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A new report analyzing online reaction to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie has identified an interesting and questionable culprit behind some of the negative tweets posted about the film: Russian bots and trolls.<\/p>\n
In a paper titled \u201cWeaponizing The Haters,\u201d<\/em> researcher Morten Bay looked into \u201cthe strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation\u201d<\/em> and examined the online response to the Last Jedi movie, which received notoriously mixed reaction from the Star Wars fanbase.<\/p>\n But the negative reaction apparently was not simply the result of some fans enjoying the movie while others were less enthused. No, no. That would be far too straightforward. Indeed, Bay suggests that at least some of the negative reaction may have been fake news \u2014 and that the Russians could be partly behind it. In the report, Bay claims to have found \u201cevidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Serious Study: Kremlin conspiracy to \u201cpropagate widespread discord and dysfunction in American society\u201d by\u2014are you ready?\u2014tweeting out negative reviews of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. \u2014 Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) October 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Now, if you\u2019re wondering why Russia would care about the Twitter reaction to a Star Wars movie, you\u2019re probably not alone \u2014 but Bay has some thoughts on that. The \u201clikely objective\u201d<\/em> of these kinds of political measures against Star Wars would be to increase the media coverage of the \u201cfandom conflict\u201d<\/em> thereby \u201cfurther propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Bay claims that persuading American voters that such dysfunction exists in society is a \u201cstrategic goal\u201d<\/em> for the the alt-right movement and the Russian Federation, he claims.<\/p>\n The paper categorizes the negative reaction to the movie into three sections: people with a political agenda, trolls and \u201creal fantagonists\u201d<\/em> \u2014 the phrase Bay uses to refer to real Star Wars fans which were genuinely disappointed by the movie, but don\u2019t have a political agenda.<\/p>\n He found that more than 50 percent of the negative tweets about the movie were \u201clikely politically motivated\u201d<\/em> or perhaps \u201cnot even human\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Wookie, Twi\u2019lek?) \u2014\u00a0 and that only 21.9 percent of the tweets about the movie overall were negative. But of those negative reactions, \u201ca number\u201d<\/em> of them \u201cappear to be Russian trolls,\u201d<\/em> Bay writes.<\/p>\n Bay also says that rather than any new effort by the Lucasfilm production company to politicize the franchise, it is likely the \u201cthe polarization of the Trump era\u201d<\/em> that has politicized the fan reaction to the more recent films. \u201cThe divisive political discourse of the study period and the months leading up to it, has likely primed these fans with a particular type of political messaging that is in direct conflict with the values presented in The Last Jedi,\u201d<\/em> he writes.<\/p>\n Last Jedi director Rian Johnson tweeted that he was looking forward to reading the paper, but said so far \u201cwhat the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n A bit of Morten\u2019s research came out awhile ago and made some headlines – here\u2019s his full paper. Looking forward to reading it, but what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online. https:\/\/t.co\/MTRgmPxGgZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Russian \u201cbots\u201d<\/em> were also out to have their say on Star Wars last year, launching a \u201ccoordinated effort\u201d<\/em> (according to Johnson) to ensure that the villainous General Armitage Hux survived in the Last Jedi movie.<\/p>\n The reality was a little less sinister, however. It turned out that it was real people rather than bots who wanted to save Hux, with one of them telling RT<\/a> they were simply determined to keep the character played by Domhnall Gleeson \u201cfor the entire trilogy\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
The Alex Jones Force is strong here https:\/\/t.co\/FafLhOm2Am<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n