Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2019)

Scene from Star Wars: The Last Jedi

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Directed By: Rian Johnson

Written By: Rian Johnson, George Lucas (Based on Characters)

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Running Time: 152 minutes

Summary: Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for battle with the First Order.

The Movie

In the average film calendar, the week of a Star Wars release is usually one of the biggest times of the year. They have been built into something special among fans who clamor to see the latest exploits and see what's going on in a galaxy far, far away. For over 40 years the franchise has come to symbolize something great about the cinematic experience, inspiring generations in different ways while creating one of the most singular markets of its kind. With The Rise of Skywalker closing out the "sequel trilogy," it feels as good as any time to look back on the franchise's recent time in the spotlight. After being rebooted in 2015 with The Force Awakens, many anticipated years of adventures and spin-offs that would hopefully make the world into something greater than it ever had been before.

That is what makes The Last Jedi a fascinating roadblock of sorts in the franchise. It depends on who you ask, but the film is either the greatest or the worst in the entire series (spin-offs included). Those who saw it as great appreciated its bold technique and choice to explore complicated themes as a noble task. Those who hated the film noted disliking the direction things were going in, placing women in leadership roles and making their icon Luke Skywalker into a jaded boomer generation-style character who gave up on life. It would be one thing if the criticism stopped there, but in reality, it hasn't actually gone anywhere.

The reality is that it's been over two years since The Last Jedi was in theaters. Whereas most films would've dwindled away by this point, the controversy still arises. There have been TWO additional Star Wars movies (Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Rise of Skywalker) and all people can do is complain about the 2017 film's merits. So, what has the film done to deserve this conversation? It's tough to really say as the film didn't kill anyone's grandma nor did it unleash the Ebola virus. It was just a movie that many felt passionately about. Still, the results were astounding in how it showed a society responding poorly to art. By the end there were death threats, Instagram accounts closed, and edits of the film that attempted to remove women from the story. Even with people bonding over Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian, they somehow still have time to negatively attack The Last Jedi.

What is The Last Jedi? It was supposed to be the middle piece in a trilogy, showing the crossroads by which events were to take place. There had to be some risk for the sake of a compelling third act. With many seeing it as a metaphor for the boomer generation handing over control to millennials, it comes with loaded perceptions and insecurities about what a changing society looks like. To some, it was a welcoming entry that created one of the most exciting entries yet. For others, it took their theories and chose to ignore them entirely in disrespectful ways. For a billion-dollar film, this is one of the few that have withstood the conversation for years, even if it's one more indication of toxic fandom and many's belief that a theocracy where we worship companies. Whether The Rise of Skywalker is really the end of the road or now for the newly rebooted franchise, it's got a lot to live up to if it wants to please those personally burned by the eighth film in the saga.

- The Campaign -

To understand the allure of The Last Jedi, one needs to notice the impact that The Force Awakens had on pop culture. It was the first official Star Wars movie in over a decade, presenting characters that resonated with audiences. While there was some division as to whether it was just a rehash of A New Hope, it was setting up the franchise for a new generation and in the process left many to wonder what could be covered. The final shot of The Force Awakens ties into the first for The Last Jedi with Rey looking at Luke Skywalker on an isolated island. Along with many wondering what beloved Luke had been up to, many wanted answers regarding Rey. Who were her parents? Many felt that it needed to be answered. After all, if the sequel trilogy was, in fact, a rehash of the original, the parentage reveal would be key to the story.

One of the more unfortunate ways to start The Last Jedi conversation came on December 27, 2016, when actress Carrie Fisher died. Considering that the original Star Wars cast was to be heavily involved with the story, it came as a big shock especially given that Fisher's Princess Leia was to play a big role in the story. As of 2019, it is reported that she will continue to appear in the franchise. Given that they were able to put Peter Cushing into Rogue One despite being dead since the 90s, one can assume what that will look like. Still, it created wonder about what would happen with her character. On the more positive side, it leads to a rise in affectionate remembrance pieces regarding Fisher that would be used to promote the film in some of the franchise's more sentimental marketing.

The film was planned originally for a May 26, 2017 release but in January of 2016, it was postponed to December 15, 2017. On January 23, 2017, the film's title was announced as The Last Jedi leaving many to predict what that would be. With theories starting to form, the cryptic trailers that followed only helped to raise questions. One of the more delightful pieces of marketing was the use of a new creature called Porgs, who were little weird penguin-esque birds that flew around. The merchandise was available for it by the time of the film's release. To promote the film, the UK also had a set of eight postage stamps. There were other tie-ins, such as Nissan Motors and Bell Media. There were tie-in books and many of the characters were introduced into existing Star Wars games like Star Wars Battlefront. 

The good news is that it all paid off, as expected. The film would earn $450.8 million internationally during its opening weekend. By the end it will have grossed $1.333 million internationally, making it the highest-grossing film of 2017. It currently is the sixth highest-grossing film in North America and the ninth highest-grossing film of all time. It's also the second highest-grossing in the franchise behind its predecessor The Force Awakens. And yet, there was concern rising that the film would not be successful. Given the numbers and placement on said lists, one has to wonder what that meant. They broke many more records during its run, so what was the deal? It wasn't the fact that Disney had acquired the rights for the film to play on theaters' largest auditorium for a four-week period with a 65% cut of profits. That was up from The Force Awakens, which had two-weeks on the biggest screens a 64% cut. Something had to give. Was it overbearing marketing? What gives?

If there was one scapegoat, it was the choice in new director Rian Johnson. The original trilogy had a different director for each film, starting with J.J. Abrams and ending with Colin Trevorrow. When Trevorrow was removed, Abrams completed The Rise of Skywalker. Still, many thought that it was bold for Johnson to have so many shocking twists in it. They saw making Luke into a disaffected slacker to be disappointing. They hated the use of goofy jokes. Some even hated the use of women in the film, which saw them as figures of power often telling ignorant white men how to do things correctly. At one point actor Laura Dern is seen slapping Oscar Isaac for disobeying her. This didn't sit well with some. Others were just mad that their theories were proven wrong. After the film's release, people still didn't know who Rey's parents were. They also still believed she was a Mary Sue, which courted the familiar misogynistic controversy as to what that meant.

This lead to a familiar backlash for modern films. BOTS were created to hack into websites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb to purposely give the film low ratings. That is why The Last Jedi currently sits as the lowest audience reaction rating for the Star Wars franchise on Rotten Tomatoes despite getting an A rating from CinemaScore. This wasn't the end of online bullying. In fact, it was the start. Those who hated the film took to Twitter and YouTube, creating diatribes about why the film was terrible. There is a Twitter account called "Remake The Last Jedi" with almost 6,000 followers. There was also a cut made upon the film's digital release called the "De-Feminized Cut" or "The Chauvinist Cut." It was 45 minutes long and got immediate ridicule. There were also hate accounts made to personally attack Johnson as a hack filmmaker who should never work again. It got so bad that he even received death threats.

To his credit, Johnson put up a good fight back, trying to address his critics with open arms. To those who listened, he became a figure of acclaim. He was able to break through the discourse. Those who celebrated him often praised his cinematic choices in the film, most notably a long shot taken from the 1929 Best Picture winner Wings. Others included Mark Hamill, who was capable of breaking through the discourse with meaningful thoughts. The few who didn't take it as well were the central women of the film. Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran deleted their social media accounts with the latter being more controversial. As the first female Asian character in the franchise, her attacks were more race-baited. Hamill would come to her defense later with a picture he took with her and the hashtag "GetALifeNerds."

The divide remained strong throughout awards season and well into the following years. It's tough to make a direct break in where the Oscar portion of this debate ended, as it was all building to whatever toxic build-up it had. Yes, there were those who loved the film. Currently, people like /Film's Chris Evangelista have it listed on his Top 10  films of the decade. However, the discourse over those who love and hate it rages on. While films like Solo seem to have come and gone, many are holding The Last Jedi as a dark cloud over everything in the franchise's future. Does it really represent the worst that it's more culturally diverse and has women in charge? To some maybe, but one has to wonder if The Rise of Skywalker will match the discourse at all, especially since Abrams is back as director. The irony is that while Abrams got complaints about being too similar, Johnson got complaints about being too different. Which do they want? It seems like you can't please everyone. 

To end on a positive note, here's 20 memes for The Last Jedi.

- The Payoff -

The good news was that the film managed to snag four Academy Award nominations. With the exception of Best Original Score for John Williams (his fifth for the franchise), they were all tech awards. They didn't win any. They would win various other fun prizes throughout the remainder of awards season, but nothing too significant to reshape the conversation surrounding the film. In fact, most of The Oscar season was already shifting backlash towards controversial news regarding Solo. Many had been looking forward to the take by comedic directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller and were disappointed when he was replaced by Ron Howard months before its release. Producer Kathleen Kennedy took credit for this decision, though it came with audiences attacking her and Johnson (who had no involvement in Solo) for ruining Star Wars. Before the summer was out, the spin-off movies were put on hiatus indefinitely. The film, while earning a respectable box office, was considered a bomb and the end of Star Wars as we knew it by skeptics.

When asked about the success of The Last Jedi, Abrams claimed that:

“Rian is an incredibly talented director. I don’t know if you’ve seen Knives Out but I loved it. Just an incredibly talented guy and a great storyteller. So when he came on to work on the next film, and we were just starting to shoot [The Force Awakens], I was really excited to see where he would go and what he would do. And it’s funny because one of the things that I was [thinking] at first [was], ‘Oh, I really want to see all the friends together.’ And in his story, they really weren’t. [Rey] doesn’t really meet Poe until the end. Rey and Finn are not really together in the movie. So in a way the story that he told in a lot of ways helped set up what we were doing in 9. But it also allowed Episode 9 to have the group together and out on an adventure in a way that was weirdly, even though it’s the third film, it’s the first time they all get to be together.”

However, that hasn't stopped actors from expressing their personal criticism with the film. John Boyega claimed that:

“I guess in the original Star Wars films there was much more of a trio feel where it was essentially about Luke’s journey, but, Han and Leia, there was a strong dynamic. Which I think, I don’t know how quickly we’re going to be able to establish that long-term dynamic with [Episode] IX, but if it’s exploring that dynamic, then that would be cool. I do feel even after three films still, we don’t know them as much as we got to know Han, Luke, Leia. And maybe that’s a great opportunity to get to know them a little bit more.”

While this only fuels general disregard for The Last Jedi, it does show a more rational discourse being formed. Audiences who disliked the film and talked about it rationally were some of Johnson's favorite conversations. It was when the unwieldy people who refused to compromise or hear a different picture that things got out of hand. Still, Johnson continues to court controversy for his take, even being roped into Solo's failure and many's predictions for whether The Rise of Skywalker will be much of a success or not. Among the more amusing news is how people are treating his latest film, Knives Out. One person reported watching the movie and when discovering that it was directed by Rian Johnson someone in the back of the theater yelled "No! It was so good!" as if the involvement would hurt the film indefinitely.

Still, nobody knows for sure if The Rise of Skywalker will escape the criticism of the last. If anything, it may be just as bad. With that said, there has not been a film as widely discussed as positively and negatively as The Last Jedi this entire decade. Even Frozen feels more rational than some of the discourse applied to Johnson and crew. While it succeeded in creating a new phenomenon for a new generation, it did so with attracting the worst type of people as well. It drew the cast and crew away from social media and lead many to re-edit the film, albeit poorly, just to fit their desired needs. It's a reflection of society in 2017 and it's not nearly as pretty or enjoyable as any frame of the movie. Here's hoping that it doesn't linger for much longer.