first episode is a convoluted mess that is almost impossible for kids under the age of 16 to understand (the kids Lucas has said his movies are technically meant for). Then we are introduced to the amazing Darth Maul, but he is underutilized and cut in half. Jar Jar Binks—enough said. An uncomfortable, bordering on creepy, romance in Ep.II. Dialogue seemingly written by a middle school drama club. An uneven relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin through all three prequels (Anakin is like a brother, but Obi-Wan is like a father? Does the average of the two make them cousins who are roommates?). Yoda’s hand slips off a platform, so his fight with the Emperor is over because for some reason the Jedi Grand Master can’t jump back up. Anakin can’t just step off his droid onto the lava bank; rather, he has to risk his limbs by

doing a sweet flip over Obi-Wan. Ewoks. The First Order had to do a huge (Death)Starkiller base. The Canto Bight scene is too long. I wish I saw The Last Jedi Luke do a ton of sick, powerful force stuff. I am bothered by all that and more.

The thing is, I’m an apologist for what I love. So are the Jedi. We are both capable of excusing even the gravest transgressions especially when there is a redemption or an overall positive outcome. Vader killed innocent children and terrorized the galaxy, but he throws ONE emperor down an open shaft and five minutes later he’s a smiling ghost in the good-guy lineup standing next to someone he murdered two movies ago. The politics of the opening crawl of The Phantom Menace are annoying, but it’s a smart, logical way to set up Palpatine’s path to forming the Empire. Darth Maul’s death is a letdown, but his mere creation is cool and other creative forces brought him back for other amazing, fulfilling character arcs. Jar Jar Binks is grating, but he’s critical to Palpatine’s gaining of (emergency) power; therefore, his presence has purpose. Anakin and Padme’s romance storyline and its development aren’t great, but we can’t get to Vader without it. The dialogue is heinous, but I didn’t show up for the dialogue. Obi-Wan and Anakin could have a clearer, deeper relationship, yet I still feel the pain of their conflict. Maybe after Yoda’s fall his disadvantage to the Emperor was greater than I understood. Anakin on Mustafar simply lets the dark side amp him up the way he lets his skills amp him up to fight Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Both times it ends poorly for Anakin and his limbs. The Ewoks are tedious, but they represent the life and connections of the force which is a factor that Palpatine couldn’t foresee through the dark side. It’s key to his defeat. Starkiller is similar to the Death Star, but it isn’t the same. World-ending weapons may get destroyed, but they never stop being useful. Canto Bight goes on too long, but it helps to get Finn to commit himself to the Resistance. Luke’s characterization was surprising, different, and real. He did his best, he was met with failure, he retreated to prevent him causing more harm. The movies are only ever a snapshot of the larger epic. In that snapshot, we see Luke at his low point so he can use his power to make the greatest sacrifice in order to continue the greater story. I’m ok with that. It’s not all about him. It’s not all about any of us.

I’m sure many of the toxic members of Star Wars fandom wish that they could just wish their feelings away. You can’t. You can only manage them. Even if you’ve turned to the dark side, it’s never too late to come back. It’s not impossible to change. Every fan has the capacity to love and hate Star Wars. Darth Vader exists in us all. Choose to be Anakin. And isn’t he the truest, most relatable choice? A little whiny, occasionally uncomfortable, with bad dialogue, a big heart, and the best intentions.

There will always be a light side and a dark side to loving Star Wars. The movies themselves represent a struggle for balance. The Sith get their revenge, but the Jedi returns. The clones attack and the Empire strikes back. It begins with a phantom menace which is quelled by the arrival of a new hope, an awakening of the force, and the ultimate rise of Skywalker. Let us fans seek a similar balance.

We’ve spent a whole movie, a whole trilogy, an entire trilogy of trilogies, on a journey that has always begun with a deep breath as the quiet, blue words transported us away. Now we can hear the music starting to swell. The final screen wipe is coming. John Williams’ last few notes lengthen like the starlight stretching out as we are thrust into hyperspace, back to our galaxy far, far away. May the force be with us. Always.

Star Wars/Disney/Lucasfilm