This is another script I intend to turn into a video. Using it as an example of how not to respond to criticism and how it creates more divisions. Since this is an argumentative response, pointing out any problems in my argumentation would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I am leaving the creator of this comic anonymous because what is most important are the thoughts expressed here, not the creator’s infamy. This comic also alludes to another figure who will not be named either. Don’t use this video/post as a justification to be a scumbag to anybody? Now, let’s have some fun (The Last Jedi will be referred to by the acronym TLJ for the rest of this post)
Imagine this scenario: one guy walks into a bar filled with Star Wars fans and gets on the mic. He taps the microphone to get everybody’s attention for an important announcement…The Last Jedi and everybody killed each other. The end.
TLJ, the opinion around this movie has been polarizing, to say the least, and the discourse has become supernova levels of destructive. Tons of criticisms towards the movie and responses to the criticisms and responses to the defenses and responses to those responses and then mass riots everywhere. Some of these riots have had fallout leading to the unjustified harassment of actors and staff that is disgusting. However, the fallout has also lead to the demonization of people who have problems with the movie. Nowhere near as bad as the former, but still worth addressing. With the Rise of Skywalker on the horizon, I wanted to show you all how not to approach opposing criticism.
Staring at this panel is a perfect red flag for what we are getting into here. Conflating someone’s subjective opinion on the space wizard movie as an inherent judgment of their character. You could be the most respectful, generous, person out there, but a simple opinion about art means women should be suspicious of you. That doesn’t make people aggressively defensive, nope, not all.
Oooooooooo, I love strawmen. The inherent assumption that people don’t understand the Canto Bright scene. One guy with one point of criticism, no room for other more nuanced takes for the people who understand the purpose of the scene and still think it is not well executed. The assumption that not understanding plot points are a red flag, forgetting Hanlon’s Razor to create a boogeyman. Although, technically this is gender-neutral criticism because women can think this way too, so we should call them something else. I propose we call everybody who uses these arguments cretins.
This counter-argument relies on a cause and effect scenario of Holdo telling Poe not to be a maverick, which never happened in the film (the comic acknowledges). The complete lack of communication automatically renders the point moot. Although let’s assume the creator used Leia as the person who warned Poe. It still does not work. Poe is not a frat boy vomiting in a toilet after Leia and Holdo told him not to drink all the moonshine in the fridge. Such an action would only hurt himself. His “consequences” put multiple people in danger and if this was Holdo’s idea of a lesson, it makes her look like a terrible person. There was another explanation I heard that said she didn’t tell Poe because he was punished makes more sense, but that doesn’t work in context since she still liked him. The theme of failure would resonate more if Poe knew about Holdo’s suicide mission as a deliberate rejection of the orders. Although, that is a tangent for another time so let’s look at this last panel. This glorious, final panel.
And now the prejudice of the creator comes home to roost, that anybody with a negative opinion about TLJ is a bigot. The “probably” does not exempt the creator for horrible, faulty generalization. To actually address the criticism, does someone making the claim of a character having bad acting, really make them bigotted, Reaaaaaaalllllllly?
Granted the claim about her being useless is more debatable, but the bigotry claim does not even try to debunk the strawman’s claim. Come on, at least before you were doing the bare minimum here, but let me attempt to do your job for you. Rose has ties into Finn’s character arc and isn’t “narratively” useless because she assisted him in Poe’s mission and stopped him from committing suicide. Personally, I still think Rose is bad for other reasons, but the creator gives me no other points to really address, except for one thing. Every single image in this comic has had a nerd stereotype to spout the strawman rhetoric, but this one invokes worse implications than the others. While you can easily gleam that this individual hates Rose by the scissors, what is not said is that this references an actual person. This person likes to buy Rose merch to destroy them. This action is scummy, but you wanna know what is also bad? Tying everyone who has criticisms of Rose’s character to this an inherently venomous person. They can’t just be people with wrong opinions, they have to be the reactionary racists who liquefy anything they touch.
Now let’s wrap this up. It’s fine to like TLJ, but it’s not fine to strawman and try to demonize the opposition. It causes the detractors to get angrier which makes the defenders angrier and leads to an ouroboros cycle of toxic arguing. If I had to give any advice to anybody reading this, remember to discuss, debate, and analyze responsibly. Do that instead of demonizing and hopefully, we do not repeat the same thing when it comes to the Rise fo Skywalker. Okay, we all know it will happen, but I can dream.
