Studio Lucasfilm uses racism as a marketing tool to promote the setting “Rise of the Republic“(Star Wars: The High Republic). This opinion was voiced by an American writer John Del Arroz (A.I. Wars, Jistified).
Racism is the engine of commerce
The writer reacted to the scandal caused by the racist Twitter messages posted by the actress Christina Ariel. The latter was recently appointed to host a new YouTube show about Rise of the Republic.
Lucasfilm’s press office sided with Ariel, making a rather hypocritical statement in which it spoke out against “insults and racism.” The absurdity is that Lucasfilm had not publicly reacted to the persecution of actresses before. Gina Carano and Rosario Dawson… In addition, the press service of the studio managed to forget congratulate on the anniversary the voice of Darth Vader – the actor James Earl Jones…
This story is superimposed on the racist remarks of a writer collaborating with Lucasfilm. Justin Irelandas well as the arrogant behavior of the studio’s creative director Pablo Hidalgotrying to troll the fans.
The Wrong “Rise of the Republic”: Lucasfilm “fights racism” by openly supporting … racism
Arroz sees what is happening as a coordinated marketing campaign that aims to increase audience interest in Rise of the Republic, which is now at zero. So Lucasfilm is trying to shake up the industry in style Al Sharpton (campaigning for Barack Obama a preacher who is known for his radical statements).
The writer draws parallels with the film grossing over a billion dollars at the box office “Captain Marvel“. Shortly before the release, the female lead Brie Larson stated that she was not interested in the opinion of “40-year-old white male film critics.” As a result, the studio received increased attention from the media and free advertising for the tape about the heroine, which has long turned into a joke among comic book readers due to weak sales and endless relaunches of solo lines of works.
Articles have already appeared in the Western media, in which the representatives of the Star Wars fan community are again called racists. But for some reason, journalists “forget” about Christina Ariel’s quotes, making her a victim. An excellent example is the article from BBC…
It also resembles the movie release scandal “The last Jedi“(The last jedi). Work critics Ryan Johnson were automatically assigned to the group of “Russian trolls” and the organizers of the persecution of the actress Kelly Mary Tranwho played Rose Tiko.
“In the end, this is just a marketing gimmick for Disney after all, because there is no positive talk about Rise of the Republic. Nobody is interested in comics. Nobody is interested in books. a scandal to get people interested. This is a tortured tactic at the moment, “said Arroz.
Note that John Del Arroz himself was the target of bullying. The writer positions himself as a conservative Christian, he was accused of homophobia. Del Arroz also had difficulty raising funds for his works (openly conservative writers and artists are now closed from working with major comic publishers in the United States). In particular, the administration Kickstarter tried to disrupt a comic book crowdfunding campaign “Dynamite Thor“.
Who needs Rise of the Republic?
If you study the statistics Google Trends, it turns out that people are showing significantly more interest in the show. “Mandalorian“(The mandalorian) and news about Gina Carano, while the topic of “Rise of the Republic” is indifferent to them.
Previously it was announcedthat comics and books based on “Rise of the Republic” have become bestsellers according to The New York Times… It’s about a comic from Marvel “The heyday of the republic“(# 1 in the comic section), a children’s story by Justina Ireland”A test of courage“(second place in the section of children’s works) and the book Charles Soul “Light of the Jedi“(first place in the hardcover section).
At the same time, users noted that in some US stores, Ireland’s book is already giving away at a discount of around 30%. Discounts on books and comics are also available on Amazonwhere they are also listed as bestsellers and out-of-stock items.
Despite the high authority of The New York Times’ list, it has flaws. By the decision of the representatives of the publication, based on moral or ideological preferences, the compilers of the top can simply ignore some works. It happened with the cult book Walter Blatty “Exorcist“. The system itself can really be hacked by paying several tens of thousands of dollars, which the writer spoke about in detail. Soren Kaplan…
Tops from Amazon is an even more interesting and fun topic. The fact is that there are too many subsections on the Internet site in which any work can become a leader. In 2017, an entrepreneur told about this Brent Underwoodthat tricked Amazon’s algorithms.
The division into physical books and e-books (audiobooks and Kindle versions) complicates monitoring. Site administrators can generally delete “inconvenient books”, the above writer suffered from this in due time John Del Arroz…
If you look at the bestseller lists now, it turns out that Charles Soul’s book is ranked first in the “Science fiction about the Galactic Empire“(!!!), comic from Marvel – in the section”Comics and graphic novels that can be read in 45 minutes“and so on. The third issue of the graphic novel is the best.”Rise of the Republic: Adventures“from Daniel Jose Older, which leads the way in “science fiction related to the media franchise” and “sci-fi graphic novels”.
There are also general tops. And here you can see the lag. So, the work Daniel Jose Older is located only in 1764 place in the store for Amazon Kindle… Soul’s book (213rd place) and unreleased book managed to break into the top 500 Claudia Gray “Into the darkness“(499th place).
Lucasfilm Learning From Battlefield V: Against Our Ideology? Don’t buy Star Wars books!
A third source of information on book and comic book sales is the weekly listings from Nielsen BookScanwhich cover about 85% of the US book market, including digital and physical sales.
According to the latest data, Charles Soul’s book is now in 12th place in the section “Fiction in hardcover” (44.8 thousand books were sold in three weeks, 8.5 thousand of which were sold in the last week). Justina Ireland’s book took 23rd place in the “Fiction for Children” section (8.8 thousand books were sold in two weeks, of which 2.3 thousand were sold last week).
To understand the context, this is what the top 3 bestsellers according to the Nielsen BookScan look like:
- “Little blue truck and Valentine’s Day” Alice Shertle and Jill McElmarry – 83.5 thousand books were sold in four weeks, of which 33.4 thousand were sold last week;
- “Promised land” Barack Obama – 110 thousand books were sold in 10 weeks, of which 30.8 thousand were sold last week;
- “1984” George Orwell (with an afterword from Erich Fromm) – 65.5 thousand books were sold in five weeks, of which 27.2 thousand were sold last week.
Garbage wars
Meanwhile, the showdown around Lucasfilm is getting more and more violent. Since 2017 on Reddit subsection Saltier Than Craitdedicated to fan discussions and criticism of the Star Wars franchise. But the set of rules was recently updated – in the spirit of the infamous gaming forum ResetEra…
According to the publication, the founders of the subreddit banned mentioning bloggers and journalists associated with Fandom menace (a movement whose members consistently criticize politics Disney, Lucasfilm and other major entertainment companies). Artist was blacklisted Ethan Van Skyver (considered one of the ideologues of Fandom Menace), portals WeGotThisCovered, Cosmicbook News, Pirates and Princesses, Geeks + Gamers, Bounding Into Comics, YouTube channels Doomcock, Midnight’s edge, Clownfish tv… The funny thing is that the publication got banned Forbes for “hate speech and clickbait”.
As the moderator stated Moonlit_Mushroom, he opposes a political war with Lucasfilm, as it supposedly will get you nowhere. However, he accused the supporters of Fandom Menace of parasitism, as they allegedly began to criticize the studio many months after the premiere of “The Last Jedi”.
“The sequel trilogy is garbage, and Fandom Menace tried to set fire to this garbage and make it toxic. We decided not to throw wood on the fire,” said the moderator.
In reality, criticism of Lucasfilm began to sound long before the release of the eighth episode of Star Wars. Someone did not like the refusal to record in the canon works from Expanded universeothers did not appreciate J.J. Abrams’ film “Force awakens“(The force awakens). And people began to scold “The Last Jedi” almost immediately.
According to the leading YouTube channel Clownfish TV, the moderators of Saltier Than Crait can allegedly work with representatives of Lucasfilm in order to curb the stream of criticism caused by the latest scandals motivated by racism.
Writers collaborating with Lucasfilm also added fuel to the fire. Bria LaVorna and Brian Young… They called for blogger deplatforming Itchy bacca (chronicles the sins of Lucasfilm on the Star wars is dumb) and Ethan Van Skyver… In response, the latter noted that he is already a victim of a “cancellation culture”, which is why he now works exclusively for himself, selling his comics to people directly.
According to the artist, the Star Wars franchise is run by “loafers” who can permanently destroy the legacy George Lucas, turning it into a “corrupt and progressive hole in hell.”
Itchy Bacca also reacted to the situation. In particular, he created a new subreddit Way Saltier Than Crait…
“We know who the racists are. These are the people at Lucasfilm who are projecting their blatant racism on everyone around them. The posters for their films in China testify to this.” wrote blogger.
Eventually Bria LaVorna closed for outsiders your Twitter account. Note that such showdowns will continue until Lucasfilm stops trying to extinguish any conflicts in social networks with kerosene.
See also: New Phase of Civil War: The Mandalorian Fans Strike Back at the Lucasfilm Troll
Rise of the Republic kicks off at Lucasfilm: Kennedy faction loses but does not surrender
Star Wars Failed Again, Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga Overtook the ENTIRE US Comic Book Market
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