‘Star Wars’: J. J. Abrams On Fans ‘Threatened’ By Women In ‘Last Jedi’

Star Wars: The Last Jedi sparked a lot of debate over the quality of the film, but a vocal segment of moviegoers specifically stated that their main issue with Episode VIII was its focus on the female characters. In an interview with IndieWire, The Force Awakens and Episode IX director J. J. Abrams commented on the backlash and stated that those individuals are “threatened” by women.

When asked about backlash from viewers who criticised the film as being “politically correct” or “SJW propaganda”, Abrams said, “their problem isn’t ‘Star Wars,’ their problem is being threatened.” The filmmaker elaborated, explaining how the original Star Wars could have been subjected to the same criticism:

‘Star Wars’ is a big galaxy, and you can sort of find almost anything you want to in ‘Star Wars’. If you are someone who feels threatened by women and needs to lash out against them, you can probably find an enemy in ‘Star Wars.’ You can probably look at the first movie that George [Lucas] did [‘Star Wars: A New Hope’] and say that Leia was too outspoken, or she was too tough. Anyone who wants to find a problem with anything can find the problem. The internet seems to be made for that.”

Abrams later added that the backlash has not influenced his plans for Episode IX:

“Not in the least. There’s a lot that I would like to say about it, but I feel like it’s a little early to be having the ‘Episode IX’ conversation … I will say that the story of Rey and Poe and Finn and Kylo Ren — and if you look, there are three men and one women, to those that are complaining that there are too many women in ‘Star Wars’ — their story continues in a way that I couldn’t be more excited about and cannot wait for people to see.”

One can imagine Abram’s comments will spark outrage from certain fans, but when it comes to the group he’s specifically referring to, I would say his assessment is correct.

In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran and Benicio del Toro.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing in theaters!

Source: IndieWire