Star Wars: The Last Jedi is certified 91 percent “Fresh” among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience rating is only 46 percent. The curious disparity can possibly be credited to Rian Johnson subverting numerous tropes, and some fans don’t like change (Kevin Smith agrees with this childhood-ruining theory), or trolls and/or bots sabotaging the score, because how dare the heroes not all be straight white males. This, unfortunately, explains the existence of the men’s right edit of The Last Jedi, wherein a two-and-a-half hour movie was reduced to 46 minutes, and why actress Kelly Marie Tran deleted her Instagram posts:
Kelly Marie Tran, the Vietnamese-American actress who portrayed Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, spent the weekend deleting her Instagram posts, leaving behind a completely barren account; it should be noted, however, that she has not gone so far as to delete the account entirely. (Via)
At this time, it’s believed Tran (the first woman of color to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie) deleted the posts “due to months of harassment she has received for her character Rose,” according to Star Wars Facts.
In October, months before The Last Jedi was released, Tran admitted that she “avoided public social media for a long time purely because I was afraid. I was terrified of being picked apart, of being scrutinized, of being seen. It took me a year of self-work — and some really amazing, supportive friends — to make me realize that it’s none of my business if people like me or not. It doesn’t change my goals, my dreams, what I want to do with the opportunities I’ve been given.”
She continued, “YOU ARE ENOUGH. Love yourself and embrace your messiness. That’s where your power lies! (I honestly just wrote this in my journal as a reminder to myself, because hey, I’m mostly a strong person, but life happens, and I’m still figuring it out as I go.).” The only thing that remains on her Instagram account? The page description: “Afraid, but doing it anyway.”
UPDATE: writer and director Rian Johnson has responded.
On social media a few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I’ve met lots of real fellow SW fans. We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humor, love & respect. We’re the VAST majority, we’re having fun & doing just fine. https://t.co/yhcShg5vdJ
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 5, 2018
Done with this disingenuous bullshit. You know the difference between not liking a movie and hatefully harassing a woman so bad she has to get off social media. And you know which of those two we’re talking about here.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 5, 2018
In the aftermath, Tran is receiving an outpouring of support.
Kelly Marie Tran has deleted all the posts off her Instagram due to months of harassment she has received for her character Rose in #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/ipxdbDH30C
— Star Wars Facts (@sw_tweets) June 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/caroldanvrs/status/1003885633075441664
If you followed Kelly Marie Tran on instagram then you know she has been one of the loveliest and most positive souls on the goddamn internet in the past year and I will FIGHT every last person who hurt her https://t.co/WDP6j2HM5N
— Sarah Dollard (@snazdoll) June 5, 2018
And this happens all the time. We ❤️ you, Kelly Marie Tran, and thanks for a great movie. https://t.co/qIwTbcHvfH
— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) June 5, 2018
what's happening to Kelly Marie Tran is incredibly sad, and a fucking disgrace https://t.co/ez2K29XX7q
— priscilla page (@BBW_BFF) June 5, 2018
kelly marie tran was the kindest and loveliest person in the entire cast and she was so Fucking Excited to be part of such a huge franchise and take a step forward for all (!!southeast!!) asian women in media and yall decide to shit on her and take her for granted and im TIRED!!!
— sian 🐚 (@prcserpinas) June 5, 2018
I was lucky enough to meet Kelly Marie Tran briefly, and she was incredibly nice to a comics writer who may have been geeking out a bit too much. It's fine to not like fictional characters. It's not fine to harass actual human people. https://t.co/sti2my7zdD
— Jody Houser ✒️🗯️🎲 (@Jody_Houser) June 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/1003981445604499456
https://twitter.com/DanyOrdinary/status/1003995323470000131
This is the fanbase that:
•Drove Jake Lloyd insane
•Made Hayden Christianson quit acting
•Made George Lucas not want to make any more movies
•Made Daisy Ridley delete her Instagram
•And recently made Kelly Marie Tran leave InstagramI love Star Wars but fuck the fans https://t.co/yhApP7GVIH
— Nicholas (@NicholasJLevi) June 4, 2018
(Via ScreenRant)
