News TLJ Negative Buzz Amplified by Russian Trolls, Study Finds
- Thread starter Tuskin38
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Unsurprising. It's amazing that you can't trust anything any more 
It's interesting indeed, and based on my experience it's plausible. But it's impossible to comment further about the veracity of the thesis without analyzing the methodology.
It's both disturbing and reassuring to know that the surge of hate speech and abuse in fandom was artificially amplified. On the one hand, it's disturbing that our national conversation is being corrupted by a hostile power as psychological warfare (we are essentially in a cyberwar with Russia, and losing badly), but on the other hand, it's reassuring that the number of fans who are really that stupid and hateful is considerably smaller than it seemed.
Hopefully knowing this will humble some people and make them slower to escalate arguments. Although that may be overoptimistic. The Russian attacks only work because they amplify the tensions that were already there.
Hopefully knowing this will humble some people and make them slower to escalate arguments. Although that may be overoptimistic. The Russian attacks only work because they amplify the tensions that were already there.
I never thought for a second that the hate mob was anything more than a small minority, now it appears to just be 21.9% and half of those were Russian bots. It's just a shame they hurt a lot of people both involved with the movies and actual fans themselves.
That's a little US centric isn't it? In what way is this a "national conversation"?
Star Wars and it's fandom are international phenomena and so are the controversy and the media used to fuel it.
Sadly I suspect not
I think in many ways it reflects what many of us were saying all along, that TLJ was far from being a failure.I do suspect from a psychological perspective it's likely that a lot of people will have put genuine critical complaints out into the public arena as a consequence of conformity and peer based behaviours, shaping their opinions and commentary based on what now appears to have literally been a misinformation campaign.
Criticism is one thing, the hate is quite another. I like The Last Jedi, though it has its problems (I found the chase sequences of the Rebel ships horrible).
It's because the Reds lose the fight in the throne room, isn't it...
The Soviets were Red. Putin's Russia is pretty much the exact opposite ideologically, far-right and white Christian nationalist, which is why the American right wing loves Russia these days. The fact that Putin was formerly head of the Soviet KGB, or that the Russian government is indistinguishable from the Russian mob, doesn't seem to faze them much.
“The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society. Persuading voters of this narrative remains a strategic goal for the U.S. alt-right movement, as well as the Russian Federation.”
Anyone else wish politics would stay the fuck out of movies they enjoy? Star Wars is meant to be the escape from this world. It's absurd to me - generating political revenge fantasies from that 'narrative' but I guess the proof is in the pudding.
The paper analyzes in depth the negative online reaction, which is split into three different camps: those with a political agenda, trolls and what Bay calls “real fantagonists,” which he defines as genuine Star Wars fans disappointed in the movie.
Great term!
We also need the adjective, fantagonistic.Agreed. Hopefully the full report has something more material. So far it reads that they 'appear to be trolls' so unfortunately that's not entirely convincing.
Was wondering about this too... I agree Star Wars impacts fans around the globe, maybe you could argue it's Amercian-ness by saying that it's a Hollywood film, made (mostly) in America by Amercians, created by Lucas an Amercian, owned by an Amercian company Disney, etc.
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I find the entire premise hard to swallow. Somehow I just don't get the vibe that world governments care on whit about Star Wars fandom- although I can see why the Hollywood Reporter might think so, since Hollywood seems to think the world revolves around it.
Remember guys and gals, don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you read, if that. Especially now, in the age of Information Warfare.
Remember guys and gals, don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you read, if that. Especially now, in the age of Information Warfare.
The divisiveness in society is over issues of diversity and inclusion vs. traditional white male privilege, and that's a tension that's been expressing itself across many aspects of American life. A lot of the current far-right extremism and hate that's become mainstream in politics, the neo-Nazi stuff on Breitbart and all that, is to some extent a direct outgrowth of rabblerousing that started in the online gaming and comics communities, stirring up anger about increasing gender and ethnic diversity in media as a way of mobilizing and recruiting angry, intolerant people and organizing them into larger hate groups to fight against progressivism in other walks of life.
And don't forget that we've now had two Republican presidents and two or three governors who built their political careers on their prior fame as celebrities, whether as actors, pro wrestlers, or "reality" TV hosts. The media have been politically influential on American life for generations.
Not me. Entertainment has always been political. The stories that have something to say, something to teach people and inspire people with, are the most satisfying and worthwhile ones.
Although it's never been entirely devoid of politics, given that its villains were expressly modeled on the Nazis. Heck, Lando's arc in Empire has resonances with Rick's in Casablanca, the studiously neutral entrepreneur coming to realize that one can't stay neutral in the face of tyranny. And Casablanca is one of the most political movies ever made, as well as one of the best movies ever made.
And the prequels were very much a critique of the post-9/11 American trend toward the compromise of individual liberty and the increase in authoritarianism in the name of defense against terrorism, as well as a rather prescient portrayal of how easily a democracy can descend into fascism. While the sequels reflect the modern social dynamic of the young, diverse, up-and-coming generation struggling against the old guard clinging to the oppressive ways of the past.
When I said "stay the fuck out of" I meant "interfere with the production of" or "delay/postpone projects indefinitely," rather than influence the narrative. I thought the post 9/11 critique that came with the prequels was kind of intriguing - especially since The Phantom Menace was made and came out in a very different world in the summer of 1999...
It's because the Reds lose the fight in the throne room, isn't it...
Don't worry @Batwoman , I chuckled
Indeed, in fact the old EU Thrawn novels riffed on this very theme with Karrde facing much the same challenges and the extended smuggler community finding the need to individually find their niches within the spectrum of willing, financial or coerced partisanship despite their initially neutral collective stance. In many ways the fates of both sides rested on the sympathies of theoretically neutral civilian parties whose roles as intelligence sources, covert goods traffickers and agents of disinformation, not to mention mercenaries, bodyguards ans assassins became force multipliers.
I do have to admit I wondered at the motivations of a world power seeing a hollywood movie as being worthy of their attentions, but frankly it does make sense. When the west (and not just America) is becoming increasingly divided along ideological lines and the media is a visible flashpoint for those divides it can become weaponised as a weapon of psychological warfare. This isn't the same as traditional propaganda in the pure sense, but rather about stirring the pot with regards to political weakness in the enemy's population. Anything which causes friction in the west benefits the Russian agenda here
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Because of my current enrollment in an MHA program, I have obtained a copy of the paper. I'm flying back this morning after an intensive weekend related to said program. I'm going to try to read it on the plane this morning. After 4.5 days of talking about health administration, I think I'm ready for something like this. It'll either be fascinating look at two of my favorite topics outside of healthcare (politics and entertainment) or put me to sleep on the plane. Either outcome is acceptable at this point.
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