Fans Are Ruining The Version Of 'Star Wars' We Never Wanted In The First Place 

The whole article could have just read “Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next product” and gotten the same point across.

When you have the biggest IP ever with a global fanbase of hundreds of millions yet your show barely scrapes into the top 10 of weekly viewed streaming in the US. Oh boy have you got a problem. Attacked if we don't like it, attacked if we don't watch it and attacked if we explain why so few are watching it. Who are these people, 8yr olds? Do they think the vast majority of the fanbase are blue checks on X or generally people that pay any mind to online discourse? They're not interested because the show is garbage.

Gaslighting is a helluva drug.

Accountability is kryptonite to these people

They think they can just add demographics to existing properties, so they change things and expect the old demographic to just remain out of blind brand loyalty, and some do, some don't. So, they turn to shaming as a form of cope and coercion, but it ends up driving even more fans away.

Am I also responsible for ruining GoT?

It is so infuriating when the people call anyone who disagrees with them an ist/phobe and show zero good faith in their opinions. There seems to be no interest giving someone the benefit of the doubt and trying to understand why someone has the opinion they do on a subject. They are close minded…they have gone so far left….they have circled around and now appear to be on the right! 😤

I believe it's a mistake at this point to continuously concede "sure there are bigots and racists....etc or people who only hate the show because of misogyny". You're trying to be good faith, but the result is the gaslighters say "See! He admits it" and don't engage with your actual argument.

Just imagine trying to make Sex in the City a show for dudes hahaha

this article is just another example of what people are so angry about. Instead of considering that a cult of space lesbians that can conceive children might be going too far for an established property, they have to fall back on the tired claims of bigotry and misogyny. Not to mention the Acolyte's overall quality: the first two episodes I watched were very stiff and clumsy. Pathetic EDIT: the reason they're pushing for girls to get as excited for these properties is money. They've seen the success of things like GTA which can generate $5 billion in revenue in 24hrs and they want to double that figure. That's it, pure greed

Also can reviewers please, please stop slapping good scores on reviews that are actually completely scathing! It’s like: ‘This shit is hot garbage……. 8/10’

I firmly stand by the belief that a paying customer is ‘entitled’ to spend their money on whatever discretionary goods they wish. The real sense of entitlement is in companies that ignore or openly denigrate what their customers want but believe they should still shell out their hard-earned cash for an unwanted product.

Star Wars just doesn’t feel like it’s for me, nor is it recognizable to me. I grew up so immersed in EU material and it just seems like the rug got pulled out from under me. It’s just never felt like the new content has justified my continued hope that it will recapture the EU feel. Andor was amazing, but that’s the only thing

Anytime I hear this argument about how evil toxic fans are what is poisoning Star Wars and tanking it with bad faith criticisms, I always think about the Michael Bay Transformer films. Those films made bank for close to a decade and aside from the first one, each one was torn apart not only by critics but by the fans of the original show. However people kept going to see them. Of course, the appeal did eventually wear off but I don’t think it was because some evil trolls review bombed it, causing the weak-willed masses to avoid it. No, people just grew tired of them. And that is where Star Wars is right now. It’s stale and old news. If you know exactly what’s going to happen before you even see it, why bother?

Didn't Daisy Ridley mention herself that fans were "wonderful and supportive" and all the muh saxism accusations were "blown out of proportion"? Also fuck yes, I DESPISE the 'it's a silly scifi series with laser swords and space magic, it's not supposed to be believable!!!!!", so dismissive of the artistry and thought behind the genre's best works. P.S.: Erik, you should really try to contact Mauler and maybe see if you could get into an episode of EFAP to discuss the Acolyte. Unlike a majority of 'Fandom Menace' channels, they're really accommodating to both right and left leaning guests, and your last video got a very positive reception on the Mauler subreddit. Would love to see you discuss Star Wars with the crew!

John Boyega actually had so many people saying he was screwed over by Disney after the first movie…they just dumped him. 😮

Side A: Diversity is the most important element of a show. If a show is diverse then the show is good. Side B: Diversity is good, but a bad story with bad writing makes for a bad show.

5 of the friends that I have chatted with this week that are normally favorable towards Disney Star Wars either are hating Acolyte so far or have not watched it out of disinterest.

The important point is that the rhetoric of "representation" is exploited by show runners to promote an ideology at the expense of the franchise. Promoting an ideology is objectionable in itself, but the fact remains that Acolyte is objectively trash. The vast majority of fans have no objection to diversity. The problem is that it's implemented badly, and the show sucks.

Doesn’t Star Wars have an EXTREMELY RICH lore in it? Why not make any movies about that?

Make product, consumers reject product, blame and denigrate consumers. Winning strategy haha

This is the same gaslight with video games : journalists critisize fans for not accepting progressive mouvement in video games to the point of calling them "picky babies"

I LOVE watching movies with strong female characters…. When those characters are written and acted really well. Examples: Leon the Professional (portman is a bad ass), The Long Kiss Goodnight, Edge of Tomorrow, Underworld, Mulan (1998), Alien, Terminator 2, Kill Bill, and more. But i like it when women are written in smart ways. Being able to overpower a man is eye rolling. Are some women strong than some men? Of course. But write women in ways that makes sense, without the only reason being the man is a weak idiot. Its so much better when they overcome an obstacle with a clever solution, not because the other person is an idiot.

Some guy on Twitter was arguing that the cringe witch ritual scene was written to be cringe - the way Christian ceremonies are cringe to outsiders. I had to remind him that those witches were set up to be good people by the writers, so having their intimate ceremony come off as laughable and cringe was not intended. It was supposed to be reverent and it was not. It also was not written from the POV of Osha (who did not want to be there) as it was not a flashback. If you compare that scene to the ritual/orgy worship in Fallout TV series that was written to be deliberately cringe and weird (from the protagonist''s POV) his argument does not hold water. What do you think Erik?

"Jedi are bad." "Jedi are good." So nuanced!

I think the “hater” channels started with direct analysis of the movies/shows themselves, but now go beyond that into the systematic/industry reasons *why* so many works are so bad. That’s potentially the most useful and actionable analysis, but it’s speculative and they fall for pattern-recognition errors / over-sensitivity to red flags. Personally, I’m too disconnected from the industry to properly understand whatever causal relationships are behind it, but the correlation between “woke” and bad writing is too strong for even the casual audience to ignore at this point. Maybe it’s as simply as being too afraid to say “no”, or offer advice to a double-checkboxed showrunner; maybe writers can only write their own demographics, so writing-by-committee is basically the only option; maybe the writing’s fine but the DEI-heavy marketing set the audience in a negative frame of mind. Or maybe, the “woke” is coincidentally happening at the same time as franchise-mining and there’s actually no link.

Great video. Both extremes of the topic get a lot of the publicity - mainly because they are trying to appeal to their own fans so that they can monotize their anger (an "industry" that doesn’t get hate it deserves for creating its own hate). It's great to see someone who seems to represent the silent majority who just want quality Star Wars written by quality writers.

It is very rare that I agree with anyone 100% when it comes to Star Wars but I would struggle to find fault with anything that you said. I am old enough to remember being blown away as a young eight old child and seeing the original Star Wars in the cinema, before it became A New Hope. I have been saddened for a long time at the direction that Star Wars has been going. It is not because I don't want to see a strong female role because I honestly think that we had the original bad ass female role model in Princess Leia. As a child the sex of the characters did not concern me, nor did the colour of their skin.. I still think that Lando was one of the coolest characters in Star Wars when he appeared in episode 4. My dislike for the Acolyte is not because the "twins" are black and female, it is because the writing is garbage, the acting is not great and the story is not very interesting. I will continue to love my Star Wars and ignore everything that comes along from now on as I am obviously not the target audience.

Fundamentally the abject failure point is zero quality standards. If it was HBO or Apple that bought Lucasfilm would they would be putting out trash like The Acolyte? Absolutely not. They'd be expecting shows and showrunners capable of delivering quality content akin to House of the Dragon, Severance and about the only SW property that's come out on that level is Andor, and that because the Showrunner Tony Gilroy gives a damn. Kennedy was put in charge of what was quite possibly one of the biggest IPs of the last 50 years and instead of thinking carefully about how to build upon it, instead she opted to have her creatives mine it and hollow it out as much as possible.

I think the bigger question here is "Where did al the money go" this series cost 180 Million, That's 22.5 mil per episode and what we got was a CW level attempt at best , I think this whole series is a scam/con done by fraudsters who abused the franchise and used "the culture war" as a diversion.

There is definitely a misplaced focus on equity. They want to increase the demographics for females interested in a certain property. Nothing wrong with that, unless you're using activists to do it.

You read that 82% stat and say "this is our audience and that's who we should be making content for." Disney reads that an thinks they see an untapped market of women that they can get, taking for granted that they aren't going to lose their core audience in the process.

Oh! The Mass Effect 3 drama. The event that started the end of gaming journalism's credibility. Funny that today people remember the backslash related to the lazy ending and forgot about the much more relevant for current year: the Prothean DLC.

I admit it's partly as I simply have no interest in The Acolyte, but though I'm subscribed to a few of the RU-vid channels you allude to, I absolutely am ignoring everyone's videos on this show except yours. There's only so many times you can title your videos "The Acolyte is killing Star Wars" before becoming white noise. Somehow it's doing that with every episode! Before I forget, I appreciated your little point in Forbes about the sequels having cool characters who were let down. I still love both Force Awakens and Last Jedi, and Daisy Ridley's Rey is delightful. I recall your articles defending her, good work.

Representation is very important to me. Which is why I only watch shows with a straight white male protagonist. That’s what represents me best.

Maybe to be “well made”, it generally needs a tight target audience. I think we need to remind Holloway that you can have a target audience (even white men), and still welcome (take money from) everyone. They genuinely believe they are targeting (being inclusive of) everyone, while actually targeting niches. Which is fine, as long as budgets match the market-size. Simultaneously saying that black people need (skin deep) representation, and also white men need to be equally invested in all demographics is bizarre.

Hire writers, creaters on their talent. Think we all know why Lesley Hedland got the job, that's the problem.

I've been following you since the first season of Rings of Power, and I have to say thank you for being a voice of reason and standing by your principles when evaluating these shows. You are appreciated.

I never thought sitting in that theater in 1977 having my mind blown away by film showing me things that had never been on screen before in that way that we would be in this place and seeing the series come to this point. It feels like the love you had has been a big lie and you just caught your other half cheating.

Great video!! You are spot on with your assessment! I always say current Star Wars is like your sister taking all of your toys you played with for years, saying you're playing with them wrong, and your mom backs her.

I do agree that many many SW fans are overreactive, not to excuse any of the poor quality content in the past (of which there is a lot) - but I think so many hardcore SW fans have things on such a pedestal and have such a rose-tinted view in their mind, that nothing coming out can possibly ever be as perfect as that mental picture. Aside from that, Disney is definitely seemingly doing their best to make the most questionable and bizarre decisions with Lucasfilm properties. Ah well.

There are plenty of interesting concepts that could work in the Star Wars universe (State of Play's UK version or a Richard III/House of Cards political thriller) but instead they went with the generic revenge plot... they already had the successful formula in-house with Andor and Marvel's Winter Soldier. It boggles my mind that Disney dropped the ball this hard but then I remember we are living in the "no accountability" era of the franchise.

You are such a breath of fresh air. A real critic, who critiques with honesty and integrity. Keep up the great work.

There's a percentage of the population for whom "shaming" is a social tactic that has been used for generations. Apparently they think that the other percentage of the population gives a crap.

I’m a “half-interested girlfriend” (wife) and I couldn’t agree more. I remember going to The Last Jedi with my family and my father, and I remember feeling embarrassed afterwards because the movie so cartoonishly sidelined every male character (except maybe Kylo), that he was sort of dumbfounded. It was not an awesome movie going experience. As a family we haven’t watched anything since Obiwan, because no one is interested, even my girls who the show is supposedly trying to reach.

If it's any consolation, her piece is at the very bottom of the site, where it belongs. That said, Andor is where Star Wars needs to live. It needs to grow up and mature. Dune is mature, sophisticated Star Wars and Andor reflects that.

Disney on criticism = 🙈🙊🙉 Now they are flinging their poo.

your hostile takeover theory rings true for me because the exact same thing has happened in the literary world, which is now little more than an echo chamber lined with emperors' new clothes. it's gotten to the point where only regime change can fix the problem tbh. fingers crossed

Very few of us attacked Boyega. In fact, we were ticked that his character wasn't treated with more respect. We hated seeing him constantly made the butt of every joke, existing to do little more than run around behind Rey, screaming her name, and getting his tail kicked. I didn't have anything against Kelly Marie Tran. I don't know anything about her as an actress. I just know Rose Tico was an awful, boring, worthless character. After all of that nonsense in TLJ I pretty much gave up. I was lured back a bit with Mando and Andor, but I'm tired of bait and switches like the abysmal Obi-Wan and Book of Boba Fett. I'm just done. I would totally disagree with our Luke/Rey comparison on every level. Luke, after all, actually received training from Obi-Wan. He knew what the Force was and was given an understanding of how to use it, as well as encouragement from Obi-Wans ghost when it counted. It was established in story that he was a good pilot, so his abilities at the Death Star made sense (though he still struggled a bit to get a handle on this new ship, and had to be bailed out several times by his companions). He's a farmer in a wasteland filled with hostile creatures, so he's going to know how to use a gun, but he still misses with the vast majority of his shots. Rey? Rey just heard of the Force and she's doing Jedi mind tricks? No one even told her those existed! She's a desert scavenger but she flies a ship like an absolute ace and knows it better than the guy who flew it for years? She, what, lets the Force just take over her body and she becomes an absolute master with a lightsaber? If you can just do that, wouldn't that be the quick and easy path rather than training for years like Kylo did? Han hands her a blaster and she's hitting guys from a hundreds yards away with ease? None of this makes ANY sense. This is why we didn't like Rey.

I cannot agree with the assertion that if Rey is a Mary sue then it means Luke is a Mary sue. Rey never loses a single fight. Luke gets pretty handily (get it) beaten in his first fight with Vader lol. Anyway it’s always nice to hear your opinions Erik.

I wonder if part of it is also that these shows often seem to be rushed out of the door. Quality takes time.

The attacks on fans have always been pure DARVO. And if Disney really cared about diverse stories it would fund original series and films by diverse creators instead of parasiting off existing IP.

I must be the only person who likes this show. The mystery, the lore, the vision of the jedi and this universe of the high republic decades before the phantom menace. I remember the great and horrible drought of 1983-1999, where there was no star wars on screen. Sure there were comics and novels. Let's just unite in our fandom for star wars because it can all be taken away.

Hi Eric. Thanks for your take on this. You are not out there with your opinion and not everyone is hating you. 😂 I really appreciate that you express your critical opinion without regard to what the studios might want to hear. A critics job is to give an unbiased opinion - something few do anymore because they are bought and paid for, or else have clear political leanings. I think there is a quiet majority of people who simply love well written TV/movies (and who are mostly middle ground in their politics as well) no matter what the diversity content. I don't know why race/gender/sexual orientation etc became so all important (to majority American audiences), but it's absolute bs and should be pushed back on. It's definitely been detrimental to the stories being written. I also worry that the new generation of writers are just so indoctrinated at universities, they can no longer express anything but propaganda, or else are so critiqued on their stories not being pc enough, they never get them out. In your case, it's great to hear opinions that are well thought out and based on facts rather than political ideology.

Thank you for being honest and putting these takes out!!!!

All there is to "them" blaming Fans for critisizing shitty productions is people reponsible for burning loads of money and killing off entire franchises being mentally unable to take any kind of reponsibility . Seriously, thats all there is to it .

Once again, I think you've sort of hit the nail on the head - it's split between Capitalism's need for more dollaridoos and the fact that when media comes to the defense of lesser offerings, they do so not in a "give this a shot" and more of an attack on the fanbase hoping for rage-watches.

I'm getting sick that 'strong female characters' are starting to feel like they've been put on a certain factory setting where they start to all feel the same. Yes, it's cool when a woman can fight and is sassy but that's not all I want to see. In GoT every female was strong but each one was strong for different reasons, just like real life women are all different. Without that variety even the females they are aiming at will get bored if they don't see themselves anywhere.

The prequels also split the fanbase, but people understood this is just how Lucas wanted to make them, so eventually, most just came to accept it, even if they still really don't like the prequels. Disney, however, tends to try to display a level of vocality about their Star Wars releases, so naturally the criticism of their work will be loud in kind. If I watched The Acolyte blind, I would probably think "oh, ok" with a strong touch of "get your X out of my Star Wars"

The frustrating part is that once current new cycle ends and the whole show is released, these rags will admit that the show was bad, but will never retract original pieces. Same as critics, they won’t amend their scores.

Damn bro you spittin’! Couldn’t agree more

You hit the nail on the head. "Our shit is bad and it needs to be thrown away to make room for your shit". Any issues out come the "ists" and the "phobe" slurs because that's all they ever have to say... and to think being called those slurs (when I honestly don't give a fuck about who they hire - as long as they are good at their job) is one of the reasons I don't support or watch these products in the first place.

I appreciate your point of view and agree with a lot of it, there is absolutely no way you can convince me otherwise that Ray was not a Mary Sue my dude. It was awful writing.

Putting the media and cultural criticism aside, I think it’s just bad business by Disney. Imagine they decided one day “Oh, it’s so important to make sure our Disney princesses appeal to 15 year old boys too, let’s make sure Frozen 3 has a male protagonist who really likes monster trucks and also Elsa is useless and everyone calls her stupid” people would say they were insane. They bought these huge cultural institutions that appeal mostly to young men have decided to actively antagonise them, it’s bizarre if nothing else. (Yes, some girls like Star Wars and Marvel, which is great, but they’re the minority and likely always will be, girls generally just don’t care about this stuff with the same fervour.)

These impostors have legitimate malicious intention. That should be evident at this point and we should be screaming to high heaven to get these people out of our fandom

I'm a relatively hardcore Star Wars fan and I will admit, most would probably find me too forgiving on the content that I find good. But at the end of the day, does Star Wars REALLY matter that much? Of course not. You can like or dislike whatever aspects of the franchise you like and I'll do the same. I find the communities that express what they love while being more level-headed about what they dislike the way to go. Others can worry about arguing.

The sides, yes. The Light Side (The Fans) and The Dark Side (Disney).

I love your hilarious over the top British accent whenever you read some ridiculous article lol. Keep up it Erik. Love your videos.

Erik I agree it seems like the corporations are willing to alienate or insult the primary fans/consumers of their products. BUT, I also think the higher ups are assuming the original fans will still support their new products no matter what. They don’t understand why those people are fans, sometimes going so far as to feel the fans are ignorant/stupid for like it in the first place (it’s wizards in space, Nerds/Incels now). They think “we can make this product that no matter what it is, the silly fans lap it up”. “While we are making this for the ignorant, unwashed masses (Bums on Seats), we can make a statement or support our personal causes at the same time and educate the bigots/misogynists/phobes in the audience. “. We will make something our peers will like and also further our careers! WAIT….the original fans are upset with our product? They are just horrible people! It’s not possible our ideas and vision are BAD! (Sigh). Whoops, sorry I went a little to much in on this comment. 🙃

Propaganda is exactly the right word. I haven't been able to put my finger on it and you hit the nail on the head. Totalitarian tactic much? BTW Andor is the best Star Wars property in a loooong time. I loved it! Story first. Great Livy Scott mocking voice too

Lyvie Scott .. "She spends the majority of her time looking for ways to spotlight women of color in traditionally-gatekept genres, those she grew up loving - and critiquing the disparities that marginalized filmmakers face". "Her passions include minority studies and aesthetically-pleasing celebrities" That's her bio. With all due respect, do we really care for what she has to say about Star Wars? She looks as much of a fan as the superfans were for rings of power.

My boys loved Mando S1 and 2, they tried watching Ahsoka with me and were checked out almost immediately.

The reason why Rey's a Mary Sue and Luke isn't a Gary Stu is because Luke started his journey only really good at piloting. He wasn't some special forces John Rambo like Rey was, he didn't start off gifted with the force, he failed most of Yoda's lessons and jumped headfirst into a trap and lost his hand for it. Even as a full-fledged Jedi, Luke struggled to best Vader and couldn't stop the Emperor by himself. His entire hero's journey is filled with failure and learning from those mistakes. Also the timespan of the OT is just over 4 years, while Rey's journey is only a year and already beats the Vader knockoff within a week, is pretty much never beaten, is so in tune with the force she can clear a cave-in in that same week, and beats the Emperor and all his henchmen with just 1 year's training are you fucking kidding me? Not only that, not everybody likes Luke, especially not their first impressions of him. It takes considerable effort for him to get people to like him. Meanwhile every bastard in the galaxy likes Rey, and the whole 5 people who don't either immediately flip for no reason or are straight up evil. Old Luke doesn't count, that was a character assassination by every meaning of the phrase. If you tell me Rey and Luke are even in the same ballpark of overly capable overly likable characters that get everything handed to them, I'm gonna assume your media literacy is dogshit and your points are invalid. Otherwise, you're at least right that The Acolyte is bad in just about every regard regardless of wokeness.

Good video, extremely similar to my concerns/thoughts. Hostile Takeover is a good framing device.

Well said. Thanks for your thoughtful approach

We that is true we did feel we were part of Star Wars but that has changed in my opinion.

Andor was not attacked as far as I remember It approved of96 %and 86%

All well said, brother.

Great content! I appreciate it!

I like these videos. You should start a sort of podcast if you're ever up to it.

I would absolutely call it an "all time low"....the way I see it, starwars is all but dead and I don't see disney fixing a damn thing.

I was home eating a hamburger and somehow I ruined Star Wars

George Lucas even says Disney Star Wars is Awful and i agree

Her article sounds like someone used chatgpt and prompted it to "write like you're a stereotypical caricature of a militant feminist."

People that played the good old Star Wars P&P RPG by West End Games could come up with better stories than these people.

I get angry when I hear all the time "male fans" I am female and was a fan for almost 32 years. I always had among my female friends fellow fans. Those I know turned their back on Star Wars. Some already after the new movies. The last after ObiWan. I hoped after Andor and the praise it got, a lesson would have been learned.

It is only for us to be are part of it as long as we are quiet and spending of money

Nothing like blaming the fans to get those hate clicks ticking over. It's a tried and true method at this point. I can't take it seriously.

The problem with the 'Fandom Menace' isn't that they are critical of SW or other Disney/major productions. It's the constant focus on negativity. If you acted like that in real life, it would look like this: 'Everything sucks. Life sucks. Tomorrow is gonna be as bad as today. Woe is me.' Okay, Eeyore. Eventually, their predictions start to become self-fulfilling prophecies, and nothing improves, ever. I do think there's a place for their criticisms, though. I do think Lucasfilm and Disney are acting in bad faith, in regard to their franchises' existing fanbases. For sure. It's just that... nothing has gotten better, even in the face of all their criticisms. The shows in both the Marvel and SW universes have continued to dip in quality. They are focusing on DEI over what's best for the stories even more now than they were before. I think the answer is focusing on stories that you enjoy, stop giving these big corporations your money, and stop talking about them so much. I understand that's nigh impossible, when your job centers around critiquing films/shows, but that is the only thing that could possibly work. The Washington Post is doing so bad that they've brought in new leadership. And the employees were apparently upset that the new leadership is going to be '4 white dudes'. The complaining employees were eventually told that what they are doing just ain't working, in so many words. There are changes coming at the Washington Post, and it's happening because their customers are giving up on it. So, if you want to see real change in these companies, I know it's possible - it's happening. The question is, will folks keep on hate-watching. I'm okay with reviewers watching these shows (that's not that many people, and I like watching reviewers), but everyone else needs to cut these companies off, if they want to see real change. Elsewise, we'll just be singing the same song next year, the year after, forever and ever, amen.

Not sure how you think Luke was a Mary Sue. It took him 3 movies and being defeated by Vadar to become a powerful Jedi. Ray beat Kylo Ren, a fully trained and realized force and sith warrior in their first encounter... Ray is a Mary Sue. Luke was not. Perhaps the progression was rushed but it still had character growth and development that these Disney sequels are completely devoid of.

If everything is diverse and inclusive. Everything is bland and boring and utterly predictable. And you can see that fact in real time all over entertainment now.

For the almighty algorithm!

Wish i could like this twice, if not for the first part of the video then because of the stuff you've said about Reva not being allowed to be a bad guy. That was such a crappy take on a character, to bend it to fit their political stance.

Rey was more of a symbol then a character

lol'd at the 'Motherf***er, no. The Acolyte is not nuanced storytelling' bit :D

I love that the writer explicitly emphasizes the audacity to not be an LGBTQIABCDEFG+ ally, but finds it a bit more understandable that people are racist or sexist, as if it's way more of a shock that people are fed up with having all the woke gay shit shoved down their throats and slapped on to all of their favorite IP's in exchange for actually good content.

She-Hulk was fine, and there was so much male focused Marvel content that it shouldn't matter. She-Hulk was a comedy TV series. No problem. Star Wars is an entirely different thing with much, much bigger problems than Marvel has ever had.

Guess how many people freaked out because the new Gordon in The Batman is black... 0 or negligible. The movie was quite good, he played as a brilliant Gordon. It was an intelligent story. People liked/ loved it. There was no bashing from either side.

I mean no disrespect to you or to any fans, but there is one thing that many are not seeing. The entire DEI situation in Hollywood is not coming from the Studios but the pressure and stress of the Standards and Guidelines enforced upon them by the Academy of Arts and Science and the Television Academy. These two institutions among other guilds that that studios are pretty much required to follow the guidelines have become impossible in Hollywood. I am totally for diversity since I am both Gay and a Star Wars fan since 1977, but I do agree there are a lot of extreme that has occurred (not only in Hollywood but in many other industries including mine where I can't even get a job as a GAY Male as a professor anymore). But once again this is something that is occurring in Hollywood where even the studios are not even able to hire who they want to not only be actors, but as producers and directors. Even the standards includes narratives of the Stories require to have elements of diversity and they give the selection that needs to be in the plots. I am totally serious about this. My ex works for a nonprofit that collects data for the entertainment industry and has an annual diversity report with percentages of this category or that category. This Tuesday, the annual diversity report will be released at a meeting for the 2023 report. Since I work in the music field I have been invited to join the online meeting (not sure if I can make it with my schedule) but this report is released once a year to see which company in the industry is compliant to the standards and guidelines. So, just saying, that studios are pulled into many directions and have been caught in the middle of this situation. Look at Netflix with what they have been doing to "historical" figures and changing them for compliance of diversity. There is no two ways around it, DEI takes away from creativity as it has taken away from education. I work in both the music industry and in music education and currently with DEI it has been deemed that teaching the English grammar is racist!!!. I am just saying this to give you a wider view and lens at this situation. All companies are being imposed to have a DEI department. Kind of like the Affirmative Action that was happening in the 1990s but at a larger magnitude. In that note I actually do like the Acolyte. There are elements that I see flaws, but there are things that I do like as well. I am trying to look above this situation and just try to find the good and the bad of every project. Trust me as someone who has been stuck in the middle of DEI I have no other way of doing this or I will end up with a heart attack and die before my time.

hey Erik - I think you're onto something - in as far as I understand what you are saying. You're saying that the diversity/culture war stuff is not the main issue - because it's being used as a distraction, as a cloak, by those conducting the hostile takeover(s) of these properties. It's actually a kind of camouflage - to distract from how untalented and out of their depth they are professionally. It reminds me a lot of Mary Harrington's very smart arguments in Unherd about how most of these diversity wars and cancellings - particularly within organisations - are actually a cover for career advancement and professional rivalries - the accusations of bigotry are the method - but the actual rationale is middle class politicking and jostling for position, taking out rivals by using 'diversity' as a weapon.