The Acolytehas continued the ongoing trend of divisiveStar Warsreleases under the guidance of Disney. Since the debut of its first episodes earlier this month, the show has been the subject of heated online debates aboutStar Warscanon, character diversity, and age-old complaints about dialogue and plot pacing.The AcolytestarAmandla Stenberg, who plays the dual roles of Osha and Mae in the series, has now responded via the medium of song, addressing the backlash directly in a new music video release.
The Acolyte
Star Wars series that take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
Stenberg’s direct pushback on some of the less-than-pleasant reactions toThe Acolytereferences old clips of her being dragged up from the past, and includes a swipe at the complaints aboutThe Acolyte’s political and “woke” agendain lyrics that read:
“And now you listening imma tell you something fascinating, they spinning WOKE bastardize it and appropriate it, last I recall WOKE was something we created, speak truth to power, keep an eye out for you silly racists, and now they use it to describe anything they threatened by."
The video, which can be seen below, was posted on Instagram with a challenge from the actress. She captioned the post,“Happy Juneteenth. And to those who are flooding me with intolerable racism — since it took me 72 hours on my laptop to make this song and video, u got 72 hours to respond. and I expect choreo!"
Whatever reaction the actress was expecting from her challenge, she probably didn’t get it. Instead, her post was flooded with thousands of comments calling the actress “privileged,” “delusional,” and “cringe.”
The Acolyte Has Gained the Worst Audience Reviews in Star Wars History
The recent releases of theStar Warsfranchise have struggled to really connect with the established fandom of the space saga. While there are some who believe everyStar Warsproject is being targeted by racist or sexist trolls who do not want female leads, or racial and sexual diversity within the franchise that began in 1977 with a lot of white men, others simply say that he franchise is lacking in strong storytelling, good dialogue, and a real direction.
TheStar Warsfandom has always been one of the hardest to satisfyas the universe of the franchise continues to expand in new ways beyond George Lucas’ original trilogy of movies about a space farmboy who becomes caught up in a story of daddy issues, reunited siblings, and blowing up spaceships. Even Lucas himself was unable to please everyone with his own expansion of theStar Warssaga, as his prequel trilogy also received a fair amount of backlash at the time of its release.
Despite the Backlash, The Acolyte Episode 3 Didn’t Break Star Wars Canon
The Acolyte’s third episode featured a major reveal, and, despite the backlash, the choice actually fits within Star Wars canon.
Exactly what fans do want to see in the franchise’s future is not really clear, but what they are about to get are a number of movies that will blow open the timeline ofStar Warsinto an expanse of more than 25,000 years.The Dawn of the Jedimovie, which will take the franchise back to the original discovery of the Force, could open a path for decades more stories to come, and many more reasons for fans to find fault in the increasingly diverse landscape of the franchise.
The Acolyteis streaming now on Disney+
