A new social media campaign is trying to get Donald Trump supporters to #DumpStarWars.
The beloved sci-fi franchise is set to release its latest cashgrab entry in the series next week, “Rogue One” — but some of the film’s writers have already managed to alienate some prominent Trump fans on Twitter.
Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president last month, “Rogue One” screenplay writer Chris Weitz tweeted out the evil Empire in Star Wars is a “white supremacist (human) organization.” The point was agreed with story writer Gary Whitta who added, “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”
To drive home his assertion, Weitz then tweeted out the symbol of Star Wars’ Rebellion movement with a safety pin attached — basically identifying the movie’s good guys with the social justice warriors opposing Trump. He captioned it, “Star Wars against hate. Spread it.”
Star Wars against hate. Spread it. pic.twitter.com/Dtf5uqpxba
— Chris Weitz (@chrisweitz) November 11, 2016
The symbol was in fact spread and became a popular symbol for those wishing to resist Trump’s ascension to the White House, thereby giving the strong impression that the Star Wars franchise was opposed to the next president. The actor who plays Luke Skywalker, Mark Hammill, sharing it didn’t help alter that impression.
Weitz and Whitta both deleted the tweets in reference to the Empire as a white supremacist power and previous ones in which they compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and other unsavory figures. But not before their messages had spread around Twitter, providing further evidence to Trump supporters for why they would want to boycott the film. (RELATED: Obama’s Brother Boycotts Upcoming Star Wars Movie Over Trump Criticism)
Of course, many left-leaning journalists scoffed at this proposal. Esquire guffawed that Trump supporters had “no evidence” that the newest Star Wars iteration had anti-Trump overtones, even though the same publication had written up about the safety pin Rebellion badge previously.
The Daily Beast took the high road in covering the boycott by calling its adherents “no-sex-having, basement-dwelling neo-Nazis.” Numerous other outlets covered the protest in a similar fashion, all with the implication that you definitely need to see the new movie regardless of its quality.
A bit weird how all these journalists demand their audiences to see a movie because it’s being attacked by people you should hate. It reminds one an awful lot of the positive press surrounding the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, which was praised effusively simply because “misogynistic” trolls hated it. (RELATED: The Stars Of The New ‘Ghostbusters’ May Be Killing Their Own Film)
Sadly, that’s not the only similarities the latest Star Wars films share with the estrogen version of Ghostbusters. Both movies fit within the depressing Hollywood trend of pilfering popular franchises for every dime their worth with half-baked, banal rehashes of their original classics. The only difference between the original versions and the new reboots is better special effects, more diversity in the casting and a greater emphasis on “current year” values. (RELATED: 11 Serious Problems With The New Star Wars Movie)
And of course, the steep decline in quality.
So there’s enough of a reason to not want to see Rogue One to send a message to Hollywood to start making new and original projects instead of making an inferior version of “A New Hope” two years in a row. The Star Wars writers trying to spin an anti-Trump message out of the film just gives Americans another reason to sit at home and watch the old trilogy instead.
Expecting everyone who is involved in making entertainment to stay completely out of politics is a tall order and shouldn’t even be desired. It goes without saying art can be enjoyed even if you disagree strongly with the creator’s politics.
But the actions of the Rogue One writers is a lot more than that. Their tweets, particularly the safety pin emblem, is an obvious attempt to make the film a political statement against Trump and his supporters. The evil Empire is a white supremacist, Trump-esque organization, while the Rebellion are all those scrappy college kids demanding a safe space from the president-elect.
It is a free country, so these writers have every right to do that. And you have every right to not see their movie because you don’t like supporting people who think you’re a Nazi.
The Left certainly operates on the principle of not supporting cultural creations with over political themes they deem objectionable, and that’s why you’re more likely to see liberal films in theaters than conservative ones. Progressives wouldn’t stand idly by if the writers of a big Blockbuster stated the villains were Democrats and the good guys were Republicans.
There are two recent examples of progressives going after TV shows because the people behind them have values different from upper-class liberals. Buzzfeed tried to shame the couple behind HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” because they attended a church where the pastor espoused — gasp! — traditional Christian views on marriage. (RELATED: BuzzFeed Is Trying To Destroy One Of TV’s Most Famous Christian Couples)
That same outlet and others also successfully pressured Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim to cancel the popular “Million Dollar Extreme: World Peace” show because its creators supported Trump and shared alt right memes. And this is a network that tries to be edgy and subversive in its content! (RELATED: ‘Adult Swim’ Fired Me For Supporting Donald Trump — Here’s How It Went Down)
The Trump administration is bound to upset folks in Hollywood and drive them to signing off on wildly left-wing films to give the finger to Middle America. Making the new Star Wars suffer at the box office over the attempts by its writers to inject an anti-Trump message into it would send a message to producers that alienating red states is not a profitable move.
It would also hit back at the Left’s attempts to take down any entertainer who has right-wing politics by giving them a taste of their own medicine.
We all want our big blockbusters to offer escape from the troubles of the real world and remain free of political preaching. And that’s why it’s worth standing up against the effort to turn a beloved franchise into another boring screed against “white America.”
Follow Scott on Twitter and pre-order his upcoming book, “No Campus for White Men” on Amazon