May 4 is officially "Star Wars Day", and the Republican party is celebrating the only way it knows how—by dragging the Democrats.
In a tweet made at 5:31 p.m. ET, the GOP wrote, "Democrats are doing to America what Disney has done to Star Wars... Ruining it. #MayThe4th," earning over 150 retweets in 20 minutes and climbing.
Democrats are doing to America what Disney has done to Star Wars…
— GOP (@GOP) May 4, 2022
Ruining it. #MayThe4th
The Star Wars sequels made following Disney's buyout of Fox started with The Force Awakens in 2015. In addition to the third trilogy—also including The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker—and two side-story films, Rogue One and Solo, the franchise has also expanded to streaming television, with the popular series The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett.
The Republicans' tweet echoes the online arguments following The Last Jedi in particular. The film became another culture war battleground with fans praising the film's diversity with critics accusing the franchise of "going woke."
Though the film was widely praised by film critics, earning 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score for the movie—42 percent across over 100,000 ratings—shows the division in the audience. Another "culture war" film, Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, has a similar divide: 79 percent among critics, 45 percent among audiences.
Some upset Star Wars fans started a petition to remake The Last Jedi, with over $419.1 million pledged to pay for the new film, though no money has been collected.
"The hero archetype's of the original films is what made these so great, it made characters that everyone could relate to regardless of their background and beliefs. No longer having this core element along with poor storytelling, has made the franchise divisive and in disarray," the RemakeTheLastJedi.com site reads.
A number of YouTube videos derogatorily referred to the film as being for "feminists" and "SJWs," a initialism for "Social Justice Warriors," meaning those who support left-wing views, with the implication that they only do so for validation.
Titles of YouTube videos include "Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a Hot SJW Mess"; "SJWs RUINED Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "Star Wars The Last Jedi is fake Feminism: SJW's can't even get their own propaganda right! RANT." Some point to the focus on Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, as an attempt to appeal to women at the expense of older Star Wars fans.
Another character, Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran, was also a target for those upset with The Last Jedi. Tran was the first non-white actress to play a major character in the Star Wars films, according to Vox. After her appearance in the film, though, Tran deleted her social media accounts due to racist and sexist harassment over the movie.
"Why are we as artists, or as writers, or as creators in the spaces on social media, why are we the ones that have to normalize receiving harassment? That should not be okay," Tran told Teen Vogue in a 2021 interview.
"I don't wanna live in a world where my kids, and my kid's kids, all have to be like, 'Well, [it's] normal, babe, sorry, you're gonna have to get [used to] being called these words.' We need to talk about how we are treating each other, not just in the spaces where we are anonymous, but also spaces where we are, you know, actually in person," she added.
Many quote tweets of the Republicans criticized the post.
"Before Disney, Star Wars had a dialect-talking dimwit senator who was manipulated by pure evil, so you can see why the GOP misses that era so much," historian Kevin M. Kruse wrote.
"Just culture war victim grievance politics...all day" Daily Beast opinion editor Anthony L. Fisher wrote.
"Are they... a) Trying to distract from Roe v. Wade b) Coming after @Disney for opposing the Don't Say Gay bill c) Total losers d) All of the above," songwriter and film critic Owen Danoff wrote.
"Are you telling me that the GOP is part of the Fandom Menace?" YouTuber Kaylyn "MarzGurl" Saucedo wrote. "It's not cute, the GOP is literally trying to kill people, then pointing fingers at the other guys and saying it's their fault. And you wanna bring Star Wars into this, too? What kind of clown shoes operation is this?"
About the writer
Matt Keeley is a Newsweek editor based in Seattle. His focus is reporting on trends and internet culture. He has ... Read more
