Before I get into other updates, I’d like to say hello to new free subscribers (subscribers have doubled since last year this time) and also encourage you, dear readers, to consider becoming a paid subscriber to the newsletter.
This newsletter is a labor of love. Your support mean everything. I really love writing Ahch-To Baby, but it takes time and precision and focus. It takes work to do it well. If you enjoy what you read here and like what I add to the discourse, please consider becoming a monthly or annual subscriber. It’s a low price and it truly matters to me.
For those who need more incentive than “Hey! If you like me support me!” just a heads up that full upcoming reactions to The Bad Batch Season 3 will be for paid subscribers to the newsletter.
Thanks for reading for free, if you do, and thanks for supporting with your hard earned dollars, if you’re able. Either way, thank you.
Daisy Ridley, in supporting her new film (which looks rather beautiful), gave an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where she addressed about what she perceived as the response to the sequel trilogy.
“It’s still upsetting. You don’t want people to feel like you’ve not served the thing they’re a fan of. But [The Last Jedi] was so divisive … it felt like the first one everyone was responsive in the same way. The second, super divisive. The last one, super divisive … It didn’t change how I felt about it.”
To me, we’re living in a media landscape where divisiveness is rarely the fault of the presentation, but a product of a world where algorithms reward conflict. The Last Jedi wasn’t divisive. The same is true of The Rise of Skywalker. Neither film was divisive, in my mind, because neither was intended to divide. They were made to delight and surprise and satisfy. Your mileage may vary, but the films were just films.
The discourse was divided. That’s different. We are being aggravated and divided for profit, it’s the business model of social media. We engage with things that upset us, we get wrapped up in arguments, and negative voices are raised up by computers who are value neutral. They want us to keep clicking. When we’re divided, we click more.
Ridley gave one of the best on-screen performances in all of Star Wars. She more than served what we all love. It’s awful that she feels, even five years after the release of Episode IX, that the response to her films is “upsetting.” She was exceptional as Rey Skywalker. I hope, as time goes on, her work is given the celebration it deserves.
For those keeping track: after this poll, I started writing about each of the Star Wars films in order. So far:
Attack of the Clones is on the way!
From the Department of Dumb Bullshit, I give you Exhibit A: Gina Carano suing Disney for wrongful termination with the financial support of full-on Bond Villain Elon Musk.
Look, Carano was let go because she was wildly inappropriate on social media. Apparently in her lawsuit, she claims that other Star Wars actors were political too on their social media accounts and didn’t have blowback.
First of all, the epidemic of false equivalency continues. Gina Carano mocked trans people and pronoun usage and made statements that, to say the least, were pretty outlandish. She wrote about how people didn’t understand how ‘edited’ history is, and how the government was preparing to, I don’t know, round up right-wing people like they’re Jews in 1940s Germany. She was punching down and she was making weird statements about Nazis. Plus, she spread Covid misinformation and conspiracy theories about voting. Mark Hamill saying that Trump is a jerk and people shouldn’t vote for him isn’t even close. Being a jerk is Donald Trump’s brand.
Gina Carano has the right to say what she wants. No one jailed her over her views, the police didn’t come to her door. The First Amendment prohibits the government from punishing citizens for free speech. But this isn’t about the First Amendment. This is about the terms of employment. If you’re working at Burger King and you make fun of the customers and tell them your conspiracy theories when they ask for onion rings instead of fries? You’re going to drive the customers away. Your manager at Burger King might fire you.
Anyway, it’s a shame.
I liked Cara Dune.
How Carano lost her job always reminded me of those old "when keepin it real goes wrong" sketches from Chappelle's Show.