*sigh*
I'm sorry, but Donald Trump supporters have gone completely nuts over the last month. They're taking over Reddit, they're vandalizing homes, they're bombing churches, they're shooting up restaurants, and somehow it's all considered just a new normal component of American social discourse. Threatening people who dare say "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas" is their most current thing, but now we're moving on to movie boycotts it appears and at the top of the list is Rogue One: the upcoming Star Wars movie set for release on Friday.
There are two different Rogue One boycotts being organized within the Trumposphere: one that simply opposes the casting of women and people of color in prominent roles ("You're stealing my childhood!" "Cultural appropriation!" Etc.) and another that objects to what Rogue One writer Chris Weitz has described as the movie's anti-hate themes. With naked lies about him of course. Oh the oppression.
Never have I been more interested in a Star Wars movie nor more determined to see one at the earliest possible date! Much as the boycott of Mad Mad: Fury Road by the so-called men's rights activist movement last year drew my attention to that film and caused me to go see it, similarly the boycott of Rogue One by Trump supporters tells me that this film is earning the right enemies.
In all seriousness though, my interest in Rogue One is actually rooted in the trailers and early reviews that I've seen, which sure make it look and sound like the most unique and character-driven installment of the whole series, and the first to truly challenge our definitions of good and evil rather than mostly just painting it in Saturday morning cartoony black and white terms. The anti-Nazi elements are, in reality, hardly a new thing for this franchise. The villains' army has been known as Stormtroopers since the very first movie back in 1977 folks. It's got nothing to do with the rise of Trump (although I do find the fact that the Trump crowd objects...interesting). But the sense that I'm getting so far is that this will be a genuine war movie more than another Indiana Jones type live-action cartoon; sort of Star Wars meets The Hunger Games. That would certainly make it unique among the Star Wars movies and more interesting than the rest of the series to me! I mean not to knock The Force Awakens or anything, but while I liked the more diverse cast, the overarching storyline did seem a little overly familiar to me. While most people liked that about it, I prefer more original films and think this franchise needs a big change like this to really stand out from earlier generations of Star Wars films. I also just prefer character-driven movies and that topics like war be taken seriously more often in both movies and media more generally.
(I apologize for the set-up. I had to draw people's attention to this movie somehow and what better way on a politics-themed message board? )