ST Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico) in TLJ

I think her article is pretty clear. After she has been very publicly subjected to racist and hateful backlash from SW fans for her performance and/or the character she played in TLJ, she discusses in her essay learning to not believe the hateful things she hears. She is putting her personalized reaction to that hate in the context of her entire life feeling marginalized. The timing isn't coincidental to the SW backlash. I swear some TLJ critics are so hyper defensive that logic leaves the building when we discuss these things. AB clearly had personal issues because of Jar Jar backlash. Rose is literally called the ST's Jar Jar. It's not hard to understand how or why she is having a hard time in exactly the same way he did. If "you" (generalized you directed at no one in particular) didn't harass her personally and if you didn't call her racist names or sexist names or insult her appearance, and you just criticized the writing for the character she plays without taking it to a personal sphere, she's not talking about you. Let's not make this about ourselves please.

 

You're making a lot of generalizations. Does KMT have a twitter account? Did she quit Twitter? Did she quit instagram? Did she take some time off? I know when she deleted her pics it was a few days before she left to begin filming ep9 overseas. I've also heard that she just isn't interested in social media. Who knows. No one is asking her for her opinion on any of this.

Ahmed Best made a Tweet recently highlighting the media reaction to his role in TPM, and how it ruined his acting career, and how depressed that made him. He has also said in the past how he was particularly bothered by people in the media calling his character of Jar Jar a rascist caricature. So, he wrote this tweet, and another tweet praising fans, and a bunch of media outlets, who exist to start fires to report on, twist his message into a "Rascist SW fans push Ahmed Best to suicide. Look how rotten and despicable they all are. Let's hate them and seeth at them."

I'm a big Jar Jar fan. I've not once ever said a negative word about him or the actor who portrays him. I have no way to relate to Best's experience being in the spotlight like that. And I hate how the same media who affected him so negatively would twist his statements of disclosure to stir up more controversy to report on.

I didn't deny or even talk about if KMT received abusive comments, only if she is referring to them or not in her essay. The essay points the finger at the media and hollywood, who again, take her words; using them to stir up controversy and division. This is nothing new of course, but there seems to be a great naivete among fans who are so easily persuaded by these headlines.

-I couldn't imagine trying to work in hollywood as an actor. The scrutiny on ones appearance, race, gender, talents or lack of talents, are all laid bare. And when you gain notoriety, your business suddenly becomes open season in the media. Hollywood is a merciless business.

As for the fans, it always works like this:

A movie or show comes out. Some fans love it, some hate it(the vast majority aren't obessessed enough to even be in this equation).
The ones who hate it will attack the producers/writers etc, and the show itself. They will often be loud and vulgar, probably because they know that those producers aren't going to hear them.

The ones who love it, will be personally offended, and begin attacking those who are attacking the thing they like. They will get just as nasty.

Both side are doing the exact same thing, and are no better than one another. It's simply fan tribalism.

 

KMT didn’t delete her Instagram account because of the media. It really can be all of the above. It can be fans + media. KMT’s essay isn’t only about the media.

These are the second and third paragraphs of her essay. Do you see her talking about the media, or just people? Who’s stories are she referring to by “their” stories? The NYT? Or the fans? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

I’m very sympathetic to the idea that there has been a nasty backlash to the backlash. I agree with that. I think personally there has been a huge intolerance just for negative opinions of a movie. At the same time, I also recognize that awful hateful disgusting crap has been said to/about KMT. I see it all over anti-TLJ internet. Is it a minority? Yes, of course. But it is there and it is understandable that it would be very personal to her. Nobody has a monopoly on being targeted for meanness. I saw a YouTube video about this where the person had the audacity to say she shouldn’t victimize herself, and then he turned around and victimized SW fans that criticize TLJ. It’s obnoxious and ridiculous.

 

I feel bad for Kelly Marir Tran. She does not deserve death threats. She was amazing in The Last Jedi and i can't wait to see more of her in episode 9 or a book that would be cool.

 

Kelly did a fantastic job playing the character of Rose as written. She was well cast. The problem is that the character of Rose was not cool, IMO. RJ basically said she was meant to represent people like him, people who aren't cool, which I guess in theory is most people. I understand why RJ might think this character would be great in a SW movie. But I don't think it works like that. I think despite Lucas himself, the OT was actually incredibly cool. In the same way Iron Man and Star Lord and the Wasp are cool today. Han Solo and Princess Leia were badass heroes. Young Obi Wan and Qui Gon were kick ass Jedis. And I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea that audiences generally speaking want to go on an adventure with people cooler than they are... SW is a lot about wish fulfillment, and in ANH, I think most people identified with Luke, and then got to go on this adventure with Han and the Princess, who were like the cool kids in high school. And I personally don't really wanna go on an adventure with Rose, or Finn, or Poe for that matter. All three of them are kind of nerds (Rose is a straight up safety monitor, Finn is goofy, and Poe is like a jock at Rydell High). I think SW audiences, generally speaking, want to invest in cool characters, not nerds. JJ understood this a little bit. KK and RJ have no conception at all of what is cool, IMO.

 

I found the character that she did her job , as being the awkward type charcater

 

I don't think it's necessarily wrong for there to be dorky characters, as long as they don't turn into unlikable characters. Stranger Things has its biggest success from the fact that everyone who likes it absolutely adores its lead actors, who are all giant freaking nerd-burgers with a side of nerd sauce and dork fries. The biggest issue that people have with Rose is that she comes across as thoroughly unpleasant, makes rash decisions and nearly gets herself and Finn killed, and is never once held accountable for her blunders. Her entire arc seems to be based around shouting at Finn and telling him to follow the program, which ironically, he had JUST escaped from by defecting from the First Order. But rather than touch on the eerily similar no-questions militaristic dualism of both factions, we get a schpiel on how animal cruelty is bad, there are no good sides in a war (though Johnson expects us to side with the plucky Rebels in the end) and that we save our friends by crashing our vehicles into them when they try to.... Save....? The movie seems to kind of lose track on that point, but HEY!!! LUKE IS BACK Y'ALL!!!

KMT doesn't deserve the flak that's been hurled at her because of her gender or ethnicity or looks. Most sci-fi nerds have NO RIGHT to complain about that last point in ANY fashion. Kelly took a high profile job that any of us would give our eye teeth for and served to inspire a whole generation of Asian girls by her example. Do I wish I could enjoy her character more? Absolutely. But that's on the writers and the directors, not her. I just hope she continues to find success and happiness, no matter what she sets her mind to and hopefully, that includes movies where she can cultivate characters with a charming presence to equal her real life self.

 

I agree, just becuase you don't like a character dosen't mean you attack the actor on social media and sent death threats to them.

 

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-hayden-christensen-kelly-marie-tran-harassment/

 

Me?
My comment is about the lack of clarity about this whole situation. I was following her and Boyega on Instagram and much of the comments were positive for both; at least in the past three months prior. As for the most standout comments for Kelly it was strictly about Rose Tico and not her as a person; some wanting to get insight. If she deleted others or reported then I don't have that information.

 

It's so nice to see the Star Wars community coming together from all over to look out for each other. Warms the heart it does.

 

But it kinda was. I am no hardcore SJW and certainly not a member of the PC police.........so for jar jar to shine out as a rascist caricature means it must be pretty bad.

Sometimes critism at a charactor is fair.

 

Whilst I think anyone reasonable would see that personal abuse is deplorable I can't help but think that certain roles almost seem to set up performers to receive this kind of hatred.

It seems like a style of film making that's less interested in actually making persuasive political points and more interested in baiting those who hold bigoted views into making these kinds of responses in the hope of generating media hype

 

Watched TLJ again today, for the first time since it left theaters.

Loved it the most this time, and Rose finally started growing on me.

 

And he's getting more flak for not saying more than he did. Apparently some wanted him to berate the fans so now that he didn't he's the bad guy again.

 

I agree. Kelly did a really good job with what it was given to her, but I found her character to be simply boring. I mean, would a kid really say "Repairing stuff is the most badass thing in SW!"? Kids want to be Luke, Leia, or any others that do cool stuff AND that feel like real people at the same time.
Poe Dameron, for example, represents for me all those hours I spent playing the Rogue Squadron games as a kid. Piloting is one of my favorite stuff in SW, so looking at him in action is like reviving the good old days. And as an adult, I can feel identified with Luke's arc from ANH to TLJ as well. I can see in them dreams, fears, and wish fullfilment; and therefore, that makes me feel invested in them. Ultimately, that's part of what has made SW so great: The exciting characters. But I'm afraid Rose is more in the "non-playable supporting character" side if we are to make an analogy with videogames.

Moreover, Rose lacked a defined arc of her own. She basically helped Finn's character arc to continue developing. Rey has grown as a Jedi student. Finn as a warrior. And Poe as a leader. But I'm not sure what exactly has changed in Rose. Is she brave? Yeah, definitely. But what else could we expect from her in Episode IX? Hmmm...
As I said, there's nothing wrong with KMT. It's the creative decisions that insist that "realistic, un-cool characters" must happen. New things are welcome, but I think that particular way of handling new characters is not what SW needs.

 

The protagonist from District 9 comes to my mind. He's an uncool, flawed average guy doing his job. But the things that happens to him and the way he handles them it's what made him so great. And Donatello may not be the most popular, but his fans love him because he's the smartest, and yet, he can still kick butt like his brothers.
But Rose didn't have much to do other than being only part of Finn's journey. She doesn't have combat skills of any kind (thus limiting her character appeal in some way) nor she didn't seem to be particulary outstanding in her field. I agree she should have done the AT-ST hot-wiring and all that technical stuff in order to establish her better as someone whose skills can actually save the day. Hopefully that will be the case for Episode IX.

 

I just like to say i wasn't a big fan of Rose....or a fan at all. Didn't dislike her, but i just didn't like her or Finns story. At first their mission was interesting. But because everything they did didn't matter at the end and plus because they did this dumb side mission of saving the animals i really didn't care for their whole story. Plus to top it off Rose stops Finn from possibly destroying that big ray weapon (yea finn would of died, but you dont know his ship might of rolled right into the center of that thing and destroyed it. Or better yet it looked like Rose had a clear shot...why didn't she go right into the ray from the side?) And that random kiss was the final thing that caused me not to care for her character. Nothing flowed. Not because shes a women or Asian....the character...at least to me didn't work. I didn't even like Finn...and I liked him in the first movie.

Plus her 'dont fight the ones we hate, we save the ones we love' line is so bad. I even made edits of why this wouldnt work in other movies. For example...Independence Day haha.

 

Kind of hard to keep looking for the guy when the entire police force is looking for you.

Plus DJ proved he was a good code breaker and he did do the job.

It's not DJs fault they got captured just DJs fault all those resistance members were killed.

Course had he not done that then Holdo wouldn't have rammed into the supremecy allowing Rose and Finn to get free so they would have died.

Rey might not have been able to escape either.

Then of course Luke wouldn't have confronted Kylo and been the spark to start the rebellion.

 

NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS...I mean, star wars is built upon "hard" situations. Overcoming obstacles and whatnot.

That's what makes it adventuresome and fun. It's all how it's written. It's all about the script. Finn and Rose eluding local Canto Bite police long enough to connect with the Master Codebreaker could have been presented in a believable manner (maybe broom boy or someone else helps them), and if it had, then Rose and Finn would have been more heroic. They took the easy way out, and while disobeying orders, too. A good decision if RJ is trying to show us a picture of failure. A bad decision if RJ is trying to make Finn and Rose likable characters.

It's funny how Poe gets castigated and demoted for going against orders, but Finn and Rose do the same thing, and their defection actually costs Rebels their lives because they trusted someone they didn't know and shouldn't have trusted. Poe's little mutiny, by comparison, was more planned out, intentional, and it didn't kill anyone.

 

Finn and Rose recruiting DJ, is not all that different from Obi Wan/Luke recruiting Han in ANH.

Both were shown as shady, the first time we meet them (even Han when ANH first came out).

Only difference is, one was found in a bar, the other in jail

 

Luke and Obi-Wan weren't under military orders, and they weren't deserting their posts or sneaking off the Rebel ship to do their own thing.

They were on the run and needed the fastest ship possible to get off Tatooine and evade any Star Destroyers.

They didn't know Han's reputation at all. This is made clear in the dialog in the cantina.

And you can't compare a jail cell to a cantina. This is the cantina where Obi-Wan says the best pilots can be found, that's why they went there.

 

But...isn't Poe finding out the plan the main reason DJ found out about it in the first place? Also, doesn't Poe technically still being a captain mean he has superiority over a volunteer and a mechanic? So...Finn and Rose were technically following his orders because he's the who okayed the mission. They didn't disobey anyone or defect. They went on a mission that was approved by their superior and had Poe kept his cool, they could have turned off the tracker and gotten away. Or at the very least Finn and Rose could have gotten caught and the rest of them could have gotten away.

Honestly, (and I'm sure it's been iterated before) every hero in this movie is a colossal screw-up: Poe, Rey, Rose, Holdo, Luke, Finn, and even Leia. I don't think it makes the film weaker because that's the whole point. It's not always fun to watch, but this isn't the first time the heroes' failures lead to the death of so many people in Star Wars.