Kelly Marie Tran opens up about her Hollywood journey 9 years after becoming the target of intense online fan backlash: “…We’ve seen over and over time again women of color in these, sort of established franchises having this similar experience…”
Posted by hairtie1
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full quote:
“Thank you for acknowledging this journey that I’ve had, and I would venture to say that I don’t think I’m the only one who has experience that.
We’ve seen over and over time again women of color in these, sort of established franchises having this similar experience. I will say, when I think about that time, which was ten years ago now, the thing that I think I didn’t understand was that it wasn’t my fault.
My first reaction was to internalize everything that I was receiving,and use it as evidence that I wasn’t supposed to be there… If it happened to me now as someone who has been through ten years of therapy and joined support groups and done all this work on myself, I think that I would have had a very different experience.”
Fuck all of those who bullied her.
WE LOVE YOU KELLY!!!
The racism and threats were never acceptable, full stop. But let’s be honest the character was flat, boring, and stuck in a bad storyline. That criticism is fair. What isn’t fair is that she and John Boyega became targets for unhinged fans because of their skin colour.
Its even sadder that I feel like we really haven’t made much progress in making POC women feel more safer in the entertainment industry. Nine times out of ten they’re the ones held to a higher standard compared to their white counterparts.
There is always backlash unfortunately, and she didn’t deserve any of it (none of the cast did)
but the backlash is so much worse when the movies they are making are absolute dogshit. the writers/producers/disney of the sequel trilogy did their cast absolutely no favors
Some fans had more “backlash” toward her than they did the steaming pile of shit that JJ Abrams, one of the biggest hacks ever in Hollywood, dropped on all of us and called “Episode 9”. That says a lot about a lot.
Boyega and Tran’s treatment is a stain on being a nerd and nerd culture as a whole. Not to say the racism and sexism weren’t already there, ***oh boy, they were,*** but this was a disgusting depth that should have never been reached.
The reputation that Star Wars fans have (and media illiterate Trek fans are trying to get) is well earned. “Not all” – of course, I’m still a fan myself, there are fans of wacky space gleep glops who are just living life, but I can’t shirk away from what happened or wash it away as “the past”.
I think it’s a mistake to continue to attribute this to fandoms when it’s the same bad actors / agitators who pump out the hateful content for every franchise. Be it Cinderella, Star Wars, Star Trek…It’s the same voices, scripts, talking points, regurgitated over and over. The Harry Potter fandom is on deck next to be the next racist fandom because of Snape but once again it won’t be Harry Potter fans it will be hate peddlers calling themselves influencers and YouTubers. 100 years ago, they’d be writing alternative newspapers. I never thought I would see us allow racists to own the discourse again and peddle hate as debate.
Really feel for her, and all victims of online abuse. Treat a fellow human how you’d like to be treated.
Star wars fans are some of the most vile fans out there. And the smelliest.
And it’s always gonna be fuck JJ Abram’s for letting that mysoginistic racist hate control how they basically reduced her to a background character for episode 9
Most hated all the new characters evenly… Horrid movies and story telling, unfortunately.
I ended a friendship that mattered to me at the time after said friend stated that she was chosen only to ”meet the ethnic quota”, wasn’t fuckable enough to be in Star Wars, and she ruined the movie because of that. Cuz of course appealing to the male gaze is the only thing that matters, and apparently in his book only white women are worthy?
I don’t miss you one bit, Jérôme, you asshole.
Im not saying I would refuse a star wars role but I am saying I dont think Id be happy about it with how all the various people in the franchise have been treated
I really appreciate her involvement in the series. It’s nice to see someone who looks like me in Star Wars (well–someone I wish I looked more like anyway😭). I’m curious about her next film *Rock Springs* which has a mostly Asian-American cast
The worst was that the studios bent to the will of these people. They diminished her role into a glorified cameo in the next film. What a message “if ur loud and mean enough u can get what u want”
People think it’s only a certain type of fan who acts like this, but there was plenty of thinly veiled racism towards John and Kelly from people who would be adamant they’re the open minded, progressive kind of fan. It was just so overwhelming.
wasn’t her fault the movies were dogshit
i hope fandom menche faced lawsuit for cyberbullying
I feel like none of the actors came out with a positive experience about the sequel projects. I remember how excited Daisy and John Boyega were when promoting for TFA, and by the end they all seemed like they had enough, even Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac.