An alt-right group is claiming responsibility for the low audience score of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie, directed by Rian Johnson, was highly praised by movie critics but received mixed reactions from fans of the sci-fi franchise. As of this writing, the follow-up to 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a 92% score from critics and a 53% rating from the audience.
The Last Jedi Takes The Hit
However, while there are legitimate criticisms regarding the movie's plot, pacing, and dialogue, a group called Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and Its Fanboys might have sabotaged the movie's score. A spokesperson for the group claimed responsibility for the low rating, alleging that they used bots to attack the box office hit.
As the Huffington Post reached out to the group via Facebook, the moderator explained that he is very upset with the producers of Star Wars. One of his many reasons was the introduction of more female characters into the cinematic universe.
To recall, the main hero of the new Star Wars trilogy is Rey (Daisy Ridley), an orphan who was left by her parents in the planet of Jakku. The former scavenger was revealed to be Force-sensitive and can wield a lightsaber with no training. Oh, and she is female.
The new movie also introduced several female characters. These include Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), a maintenance worker for the Resistance who embarks on a hero's journey of her own, and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern), the next in command after General Leia's (Carrie Fisher) incapacitation and the death of most of the commanders of the Resistance.
"There were supposed to be a trilogy of books and then some after set in the Legends canon. But [Lucasfilm executives] Kathleen Kennedy and Pablo Hidalgo wanted to pursue their own feminst [sic] agenda," the moderator who refused to be named said. "I was never going to like The Last Jedi anyway because [it] erases everything the EU ever did."
Two years ago, J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens was subject to a similar attack for having not only a female Jedi but also a person of color in a lead role. They called the movie an "SJW Propaganda."
Rotten Tomatoes Defends User Score
The review aggregation website, Rotten Tomatoes, has responded to the concerns about the validity of the movie's ratings. After multiple claims that dissatisfied fans have been downvoting the ratings to create the illusion of a larger gap between critic and audience scores.
"We have several teams of security, network, and social database experts who constantly monitor reviews and ratings to ensure that they are genuine." Dana Benson, vice president of Communications at Rotten Tomatoes' parent company, Fandango explained. "They haven't seen anything usual with The Last Jedi, except that there has been an uptick in the number of written reviews submitted."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still screening in theaters around the world.
