As the comfort blanket of Star Wars is about to scroll into the distance for what could be the final time, Daisy Ridley is on the cusp of a career beyond the role of Rey – and the future looks good. Chatting with Bustle, she discussed social media, fandom and her nervousness at seeing herself onscreen in The Force Awakens.
Here, Daisy describes her feelings about social media, prefaced by a spot-on observation by article writer Sage Young.
Photographed by Colette Aboussouan
Rey was classified by some angry fanboys as a “Mary Sue,” an unrealistically perfect character; The Last Jedi was vilified by many for its progressive storytelling and the way it invalidated — or was totally uninterested in — various fan theories; and Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Resistance mechanic Rose Tico, was bullied off of social media by racist and sexist rhetoric and threats.
Fan entitlement is nothing new. The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, who first appeared on the show in 1991, is handy pop culture shorthand for the fan who believes that his in-depth knowledge of a piece of media means that that media must cater to him or be deemed worthless.
“It’s great that people are expressive of their views. But this is people’s jobs. People worked really, really hard on that thing. I think there’s a way of having a discussion that isn’t so vicious.”
“Because if you’ve got however many followers, and you write something that you think is, like, so deep, and a hundred people like it, it’s constant reinforcement.”
“I was at my friend’s birthday, and one of her friends, who I barely know, was like, ‘Hey, really liked the first Star Wars. Didn’t really like the second one,’ and I thought, ‘That’s rude, dude! That’s my job!'”
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and has been a presence online since webpage Fanta War in 1996. He is the EiC and Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and currently contributes to ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, Star Wars – Das Offizielle Magazin, Journal of the Whills and Starburst Magazine, having previously contributed to magazines Star Wars Insider, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, partworks Build Darth Vader, Star Wars Encyclopedia, and Build The Millennium Falcon, and websites Jedi.net, Jedi News, StarWars.com, Lightsabre.co.uk, and Wirezone.
He is the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015 (hosting it four times), is part of the team behind Thank The Maker events, and is the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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As the comfort blanket of Star Wars is about to scroll into the distance for what could be the final time, Daisy Ridley is on the cusp of a career beyond the role of Rey – and the future looks good. Chatting with Bustle, she discussed social media, fandom and her nervousness at seeing herself onscreen in The Force Awakens.
Here, Daisy describes her feelings about social media, prefaced by a spot-on observation by article writer Sage Young.
Photographed by Colette Aboussouan
Rey was classified by some angry fanboys as a “Mary Sue,” an unrealistically perfect character; The Last Jedi was vilified by many for its progressive storytelling and the way it invalidated — or was totally uninterested in — various fan theories; and Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Resistance mechanic Rose Tico, was bullied off of social media by racist and sexist rhetoric and threats.
Fan entitlement is nothing new. The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, who first appeared on the show in 1991, is handy pop culture shorthand for the fan who believes that his in-depth knowledge of a piece of media means that that media must cater to him or be deemed worthless.
“It’s great that people are expressive of their views. But this is people’s jobs. People worked really, really hard on that thing. I think there’s a way of having a discussion that isn’t so vicious.”
“Because if you’ve got however many followers, and you write something that you think is, like, so deep, and a hundred people like it, it’s constant reinforcement.”
“I was at my friend’s birthday, and one of her friends, who I barely know, was like, ‘Hey, really liked the first Star Wars. Didn’t really like the second one,’ and I thought, ‘That’s rude, dude! That’s my job!'”
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and has been a presence online since webpage Fanta War in 1996. He is the EiC and Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and currently contributes to ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, Star Wars – Das Offizielle Magazin, Journal of the Whills and Starburst Magazine, having previously contributed to magazines Star Wars Insider, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, partworks Build Darth Vader, Star Wars Encyclopedia, and Build The Millennium Falcon, and websites Jedi.net, Jedi News, StarWars.com, Lightsabre.co.uk, and Wirezone.
He is the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015 (hosting it four times), is part of the team behind Thank The Maker events, and is the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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