Angry Star Wars fans aren’t a new thing. Ever since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit theaters back in the late-90s, and certain fans cried out against the likes of Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best for their portrayals of Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks, respectively, it became clear that some fans have a real sense of ownership of the series. No longer would they just sit back and enjoy any ol’ space adventure that graced the big screen, but they would actively speak out against films that didn’t meet their specific criteria they were hoping to get.

Of course, that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but Star Wars fans have a history of taking things too far, arguably ruining the lives of the aforementioned actors, and causing George Lucas to pretty much assume that fans will hate anything he does. Earlier this week, we reported on Ahmed Best’s claims that he contemplated suicide thanks to the media backlash, and Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn took to Twitter to speak out against fans responsible for such behavior:

“People responding to this post saying, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t the actor’s fault! It was the writer’s!’ are missing the point. Critique it. Don’t like it. But spewing hate and bile at individuals just doing their best to tell a story, even if the story sucks, is lame. Don’t watch it! Star Wars (or any movie) may be important to you, but it doesn’t belong to you. If your self-esteem depends on how good you think the current Star Wars is, or your childhood is ruined because you don’t like something in a movie, GO TO THERAPY.”

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Gunn isn’t wrong here. As mentioned above, actual criticism of a film is totally fine. If you don’t like a movie and want to articulate why, then, by all means, go for it. However, once your hatred of a movie involves harassing the lives of those responsible for the film, it becomes something else entirely.

What do you think of Gunn’s comments and do you agree with them? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: James Gunn