TERMINALLY ILL MAN’S WISH TO SEE STAR WARS EARLY GRANTED
For obvious reasons there’s no snippy sarcasm to be had here. You may have heard recently about Daniel Fleetwood, the Star Wars fan who very sadly is terminally ill and the campaign for him to be able to see The Force Awakens before it is released in the US on December 18th. Stars including Mark Hamill backed the campaign and thankfully, Lucasfilms and Disney granted that request.
Daniel’s wife Ashley posted on Facebook that Daniel, who is dying from a rare form of cancer called spindle cell sarcoma, was contacted by director JJ Abrams and granted a special screening of the film. That Daniel Fleetwood would be granted this wish and that so many people would back the campaign is the kind of feel-good news you need sometimes, the type of thing to insulate you the drudge of tiresome nonsense such as:
FOX NEWS DOESN’T LIKE STAR WARS, NERDS
Look, not everybody likes Star Wars. And that’s perfectly okay! You’re allowed not to like Star Wars. Maybe you like the movies fine, but are less taken with, perhaps even exasperated by, the insular elements of Star Wars fandom. That’s also okay, even understandable! But to go out of your way to crap all over something just because it’s popular with people who aren’t like you, that would be pretty boorish, so it’s hardly a surprise that the Grand Poobahs of boorishness, Fox News, are not fans of Star Wars and decided to take some television time to mock the very idea of liking it.
On an episode of Your World with Neil Cavuto, host Cavuto interviewed Star Wars fan Mike Gunzelman and detractor Carley Shimkus (and shock of all shocks, the lady on this Fox News programme is a glamorous blonde) seemingly bewildered and confused by the The Force Awakens being advertised during football, an attempt was made to understand why something that’s totally for nerds bro is set to break box office records. Standard Fox News trolling ensues, including dismissive, disingenuous remarks from Cavuto (“So Darth Vader’s dead, right?”) and the use of the word “tragic” to describe people who like Star Wars, as if it is not one of the most popular movie franchises of all time. They describe it as oversaturated yet peddle the old narrative that only basement dwelling nerds like the most successful movie franchise of all time. Conventions are of course mentioned. Like, my mother went to see the Revenge of the Sith, you know?
Watch this nonsense here, let me know many seconds you can endure.