On the anniversary of the death of ‘Twilight Zone’ creator Rod Serling, action movie helmer Christopher McQuarrie paid tribute to the groundbreaking storyteller on Twitter, pointing out in particular, how Serling managed to weave social commentary into his works in an effort to affect change. Among those to chime in was ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ director Rian Johnson. And then the stupid showed up.
The Twitter exchange devolved into nasty reactions against ‘The Last Jedi’ and accusations of social justice warring with one responder calling for social justice to be removed from fiction. After just a few messages, McQuarrie addressed Johnson directly, saying “My friend, After five minutes of this, I don’t know why you’re still on Twitter. I would have loved to make a Star Wars film someday. I’m cured.” Here’s the tweet that started it all:
With WWII fresh in America’s mind, he brought the Holocaust to Playhouse 90. But his teleplay about a lynching in the Deep South was too current, too controversial. The network reset it in the old west. To confront social issues on TV, he’d have to find another way.
And he did. https://t.co/qs2ag6jvQ9
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) June 29, 2018
Not only did McQuarrie nix the idea of directing a ‘Star Wars’ picture, but a superhero film as well. “Nah, after tonight I think I’m good. It saddens me, too. I consider myself first and foremost an entertainer. I work for the audience. Tonight I found people I could never work for.”
McQuarrie’s name had surfaced in connection to ‘Green Lantern Corps’, but … guess not.
Considering that the vast majority of science fiction is flat-out dedicated to social commentary, the fact that so many so-called “fans” have been trotting out the racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. of late it makes you wonder why they’ve even chosen a progressive genre as their go-to source of entertainment. The ‘Twilight Zone’ wasn’t alone in holding up a mirror to society. Everything from ‘Star Trek’ to ‘Black Mirror’ has been dedicated to pointing out flaws in society in order to at least spark the idea of transformation and evolution. Guess maybe some people just get distracted by shiny lasers and explosions and don’t notice the message of some stories.
McQuarrie’s next movie, ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ arrives in theaters July 27, 2018.
