By Jamie Miller
Fandom— the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “a group of fans of something or someone, especially very enthusiastic ones.” However, if you were to ask a member of a fandom, they would give you a less clinical response— to them, it’s more than a hobby. It’s a love. It gives their life purpose and meaning. Unfortunately, that is where problems can start. Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and fandom can often lead to gatekeeping— of the most toxic variety imaginable.
To start with a recent example, Disney recently released the first trailer for its newest Disney+ series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Ironheart.” It follows a young Black woman named Riri Williams inspired by Tony Stark’s example to make the world a better place by creating an advanced suit of her own.
Disney just released the first trailer in May for a show coming out in June and the more problematic members of the fandom have used this late marketing as proof that Disney thinks the show is going to fail. The words “woke” and “DEI” are being hurled around like snowballs by children during a snow day. The show hasn’t even come out yet and many people are already saying it is bad, simply because it has a Black woman in the lead role. Not a good look, fandom. Not a good look at all.
Sadly, this is not a new problem, even for toxic fans of the MCU. Back in what seems so long ago now, the year of 2019 Disney released “Captain Marvel,” which starred Brie Larson as the titular hero. But if you asked many MCU fans, she is one of life’s worst villains. There was review bombing, there was trolling and there were people trying to make competing release “Alita: Battle Angel” crush “Captain Marvel” at the box office, just to spite her. There is hating a celebrity and then there was this. You couldn’t even turn on YouTube without a hundred or more videos popping up about how Larson was a toxic narcissist, or how her co-stars secretly hated her, or how she was going to be fired and replaced any day now. In fact, it was the first time I can remember MCU fans getting like this.
However, it’s not the first time I remember fandom in general getting like this— no, there is another.
“Star Wars” fans— even among other fandoms, their potential for toxicity is legendary. There’s an old saying amongst nerds that no one hates Star Wars more than people who like Star Wars. The toxicity among the worst of them is legendary, and I say this as a “Star Wars” fan. From bullying 10-year-old Jake Lloyd out of acting due to them hating his portrayal of young Anakin Skywalker to harassing Ahmed Best so much he nearly took his own life, simply because they hated the character he played, Jar Jar Binks that much.
And the sequel trilogy— oh, man, the sequel trilogy. Don’t get me wrong— those movies were a mess, sure, but that is in no way the fault of the actors. The amount of backlash they received, especially those of color, is inexcusable. Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was literally bullied off of social media after months of sexist and racist harassment. To quote Tran’s piece she wrote for The New York Times back on Aug. 21 of 2018 titled “I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment” about the harassment “Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories.”
Now, this is in no way to say that all members of these fandoms are toxic, or anything to that degree. In fact, many of them are good-natured, friendly and kind people. I myself happen to be a lifelong “Star Wars” fan, as stated, and have been a fan of the MCU since the first “Iron Man” movie came out. However, we can’t just sit and pretend that this isn’t a problem. This kind of harassment is not okay or excusable.
We wouldn’t tolerate it if average people were yelling it at people on the street. So why is it okay to hurl verbal abuse at celebrity’s online?
