Saving what we hate
Current events in politics have made it scary to face the world lately, so in these challenging times I’m sure we’re all asking the same question: “who is going to make sure Star Wars is okay?” Fear not, because some assholes are working on it.
First we had the complete joke that is RemakeTheLastJedi.com, which argues the best way for Disney to proceed with Star Wars is to outsource production to a consortium of unidentified fans, who would begin by filming a replacement for Episode VIII. The site has a “pledge” form that resembles Kickstarter except that no actual financial commitment is required, so they’ve quickly raised over $360 million imaginary dollars, presumably from such gracious donors as [email protected]. Then there’s this #WeTheFans tweet, issuing a “declaration of rebellion” against Lucasfilm designed to resemble this thing, which makes me wonder if the Star Wars galaxy gets all their document templates from Microsoft Word.
Both of these would-be movements have manifestos arguing that, under Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm has lost touch with “the fans.” I think it’s telling that both manifestos try to take the high road but then lose their shit talking about the scene where Leia uses the Force to fly through space. (For those unfamiliar with Star Wars, the Force lets you move objects with your feelings, and Leia comes from a family of people who are very good at doing that.)
On the one hand, fandom is not an oath of fealty to the product, and these fans are under no obligation to quietly accept the movies they’re given. On the other hand, fandom is not voting interest that increases with your dedication and overrules the owners and casual audience of the product. Fans certainly have some influence but the degree of that influence is controlled by the will of ownership and market forces. Aside from overestimating the size of that influence, campaigns like these tend to overlook the possibility that fellow fans will not universally fall into line. It’s that kind of unrealistic thinking that highlights the poor planning of these movements, which inspires ridicule.
The RemakeTheLastJedi group is never going to actually see $360 million, but they apparently believe they can, so at some point you have to ask why they think the best use of that money is to “fix” a Star Wars movie they didn’t like. Well, I kinda don’t have to ask, because the #WeTheFans thing literally contains the line “To these ends, we pledge our merchandise, our honor, and our wallets.” It is difficult to meaningfully threaten to boycott Star Wars when you are, in the very same sentence, asserting the high value of owning Star Wars merchandise. Both campaigns, in their own way, amount to “Being a fan of this product makes me powerful, but I can only apply that power to consuming the product, so please pretend I am the one in control here.”
Ultimately, the only control you have over your fandom is the power to walk away from it, and let it succeed or fail without you. This is a bitter pill to swallow, because you naturally want to get concessions to all your demands without having to risk cutting something you love out of your life. But if The Last Jedi makes you hate Star Wars, that risk is already a sunk cost. Now it’s only a question of cutting something you used to love out of your life. Better to move on and come to grips with the breakup than to waste time re-litigating the thing that made it happen.
