Disney CEO Bob Iger apparently wasn’t referring to the “Star Wars” franchise when he said he wanted to focus on entertainment instead of messaging.
“Star Wars: The Acolyte,” the eight-part series streaming on Disney+, is being pilloried as a “new low” for Disney, “a queer Marxist vandalization of the myth of Star Wars” and an “embarrassment to the entire franchise.”
Even its defenders acknowledge its woke tilt. Drew Taylor, film critic for TheWrap, called it “arguably the gayest ‘Star Wars’ yet by a considerable margin. It’s pretty gay. Let’s be honest.”
At the center of the drama is Episode 3, which aired last week. The segment featured what the LGBTQ publication Them described as a “coven of lesbian space witches” who appear to use the Force to conceive the twins Mae and Osha without any male involvement.
The episode also turns the whole good-versus-evil foundation of “Star Wars” on its head with lines such as: “This isn’t about good or bad. This is about power and who has the right to use it.”
The Acolyte is a queer, Marxist vandalization of the myth of Star Wars. In The Acolyte, the Force is a metaphor for cultural hegemonic power. The Jedi are a metaphor for cisgender white oppressors who hoard the power for themselves. Yes, it really is that obnoxious and stupid. pic.twitter.com/kUOV2CDX15
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) June 5, 2024
“The Acolyte” intensified the battle between hard-core “Star Wars” fans who accused Disney of destroying the canon to score diversity points and feminists who cheered the series as a much-needed rejuvenation of a moribund franchise.
So far, the “Star Wars” fandom is carrying the day. The series registered an 84% critics’ rating but an abysmal 14% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes based on more than 10,000 reviews, an all-time low for a “Star Wars” spinoff.
The fan rating was even lower than the 21% notched by the 1978 “Star Wars” TV holiday special, the standard by which all “Star Wars” bombs are judged.
Alan Ng, editor-in-chief of Film Threat, led those sounding the death knell for the franchise. He recalled in his June 5 review that “I became a massive Star Wars fan in 1977” at the age of 10. “I bought this galaxy far, far away, and today, I don’t recognize the place anymore. [Creator] Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte managed to put the final nail in the coffin for this fully grown adult. Yes. I accept it. Disney Star Wars is not for me.”
Cosmic Book News reviewer Matt McGloin called “The Acolyte” series “boring, drawn out nonsensical garbage.”
“George Lucas should have never sold Star Wars,” Mr. McGloin wrote. “Bob Iger should have never appointed Kathleen Kennedy as the head of Lucasfilm. Star Wars is a complete joke. Disney is a complete joke. #RIPSTARWARS.”
The movie website Worth It or Woke? said Ms. Headland’s “casual disdain for the Jedi and Star Wars canon is eclipsed by her shlocky storytelling, ridiculous dialogue and laughable lesbian chat-group fantasy fan-fiction.”
Ms. Kennedy swung back by telling The New York Times, “I think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of women who step into this because of the fan base being so male-dominated they sometimes get attacked. My belief is that storytelling needs to be representative of all people. That’s an easy decision for me.”
It amazes me how nobody burst out laughing in the writing, performing, scoring, and editing of this scene. Not even the Holiday Special contained anything as ridiculous and lore breaking as the Acolyte has thus far. https://t.co/ElVjNI9SLe
— Randy M.@theElusiveEye (@TheElusiveEye1) June 13, 2024
Hollywood in Toto critic Christian Toto agreed that “there’s a part of the ‘Star Wars’ fandom that remains highly suspicious of any new product,” but they “often have a point, given recent films and TV shows in the saga.”
He called the first two “Acolyte” episodes “generic sci-fare, neither inspired nor terrible, but hardly worthy of the ‘Star Wars’ legacy.” Then came Episode 3.
“The third episode is flat-out awful, clashing with franchise canon, bluntly pushing culture-war talking points and featuring plot mechanics sure to make your eyes roll,” said Mr. Toto, who hosts the “Hollywood in Toto” podcast.
Certainly, “The Acolyte” isn’t what the faithful expected after Mr. Iger returned to the helm of the struggling company in 2022, declaring that its content creators had “lost sight of what their No. 1 objective needed to be.”
“We have to entertain first. It’s not about messages,” Mr. Iger said in November.
What happened? “I suspect he’s being disingenuous, but it’s also possible it’s too early to see the results of that promise,” Mr. Toto told The Washington Times. “Movies and TV shows were well into production when he said that.”
Disney provided a real-time contrast between entertainment and messaging with the past weekend’s theater opening of “Inside Out 2,” a Pixar production. The film grossed $155 million and won rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
“On the plus side, the company’s ‘Inside Out 2’ is woke-free and mostly old-fashioned in its storytelling,” said Mr. Toto, “and it had a monster weekend at the box office.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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