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 Perhaps not as fiercely as social media might suggest, according
to a U.S. academic study which found that half of negative
tweets about the 2017 movie came from bots, trolls or political
activists, some of whom may be Russian.
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi," which focused on ageing Jedi Luke
Skywalker's reluctance to be drawn back into the battle against
the dark side in the sci-fi saga, prompted criticism online
after its December 2017 release.
Many lashed out at key roles given to women and actors of color
in the movie, while others were dismayed at the apparent death
of Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.
The Disney movie took $1.3 billion at the global box-office,
compared to $2 billion for 2015's "Star Wars: The Force
Awakens."
A study by University of Southern California (USC) research
fellow Morten Bay, released on Monday, analyzed the language,
Twitter handles and IP addresses of more than 1,200 tweets sent
to "Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson's Twitter handle in the
seven months after the film's release.
"Overall, 50.9 percent of those tweeting negatively was likely
politically motivated or not even human," Bay wrote. He said
they appeared to be using the debate around "The Last Jedi"
"to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing
causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality."
"A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls," Bay added
in the paper, called "Weaponizing the Haters: The Last Jedi and
the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media
manipulation."
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Disney did not respond to a request for comment on the research
but Johnson said on Twitter that the overall findings were
"consistent with my experience online."
"This is not about fans liking or not liking the movie - I've
had tons of great talks with great fans online and off who liked
and disliked stuff, that's what fandom is all about. This is
specifically about a virulent strain of online harassment,"
Johnson tweeted on Tuesday.
Bay compared his findings to other studies around attempts to
influence Americans through social media platforms.
Bay said the likely objective was to increase "media coverage of
the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a
narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American
society."
A U.S. Senate panel has been examining reported Russian efforts
to influence U.S. political public opinion before and after the
2016 election of President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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