Disney and Disney+

[Cerez]

One thing I've learned in my years of living as an Autistic person is that ingenuine positive notions in culture can be just as harmful as negative ones, depending on how they are used. For example, saying "the only disability in life is a negative attitude", seemingly intended to inspire through positivity, actually serves to exclude and discriminate against people who have a very real social disability in communicating and connecting with others. It practically erases their experiences from the cultural understanding/context, and offers nothing to comfort them -- quite on the contrary. In practice it is just as bad as if you were to say "socially disabled people are a bunch of misfits who deserve what happens to them, hardly worth any empathy". Both the positive and the negative personal twists on it in this example are equally harmful.

My point is that just because it is made to sound positive and inspire doesn't mean it is actually helpful or offers a useful and balanced perspective. Corporate marketing often employs such false positivity to make people feel inspired without being responsible and genuine about it, and using the positive response for imbalanced, selfish gains -- and Disney has been an expert at this for many decades, influencing our culture at large.

One of Walt Disney's most prominent inspirational quotes, publicised, is: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

Much of Disney's animated films carried (and still carry) this notion through and through, inspiring current generations of people. But this is actually an ingenuine, false reality:

Walt Disney built Disneyland for his children. They never used it, they were specifically reluctant to visit it once it was open. Walt was an absent parent, sacrificing his relationship with his children for his career and aspirations, for ultimately selfish gains. In this vital case, what he dreamed and pursued with courage did not come true, and for a very good reason: it was out of touch with the natural balance, with reality. He misjudged the values that are truly important in life.

Real fairy tales are nothing like Disney fairy tales -- they acknowledge and pay homage to reality, aspiring to offer guiding insight for our lives, moral lessons.

Disney's adaptation of the Andersen story of The Little Mermaid teaches children to dream in vain, to pursue and sacrifice for unrealistic goals in a relationship. The actual story by Andersen has completely the opposite message, in fact -- that dreaming and sacrificing for the unknown, without signs from nature/life that intuitively and rationally confirm your path is worth taking, can lead to tragedy of the greatest kind. Ariel ends up (literarily) committing suicide in the story because she had sacrificed everything she had in her life for the one man she loves, but who turned out to not return her affections -- to not even know her -- and to practically cheat on her with another woman (from her perspective).

The real Bambi, by Felix Salten, is a commentary of human society, the raw, balanced harshness of nature, and man's imbalanced rational cruelty in it, not simply the cute story of a fawn who lost his mother and searched for his father, supported by everyone around him. Life is both good and bad. Bambi's mother understands and teaches Bambi the vulnerablitiy, the frailty of their lives, their shared existence, Bambi himself goes through a great many cruelties, fears, and hardships, and his father is as cold and strange to him as the wild forces of nature itself. Bambi's greatest ally is nature itself, living inside him -- a vital feature of the story that the Disney film completely omits to present.

Disney's classic animated take on Alice in Wonderland deliberately leaves out the primary message/meaning in the conclusion of Lewis Carroll's long and whimsical tale. Because of this, people have come to associate Alice in Winderland with whackiness, with absurdity, with craziness instead of the genuine sentimental message that it speaks about our imagination, about our childhood. All that Alice has seen, heard, and felt are tangible aspects of actual reality, coloured with her imagination. Alice was connected to, bonding with, and subconsciously learning about her environment all through her daytime dreaming.

It's not enough just to be positive. Positivity can be very much harmful, inspiring denial and hurting oneself and others. One needs to be sincere with themselves, stay true to their own intuition, and remain open and unconditionally loving and caring with others, with the world around them, much like a child, forever learning about life and applying themselves genuinely to newfound awareness and knowledge to grow. One needs to grow wise to understand what's truly important in life and to withstand harm/influence directed at them by people living out of balance with nature. Life is a lifelong, learning, colourful journey -- filled with both positive and negative, and everything beyond, as wide as the colour spectrum on a colour wheel.

It can't be summed up into words, into one sentence. But its balance and ways can be learned and understood intuitively.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) on toxic fandoms (1:35):

 

[Cerez]

Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) on toxic fandoms (1:35):

What a great interview!

Great point(s) by Henry, and without such honest fan feedback, a show's writers would have no idea where to go after a while -- whether their writing is reaching anyone and how.

I really like the actress who acts Ciri. ^_^ She's so sincere -- she strikes me as neurodivergent. Interesting insight about Henry, too. I can believe that -- that he is humble and somewhat shy/reserved behind the scenes, but affectionate.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I only have one thing to comment about what you've said: the "toxic" fandom that you are referring to here is only "toxic" because Disney deliberately provoked them by destroying everything they had ever loved. It's a strong reaction to strong hurt inflicted. I wouldn't blame the victim -- it's not right.

The fandom's response to the prequels does not match with what you say.
Ahmed Best nearly committed suicide because of how bad it was!
Clearly it was toxic a long time before Disney got involved.

Also, as much as I like Star Wars, it cannot be everything the fans ever truly loved.
There's so much more out there!

And that Disney was playing it safe from the very beginning, from the first film.

Not disagreeing with you there!
The Force Awakens is clearly Playing it Safe: The Movie.

I liked it well enough, but my immediate response was also "I look forward to the How It Should Have Ended / Honest Trailer".
Poking holes at it was SO easy that I figured those videos would have a field day with it.
(For the record, they ABSOLUTELY DID! )

Given the long time since the previous film and the negative response then too, I don't blame Disney for playing it safe with that first movie.
It is a logical move.

I myself would've preferred a bit less predictability.
And holy crap, for crying out loud, how many Death Star superweapon do they NEED?
The moment I saw that on the poster, I immediately knew to tone my hopes way, way down.

You can imagine my opinion on that new superweapon-related plot point.
*sigh*

One of my favourite EU novels is "Darksaber".
The Hutts get their 'hands' on the Death Star plans and go construct one of their own.
But they only build the laser itself and also cut every other corner they possibly can.

Spoiler

The thing ends up so badly constructed that it literally blows up by itself!
The rebels were having a ANH/RotJ style space battle, it wasn't working, but they needn't even have bothered.

In fact, they started playing it safe when they canned the established canon and Expanded Universe in favour of their own new Star Wars world, replacing the old world.

I liked the old EU. There was some good stuff in there.
Some bad too though, for example "resurrecting the Emperor".
(Guess how much I appreciated that little bit in TROS...)

But cancelling that, again, is a move that makes sense.
Everything was so filled in that either they'd have to follow existing stories (something creative teams generally do not like to do) or work around them (think of the INSANE level of convoluted mess THAT would cause! ).

I can understand people would be upset about it.
But honestly, I cannot fault Disney for that one.
If I had been in their shoes, chances are, I would've made the same (admittedly VERY TOUGH) choice.

To say that fans should not be critical is to say we should be absolutely compliant.

For starters, I absolutely never said anything of the sort.
My posts are littered with criticism.

But I also try to have a balanced view and not go over-the-top on the negatives.

Also, that phrase of yours right there brings to mind this one from ROTS:
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

I like it when we scream at the movie-makers

Uhm... Yikes?!?

There were a lot of people there who were just doing their jobs.
A lot of them probably even did their very best.

And as much as fair criticism might be warranted, vilifying people for it is really taking it too far for me.
Certainly vilifying those folk who actually CREATED something; no matter how imperfect!
Somewhere they deserve at least some level of respect for getting anything done at all.
Or even for just being human beings.

But I am probably preaching to the choir there.
I believe you, of all people, already know that.

when we refuse continuing to pay for a series

That is of course fair enough.

Something to remember though is that other people are fully in their right to still pay for it themselves if they so choose.

The only thing we would need to change is our appreciation for artworks as creative challenges, and the risks associated with taking such bold challenges -- so that our perspectives are a little more open to creative expression and allow the fimmakers to experiment. A little more love for the craft as well as the fictional world and characters.

Listening to the fandom is crucial with long-running stories/franchises. But it doesn't necessarily mean following everything we ask for to a tee. It means staying faithful to what means so much to us, and entertaining and inspiring us further. It is the job of the movie-maker to creatively push the boundaries while staying true to the characters, themes, and other qualities that made the work so well loved in the first place, and to engage their audience, leaving them genuinely inspired.

Agreed.
And especially TROS did truly fail on that.

TLJ tried to push the series in that direction (no matter how flawed), but it didn't take.

The toxic culture you are looking for as cause for the poor quality of the movies is actually not in the fandom at all but in the corporate creative management of Disney and other Hollywood publishers/studios.

There's probably toxicity up there as well.
But the one I mean is most definitely inside the fandom.

It's not exclusive to Star Wars either.
The culture of this world seems to have gotten quite adept at blowing things up to their extremes.
And I've witnessed people verbally attacking each other simply for their likes and dislikes in Star Wars.

"Outrage culture" I believe is the technical term.
And it's quite sad, because there ARE things we should truly be outraged by.
But they're not the things people generally ARE outraged by.

This is also one of the reasons I dislike these heated arguments over what is, in the end, merely entertainment.
Why are we not more outraged about SAFETY standards being completely ignored?
About the environment being brought further and further to the brink?
About genuine toxic behaviour at a scale FAR greater than "just them suits hiding somewhere safely out of our reach"?

So if I understand what you're trying to say correctly, what you're in effect telling me is the Disney perspective/propaganda,

I make zero claims about covering the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
That would be far outside the scope of a simple forum conversation.

But I ABSOLUTELY claim that my posts are completely devoid of propaganda.
I base them solely on the facts as I have understood and witnessed them myself.

In other words: while I might be missing bits and pieces, possibly even substantial ones, there is for certain truth to my point of view.

An inside perspective into the arrogant and toxic, corporate executive culture at Disney, as it pertains to making art:

I cannot watch that.
Not with such a title.

I already know it is true.
Because I myself also quit my dream job.
And for reasons of toxicity too.

In fact, I'm on the verge of being forced to do the same thing again.
Because this problem isn't even remotely limited to merely the world of entertainment.
It is pervasive all the way through; as I have experienced myself and have heard and seen confirmed from a very wide range of people all over the world.

It's a sorry state of affairs indeed.

But pointing at some small, powerful group of people as the cause is too easy.
I am basically convinced that the source of a problem, more often than not, lies with the BIGGEST group of people.

That's difficult to acknowledge though.
As it would require ALL of us to have a good look in the mirror.
And force ourselves to realise that we don't like what we see.

 

[Cerez]

The fandom's response to the prequels does not match with what you say.
Ahmed Best nearly committed suicide because of how bad it was!
Clearly it was toxic a long time before Disney got involved.

Henry Cavell answers this really well in the interview @The Nameless Pirate shared. It's not the fandom itself that is toxic, not the fan culture, but the racism of our greater social culture affecting the people who are the fans.

Ahmed tried to commit suicide because he was receiving attacks for his portrayal of Jar Jar Binks from all sides, and his life and career felt stuck in a dead end alley, with no-one to offer him assurance and emotional comfort/support:

If his personal story says anything, it's that Hollywood has a toxic culture, where actors are emotionally abused and not given enough support and protection. (Which is actually a very serious problem in the film industry. The protection of human rights is almost completely lacking/absent in this working industry.)

I don't deny that people (including the fans) had no right attacking him like that, but the problem lies not with fan culture but with Hollywood culture and our greater culture at large -- in how much we know about the movie business and, more importantly, how we treat other people.

Fandom is loving a movie and its characters, and socialising with people who also love that movie. Fandom is writing reviews, going to conventions, doing cosplay, and writing fan fiction. Fandom is holding petitions to show the content creators what the audience prefers.

Fandom is not lashing out at an actor because their portrayed character on your favourite movie was black/Jamaican and poorly designed/developed. That's discrimination and abuse. That's fueled by racism, not fandom.

Edit:

Incidentally, Jar Jar was fixed in The Clone Wars, and the balance that Lucas tried and failed to establish with the character in the movies was finally met, making Jar Jar an entertaining comic relief and fleshed-out, equally balanced character. George Lucas oversaw the show, and Katie, his daughter, participated as a writer in it, writing some of the best arcs/episodes.

 

[Cerez]

I cannot watch that.
Not with such a title.

You can safely watch it.

It's about an ideological conflict between artist and employer, not about workplace abuse. It talks about the new corporate culture at Disney and Bob Iger's public statement, as well as the capitalist relationship between art and money.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Henry Cavell answers this really well in the interview @The Nameless Pirate shared. It's not the fandom itself that is toxic, not the fan culture, but the racism of our greater social culture affecting the people who are the fans.

Exactly that.
The problem isn't with "fandom".
The problem lies with a toxicity that far exceeds any one fandom.

It also really scares me when I repeatedly witness people who cannot seem to tell the difference between "an actor" and "a character".
That's a pretty basic thing that every human being that isn't a kid should be very much aware of.
And yet...

You can safely watch it.

It's about an ideological conflict between artist and employer, not about workplace abuse.

You just confirmed that I can't.
That's exactly what I feared.

And, to me, exactly that can very much be abusive.

 

[Cerez]

You just confirmed that I can't.
That's exactly what I feared.

And, to me, exactly that can very much be abusive.

Oh. In that case maybe we should lay aside talking about Disney for now -- or at least I will stay out of the conversation -- until you get past this and start to feel spiritually strong enough to watch the videos and discuss it.

It doesn't help if the conversation triggers you, and I have plenty of gripes with current Disney and their selfish, corporate practices that I can't just hush away.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have plenty of gripes with current Disney and their selfish, corporate practices that I can't just hush away.

Indeed I noticed.
And I trust you have valid enough reasons for that too.

Truth be told, they didn't exactly score any points for me with stuff like this either:
The Rise of Skywalker Retcons Last Jedi's Ending AND Luke's Sacrifice

They had the option to do better.
And they didn't.

I do maintain that Disney isn't all evil.
There is good in there too.
And somewhere in there, I do see signs of people behind the scenes trying to do their best.

But there are similar signs of other people going in different directions.
Or maybe even the same people, who are having difficulty steering a steady course.

It's unfortunate and clearly they have a lot yet to learn.
But don't we all? And I want to believe that eventually, given the chance, they can learn from their mistakes.
Same as I try to learn from mine.

 

[Cerez]

Indeed I noticed.
And I trust you have valid enough reasons for that too.

I've been abused at the workplace thanks to such an unhealthy, exploitative corporate culture, and physically injured for life, leaving me with a physical chronic illness that is now killing me...

In addition, the current Disney management is responsible for destroying multiple of my special interests when I needed stability in my life the most: overwriting the Star Wars EU and damaging the original trilogy characters, and killing Disney Infinity, prematurely. They are also responsible for socially discriminating and encouraging abusive behaviour between old and new fans in the Star Wars fandom, of which I have been a victim.

Those are my personal reasons, aside from their other, general immoral practices.

Everyone always has the option to do better. It's a matter of spiritual (mind and body, natural) balance, will, and insight.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I've been abused at the workplace thanks to such an unhealthy, exploitative corporate culture, and physically injured for life, leaving me with a physical chronic illness that is now killing me...

Had that in my previous job too. Except for the physical injury.
Did suffer one in a hotel, but I relearned how to walk quite quickly and it's thankfully not endangering my life.
Thought things would be better in my current job.
But then shenanigans happened there too.
It's probably a bit of a global scale thing not limited to any one field...

the Star Wars EU and damaging the original trilogy characters

They did overwrite it, but thankfully the EU still exists.

And indeed messing up the OT characters is one of my main critiques of TFA as well.

You might consider reading "Lost Stars" though.
It's fits around the OT and shouldn't really contradict the EU, I think.
It's also fairly lengthy and has good characterisations.
I'd be really curious to hear your opinion on that one.

They are also responsible for socially discriminating and encouraging abusive behaviour between old and new fans in the Star Wars fandom, of which I have been a victim.

That... sounds REALLY bizarre!
I know nastiness happens between SW fans. I've certainly seen my fair share too.

But I find it hard to believe anyone had it as primary goal to cause that.
If ever you feel like elaborating on that, I'd be quite curious.

Still, they've definitely been dropping the ball on some very real things:
Writer Chris Terrio Offers an Unsatisfying Explanation for Kelly Marie Tran's Limited Screen Time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

And on the subject of balls, have you seen this one yet?

Sponsored by Disney+ of all things!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Real fairy tales are nothing like Disney fairy tales -- they acknowledge and pay homage to reality, aspiring to offer guiding insight for our lives, moral lessons.

Somehow that whole post of yours managed to slip completely by me until now.
So sorry!

And for sure you're right; positivity without acknowledging reality can lead to quite the skewed view.
I never much cared for the original animated Disney films myself.
The first one I liked was Mulan; and of course Atlantis is my favourite.
Treasure Planet is a good one too.

None of those strike me as excessively positive.
Though still inspiring.
Plus, they've got excellent music, which of course helps too.

I do believe too many people are excessively negative and defeatist.
Believing so many things are impossible that aren't impossible at all; just improbable.
There is a very massive difference between those two.

It's all context-dependent though.
And nothing is ever a good enough reason to be dismissive to people who already have it difficult with "you just have an attitude problem" logic.

My side is the exact opposite though.
I'm the one who has it difficult and yet it seems to me that people around me have more of an attitude problem than I do.
So much pessimism in positions of power!

 

[Cerez]

That... sounds REALLY bizarre!
I know nastiness happens between SW fans. I've certainly seen my fair share too.

But I find it hard to believe anyone had it as primary goal to cause that.
If ever you feel like elaborating on that, I'd be quite curious.

Right from the first film, Disney has been slipping not-so-subtle thematic and symbolic, distasteful messages into their films, with the intention/effect of disrespecting/provoking old fans of the franchise and the well-known Lucas Star Wars world.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Forces Old Fans to Abandon Ship

If all they had wanted was to abandon the EU in favour of building their own universe, so they can experiment freely, they could have set the new (or the old) Star Wars in an alternate universe/timeline, and left it at that, respecting the fans who have been for many years in love with the old stories and world.

Instead, they opted for covertly and sometimes openly provocative in-movie character comments and scenes like this (just to name a few):

• Han Solo: "That's not how the Force works!"
• After rewriting the story of the acquisition of the Death Star plans, the new character, Jyn Erso, deliberately bearing a name that is very phonetically similar to the well-loved character in the EU she replaced: Jan Ors. Confirmed by the director of Rogue One as an intentional "easter egg" -- in fact salt in the wound.
• Luke uncharacteristically throwing away his heritage and presented in a very unfavourable light (including visually, milking a disgusting looking cow and drinking the fresh milk).
• The vast Jedi archives presented as a tiny collection of books, and Yoda burning the Jedi archives!
• Kylo Ren: "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to."

If you ask yourself if any of these provocative scenes/details were really necessary (to be presented in this light), you'll realise they were absolutely not. They were put into the movies for reasons other than storytelling.

That's not to mention that Disney had been inserting the old, beloved characters into their new stories and then practically pooping on them as a marketing strategy to promote their new films. There is no other reason for the old characters to actually be in the new films, and to be portrayed so blandly/distastefully/unfaithfully.

On the media/publicity side, Disney has been actively culturally establishing a segregation between new fans and old fans by stigmatising/demonising the old fans. Here is a decent detailed summary of the main things that had taken place since the Disney takeover:

A Brief Sad History Of Lucasfilm’s Treatment Of Fans Under Disney

Instead of acknowledging the opinion and feelings of the old fans and advocating for acceptance of all views, Disney has been actively attacking the old fans and promoting their own agenda: their new Star Wars universe at the cost of the old one, deliberately. They had been relying on this conflict, on this division, for marketing their new content. (Despite having an aggressive marketing strategy, it was never intended that the new content would be able to stand on its own. They needed the old universe to sell it without risk, but while being actively biased against the old content.)

The combination of these two political-marketing-strategic efforts has led to a division between the fandom that is far from just being ideological. It has been actively encouraging discrimination, segregation, and emotional abuse. And we all know how morally irresponsible people can be given the chance.

The entire strategy was, of course, expertly constructed so as they can influence our culture, but to not draw direct blame to Disney over what happens as a consequence of those selfish and irresponsible, manipulative actions/influence. Despotic/totalitarian spirited corporate politics... Influence/control the masses without drawing blame to yourself...

This is how what used to be a vocal and critical, mostly unified fanbase is turned into "toxic fans", lashing out at people for "no valid reason", pitted against each other and employing emotional abuse.

No matter how you look at it, Disney's actions were deliberately manipulative and deliberately morally irresponsible -- and going beyond just business, in fact political in nature.

Edit:

In other words, Disney's entire marketing strategy, as it comes to Star Wars, seems to have been something along these lines:

We will make the new films better than the old films in the public eye by taking the old characters and story arcs and deliberately damaging/destroying them and their legacy. Then, anyone who complains about what we've done we're going to discriminate against, socially persecute and stigmatise.

This is not a peaceful strategy -- intended to bring balance about -- under any light. In fact, quite on the contrary -- it's intended to provoke conflict in the interest of selfish gain.

And it's not accepting, respectful, and inclusive at all (as they like to market themselves). It's an arrogant, controlling, selfish, and morally irresponsible (or downright immoral) strategy.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Han Solo: "That's not how the Force works!"

Failing to see a problem...

After rewriting the story of the acquisition of the Death Star plans, the new character, Jyn Erso, deliberately bearing a name that is very phonetically similar to the well-loved character in the EU she replaced: Jan Ors. Confirmed by the director of Rogue One as an intentional "easter egg" -- in fact salt in the wound.

Rogue One, the movie, could've done a better job with using its characters.
But I thought the prequel novel Catalyst was pretty good.

Whether using a similar-sounding name is rubbing salt in a wound depends purely on the interpretation.
If the director says it was intended as an "easter egg", then I believe that genuinely was his intention.

Luke uncharacteristically throwing away his heritage and presented in a very unfavourable light (including visually, milking a disgusting looking cow and drinking the fresh milk).

Definitely a different sort of Luke. No longer the wide-eyed, innocent pure-white hero.
Now he's a flawed character. Disappointing, yes. But also more realistic and more genuinely human.

We definitely saw him at his low point there and LOW it was!
I could've done without that disgusting cow thing too.
But to be fair, BLUE milk was always a part of Star Wars.
So much so that: Blue Harvest - Wikipedia

The vast Jedi archives presented as a tiny collection of books, and Yoda burning the Jedi archives!

Cannot possibly be the full Jedi Archives as seen in The Clone Wars.
I figured it is just the oldest part that was never digitised.
Or they were special, old books that weren't in the archives in the first place.

And Yoda didn't burn them. By that point, Rey had already stored them safely in the Falcon.
You can see those same books in a drawer there at the end of the film.
So Yoda burned a tree.

I do think Yoda was making a point to Luke though at the same time.
What I understood is that real people are more important than anything any book could possibly have to say.
Fair point, if you ask me.

Kylo Ren: "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to."

Consider the source.
This is the BAD GUY speaking.
I don't think his words should be taken at face value.

As far as I'm aware, Disney never even stopped selling Legends content.
Which tells me that if they ARE trying to "kill the past", they're doing an absolutely terrible job at it.

A Brief Sad History Of Lucasfilm’s Treatment Of Fans Under Disney

For the record, I had a look through this.
It is very one-sided. And it's not a pretty sight.

There was very, very bad stuff in the original EU.
Creative people, like filmmakers and writers, like making new content.
Likewise, audiences usually like being largely surprised too.
Put together, this creates a scenario where I cannot see any way to make new films AND maintain the EU.

Disney did keep bits and pieces of the old EU. Some successful; others not so much.
I like that Thrawn returned, for example. Even though I don't think his characterisation in Rebels was particularly effective.
But the novel they got written by the original writer IS pretty excellent. So we got that, at least.

What I dislike myself about the start of the Disney continuity is that Han and Leia and Luke never got a chance to be happy.
By the time we see them in TFA, they seem all quite depressed and I don't think they deserved that at all.

And the way the Skywalker saga ended was disappointing for me too.
TROS seems to be back-tracking on the path they set out on in a failed attempt at appeasing previously offended fans.
But those fans weren't appeased. And now they alienated other fans (like me) as well.
Not exactly a great mov(i)e then...

The one thing I'm convinced of though is that nobody on the creative side ever intentionally wanted to turn the fans ever more toxic.
Not George Lucas when he made the prequels. Not Disney when they took over Lucasfilm.
Not Rian Johnson when he made The Last Jedi. Not even JJ Abrams with Rise of Skywalker.

And to convince you that no, I'm not blindly throwing propaganda out here, I'll finish with this article:
5 Awful Storylines We Don't Want in the Star Wars Sequels | Cracked.com
I quite agreed with that at the time.
And in hindsight, it's really quite sad how much of that DID end up happening anyway.

From my side though, I believe we have to take the bad with the good.
And choose for ourselves which parts we want to focus on.
In the hope that we create what we reinforce.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

And on the subject of balls, have you seen this one yet?



Sponsored by Disney+ of all things!

This was really nice thanks for shearing it!

It shows that we should not forget who we are and that should we find ourselves in a better position than others we should help, because this could make things better for everyone.

 

[Cerez]

Failing to see a problem...

The problem is that if you change the way the Force works and then you put such a provocative message spoken by a prominent old Star Wars character in your new film, you are directly calling out the old fans and rubbing it in their face that you have changed their beloved universe. It's a boldly arrogant and disrespectful move, disguised as an "easter egg". Just like an insulting joke.

The way Rey had learned and used the Force in TFA completely threw out established notions about how the Force has worked in the Star Wars universe up to that point -- for decades! -- and damaged perception of the achievements of previous force-sensitive heroes in the Star Wars universe. To rub that in with such a character line is just insult to injury.

From my side though, I believe we have to take the bad with the good.
And choose for ourselves which parts we want to focus on.
In the hope that we create what we reinforce.

You're focusing too much on the details and not seeing the bigger picture. Add all of what Disney has done together -- both in writing the films and in their public media messages. It's not a coincidence -- a big studio like them doesn't do things simply based on a whim, and they've proven that time and time again, they don't take chances -- there is culturally harmful overall intent in place here -- whether conscious or subconscious (but more likely conscious, for the sake of profits).

And there is no denying that these actions have directly contributed to the segregation of the fandom and the toxicity now brewing in the fandom.

Disney is directly responsible for these developments, and they've done nothing to help balance the situation -- on the contrary, they kept fueling the imbalance, doing and encouraging segregation and abuse.

When a party provokes the opposing party and lashes out against them publically in the way Disney has, they are guilty of starting the conflict and fueling it. You can't blame the old fans for reacting, for defending their heroes, their culture, and their beliefs.

 

[Cerez]

If, as a prominent publisher, I start to distribute pirate stories that speak badly in their depictions and themes about the PiratesAhoy! legacy, website, and community, and then when the community is provoked/enraged, I start calling them names in public media, stigmatising them, and continuing to provoke, hurt, and insult them through the content I produce, I am far from innocent, and I am responsible for what happens.

 

[Cerez]

Also, if I create a movie where I do something unfavourable, such as destroy the legacy of a well-beloved character, and then in the same film and its sequels I place a stated notion or comment about that destruction, in (thematic) favour of the damage/destruction, I am directly (and deliberately) making efforts to provoke my fans/audience.

Imagine if I created a Pirates of the Caribbean movie in which I turned Jack Sparrow into an uncharacteristically useless, wannabe, pathetic character, who no longer knows how to swing a sword or how to be witty, who no longer wanted to sail, and then, in the same movie, I made one of the characters make an arrogant, direct reference to how Jack has forever changed, how useless he is compared to the other, so-much-better new characters, and imply how the world is better off without him.

Wouldn't I be asking for trouble, for backlash, (deliberately) provoking an emotional response in members of my audience? Wouldn't I be, at least partly (in fact in great part), responsible for what happens?

 

[Cerez]

Disney has in fact been engaged in bullying the old fans from the start: (deliberately) emotionally provoking them and then verbally and emotionally abusing them, and encouraging the same behaviour in their followers -- leading by example.

Anyone who dearly loved the old Star Wars, the Lucasverse, soon found themselves marginalised, publically attacked in the media, and socially discriminated against and persecuted in mainstream Star Wars fan communities.

 

[Cerez]

To use the Pearl short film as an analogy, what happened is the same as if when Pearl had walked into the office, the company had shown a film they made that is hurtful/insulting to Pearl's Yarn culture, and then when Pearl voiced her protest and views, the company boss verbally attacked her personally, attributing offensive names and notions to her, and all employees proceeded to follow his example, bullying Pearl and socially marginalising her. (All so that the boss could continue to promote, distribute, and sell the film.)

And then the company publically claimed that they support cultural diversity, making films that contain ball-of-yarn characters and elements of her culture misappropriated.

Edit:

Incidentally, Disney did exactly this kind of misappropriation with Pocahontas, Mulan, and most recently Moana. Adapting other cultures to suit their formula, message, and needs -- without paying respect to that culture and its people. So it's an ongoing, arrogant, toxic-cultural thing at Disney, and not exclusive to old Star Wars fan culture. Although they took the abuse much further with Star Wars, going so far as to making offensive public statements about Star Wars fans.