Star Wars always had this beautiful clarity to it, you know? You knew who the heroes were, the villains were straight-up villains. Bad was bad, good was good, evil was evil. Darth Vader was a complex but ridiculously awesome character, but there was always no denying he was the bad guy. We understood that Anakin Skywalker fell over to the dark side, did morally reprehensible things and that… was evil. Even though I still think he was one of the best star wars characters ever, there wasn’t any confusion about what he was and, we all accepted that.That struggle of good against evil is pretty much the heart of what Star Wars was built on. (Lucas talking about Star Wars) Not this…. (acolyte trailer) That simplicity is gone. lost to the ocean of modern sensibilities of Disney and their ugh progressive creators.The franchise has become more about checking boxes: diversity, inclusion…all well and good, if they weave it into great stories. What we get instead are these characters and plotlines that are so forced they might as well be holding a giant look at me sign. It’s not actually all that surprising that the writers are ticking off a social justice checklist. That realisation doesn’t make it hurt any less because It takes you right out of the moment.I mean just look at Amazon’s Rings of power and how they hammered us over the head with the most aggressive political marketing campaign I’ve ever seen for a TV show. They literally told us to forget the spirit of Tolkien’s work, because they’re going to make something better. All the pre-release hype was really just a diversity campaign – warrior Galadriel, first female dwarf, first female dwarf of color, the list goes on. Now, a more “inclusive” Middle-earth might sound like an interesting theory in the minds of activists, But shouldn’t there be a need for it to feel, I dunno, organic to the world Tolkien envisioned? But all it became was some hastily patched on project to look progressive because they had zero interest in telling a story.Chapter one And so we have “The Acolyte”…another Star Wars show, another round of YouTube ratios worse than a middle-school cafeteria fight. Honestly, it’s pretty impressive at this point. Disney’s on a roll uniting the fanbase in a way even the great George Lucas couldn’t manage, just not in the way they thought. But wait, don’t worry, guys. This show is special. We’ve got a strong female lead, diversity quotas filled to the brim – it’s a recipe for success, right? I mean, who needs originality or good storytelling when you can recycle the same formula that’s been tanking other Star Wars projects? I guess I can see the appeal in self sabotage just to please a very loud minority who probably even care less about star wars. The trailer. well, let’s just say it oozes the same subtlety as a Hutt with a megaphone at a weight-loss retreat. The “progressive” agenda is plastered on so thick you’d think political correctness was a newly discovered superpower. Naturally, anyone pointing out the dumpster fire gets the usual round of charming epithets: sexist, bigot, enemy of progress…blah blah blah. Because bad writing is always the fault of the audience, not the multi-billion dollar corporation, right?Look, no one cares about the gender or identity of the lead character. Male, female, alien, droid – give us a good story, believable struggles, and we’ll follow them to the Outer Rim and back. But what “The Acolyte” seems to be selling is yet another lecture disguised as entertainment. “But Hold on a second, the show isn’t even out yet! How can you be so certain it’s going to be bad?” because, my friend, this is Disney – we’ve seen how this usually plays out. And if Disney’s reputation isn’t enough, you check out these interviews with the creator. You can practically hear the agenda in her voice. Pretty obvious she doesn’t even care about the story itself, just about using it as a way to preach to the audienceThe whole goal of this show, like “Rings of Power”, isn’t about expanding the lore or giving us an epic story worthy of the Star Wars name. It’s just a very long, very expensive way to preach a message that’s been shoved down our throats for years now. But fans are tired of being treated like unruly younglings who need constant reminders about…well, whatever the trendy slogan of the day is. And if the ratio isn’t proof enough for you, the reception might be.When Disney-Lucasfilm projects first came out, they were always loaded with heavy-handed messaging. It felt like walking on eggshells. You couldn’t even question the show’s quality without someone calling you a bigot or some other nasty label. But times have changed, and that game doesn’t work anymore. Now, people expect studios to try that tactic – using politics as a shield against bad storytelling. They want to shut down any real criticism and make it seem like hating their show means you hate certain groups of people.The good news is that the audience smells that kind of nonsense a mile away because, I know this might sound crazy, people are tired of being lectured to.Chapter two Girl boss. The “Hollywood girlboss” trope is basically where they take a successful male character, change the pronouns, and think they’ve written a “strong female lead.” Yeah, we’ve been over that for a decade now. These characters are bizarre, hyper-competent caricatures that have about as much depth as a cardboard cutout, and of course, Disney’s been a big player in this terrible trend, churning these characters out across all their brands, and surprise surprise, most of them have tanked.Sometimes they accidentally nail it. Jyn Erso from Rogue one was a gritty, no-nonsense fighter, and you could totally see the influence of 90s female heroes like Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley. Of course Naturally, Disney didn’t want to run with a winning formula. Nah, better to just give us Rey, who goes from desert scavenger to the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy in about five minutes flat. Because…reasons?I mean, these studios rake in obscene amounts of money – you’d think they could afford some writers who understand basic character development. Instead, what do we get? Checklist characters who exist to preach or fulfil some diversity requirement.Meanwhile, Japanese media has quietly been doing it right for ages. They know an awesome female protagonist needs to be a compelling person first, someone the audience actually wants to root for. Many of the best female anime characters have that same vibe as the classic female action heroes of the 90s: strong, capable, flawed, but undeniably cool.Sometimes it feels like Disney has this cheat sheet for ‘good characters’ that they lost halfway through writing the sequels. It’s bizarre because Star Wars used to be great at this – we had Han Solo, flawed but lovable, or even Luke with his classic hero’s journey. But now? It’s like a factory churning out blandness.Finn is the perfect example.That initial reveal was a Stormtrooper gone rogue. The possibilities were incredible. Like, we’ve been conditioned for decades to see Stormtroopers as faceless grunts. Finn breaks that mould, and suddenly there’s this whole untapped well of trauma, guilt, the fight for your own free will… The potential for a very complex arc was right there for the taking. You could even tie it back to the prequels, make a commentary on child soldiers and cycles of violence. It would’ve been heavy, sure, but Star Wars has dealt with that stuff before.But what do we get? Some watered-down comedic sidekick stuff who spent half the trilogy screaming Rey’s name. Not just bad, but also incredibly disappointing. Especially when they kept teasing us with the whole Force-sensitivity angle. A former Stormtrooper grappling with the Force? Can you imagine the inner conflict that would’ve created? It would’ve been beautiful and messy, just like his character needed. But Disney plays it safe as always. Jedi powers go to the nice, conveniently untroubled strong female lead who’s basically a blank slate.And Rey? I’ll just say this; there’s a way they would’ve done her character justice. And making her this instant master of everything the Jedi have spent centuries training for…that just cheapens the entire concept. She didn’t need to struggle, to earn it, and that robs her journey of meaning especially when you compare it to Luke’s path. The same mess trickled down to Vice-Admiral Holdo. The absolute worst star wars character of all time. It might sound harsh, but it really isn’t.They wanted her to be this take-charge, authoritative figure, but instead, she came off as patronizing and unreasonable. And they used Poe to assert her dominance. The guy’s a skilled pilot, and she dismisses him out of hand for no good reason, and then used the “Holdo Manuever” to explain it all away.It smacks of “we need to make the man look bad so the woman looks good”, the kind of lazy, surface-level feminism that undermines actually strong female roles.Sometimes I just wish they’d take a page from the original trilogy, hell, even the prequels. Padme, Leia – they were strong, they were capable women without needing to be propped up at the expense of the guys around them. It’s possible, clearly, so why does it feel like Disney forgot the formula? Well, we all know why. It’s the exact same reason we’re getting a show called the acolyte. Chapter three. Remember when Star Wars meant something? You know, Before it became a corporate megaphone for whatever social justice crusade Disney was currently championing? There was a time when the Force, lightsabers, and epic journeys across the galaxy were what mattered. Honestly, I’m half convinced the studio heads have never actually seen the original trilogy. Otherwise, how do you explain this relentless drive to undermine everything the franchise was built on?They’ve told us to forget compelling characters and galaxy-shaking drama – it’s about scoring political points now. Which is fine, I guess, but don’t pretend like it has anything to do with the Star Wars fan know and love. Will it be saved? Can it even be saved? That’s the million-credit question, isn’t it? You’d think the disastrous fan backlash would make Disney finally reconsider their, let’s say, “creative trajectory.” But not really, apparently ignoring the disgruntled masses who made this franchise an empire in the first place is the way to go. And if you don’t like it, they put you in an all in one name-calling box, making it easier to just dismiss you as trolls.Which is why I keep asking myself is Star Wars even worth fighting for anymore? I’d like to say yes, to cling to the hope that maybe, some spark of the original magic can be rekindled.But after the slew of mediocre-at-best movies and awful shows we’ve been subjected to, that optimism is fading, and it’s fading fast. The suits at Disney seem to have this unshakeable belief that they know better than the fans who’ve kept the fandom alive for decades. And I hate to say it, but… maybe they’re right. Maybe this beloved space opera is broken beyond repair. Maybe it’s time to admit defeat and just move on. And to be honestly, it’s far more enjoyable making content about star wars than actually watching star wars. After all, nostalgia can only carry us so far. But we know they will blame you for not watching their shows too.