The psychology of internet trolls is both fascinating and frightening, as their behavior is often irrational, unexpected, and intimidating, making it difficult for most of social media users to determine how to reply to harassment. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is no stranger to trolls, as he’s had to deal with them virtually nonstop since his film hit theaters 18 months ago. The filmmaker has had a variety of responses to criticism over the months, ranging from giving thoughtful insight into the reasoning behind his decisions to more playful joking which mirrors the tone of the more antagonistic trolls. A recent Twitter exchange hilariously ran the gamut of approaches when supporting his decisions to kill Supreme Leader Snoke.
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The exchange started when Johnson shared a screencap of his Twitter timeline, which featured a comment about mocking the use of the term “Mary Sue” followed by a sign merely stating the word, “Baby.”
“Omg look at me, I ignore criticism of story and only point to ridiculous examples,” one Twitter user replied to the filmmaker. Rather than defending his film, Johnson mirrored the use of internet acronyms, teasing, “roflmdeeeeeeeekoff.”
Seemingly because the user got a reply, they attempted to use the approach that their subjective opinion was a “valid criticism,” as they retorted, “C’mon dude. The writing between stories has flaws. Pointing that out is not a problem. Good writing is expected.” Johnson then joked back, “Yes I absolutely see your well laid out and rational argument that #MAHDEEEEEEEEEEEK.”
The user then attempted to voice his disappointment of a character like Supreme Leader Snoke or Game of Thrones‘ Night King never getting a comprehensive backstory, professing, “Okay, my point is that while it be the night king, or Snoke, If you build up a hero or enemy, not paying it off is cheap. Be it for character development or not. If you lay the groundwork for characters. PAY IT OFF. It’s not brilliant to surprise viewers.”
Yes absolutely I agree that you should not kill off a villian without explaining their AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH MAHDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK pic.twitter.com/VurFr7ppgO
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) May 4, 2019
Not wanting to settle for repeated goading, Johnson shared a photo from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi of Emperor Palpatine‘s demise while adding, “Yes absolutely I agree that you should not kill off a villian [sic] without explaining their AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH MAHDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.”
One of the trends among the critics of The Last Jedi is that the film did things that seemed unexpected, only for fans to remind those critics that those things had been previously established earlier in the saga. For example, while some critics complained about Snoke never getting a backstory, Palpatine was also never given a backstory in the original trilogy, a point which is rarely criticized.
It’s worth reminding that, while some trolls have made it their mission to reply to every comment or article about The Last Jedi with negative comments, there are plenty of fans who merely disliked, or possibly hated the film, who manage to move on with their lives and enjoy the entries in the franchise they do enjoy instead of expressing their toxicity any chance they get.
Rian Johnson is currently slated to craft a trilogy of Star Wars films at some point in the future.
What do you think of Johnson’s remarks? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
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