Disney CEO Bob Iger wants to fire Kathleen Kennedy, YouTuber Grace Randolph reported in a broadcast picked up by several media outlets.
Kennedy is the president of Iger’s property producing “Star Wars” films. One issue for Iger reportedly has to do with
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” being too liberal. (And he wants to please “older conservatives,” Randolph said.)
It appears that fans certainly feel that way given ticket sales that plunged for “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
Yes, Kennedy doing whole “Force is female” t-shirt thing was surprising and a bit weird. And I registered just last week as non-partisan.
But there’s too high a concentration of us “Star Wars” fans who are not considerate enough of blacks, the poor and women. (Kelly Marie Tran should not have been harassed.)
“The Last Jedi” has problems. I even wrote about a scene encouraging the inviting of abuse and it’s absurd that Rey apparently has parents who the audience is unfamiliar with. We all know there is more. And as Kylo Ren fighting Imperial guards was awesome, there are better places than movies for political messages.
(Disney/Lucasfilm)
To be clear that “The Last Jedi” has issues, and since we have loved to do this on Facebook, let’s actually list the “Star Wars” films that are better than it:
- “The Empire Strikes Back”
- “Rogue One”
- “A New Hope”
- “Return of the Jedi”
- “Solo”
- “The Force Awakens”
- “Revenge of the Sith”
So, seven of the other nine.
But let’s go ahead and say that “The Last Jedi” deserves just its 2.9 out of 5 on Rotten Tomatoes. What has Kennedy done for us, still? Have we not been given two films that have brought us back into childhood? Have we not been given three that have taken us back to the galaxy far, far away as we hoped for?
That’s a 50 percent rate at bliss and 75 percent at high satisfaction. Can we really expect much better than that?
(Or, that’s what it would be if you were to stop poo-pooing and just go to “Solo,” a film with no political agenda and just a load of fun, as “Star Wars” was designed to be.)
As for myself, beautiful “Star Wars” films have returned at a time in which I lost my faith, and thus my identity. They have returned when my marriage got destroyed. They have returned when I have battled gender dysphoria and depression. They have returned when I have been shunned by family.
I owe Kathleen Kennedy my gratitude. And I don’t think I’m the only one. I am surely not the only man in his 20s who has dealt with these sorts of things as she has brought the greatest mythology of our time back into society.
That's a very happy thing.
Even if I hated “The Last Jedi,” I would hope I could let it go and embrace the exceeding good.