A new promotional poster for an upcoming Disney Plus Star Wars series has the internet buzzing… but not for the reasons Disney was hoping for.
That series is “The Acolyte,” an upcoming eight-episode Disney Plus show helmed by former Harvey Weinstein assistant Leslye Headland, which she described as “‘Frozen’ meets ‘Kill Bill,’” per Entertainment Weekly.
Warning: The following description contains imagery that the reader may find disturbing.
Instead of speculation about the new show’s story and characters, many seem fixated on the fact that the poster appears to make a lightsaber look like a used and bloody tampon.
Tomorrow. #TheAcolyte pic.twitter.com/WRS2Mpjanf
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) March 18, 2024
The trail of blood is an especially odd artistic choice considering lightsabers canonically cauterize wounds instantly.
Reactions to the poster have ranged from jokes to serious criticism of Disney’s feminization of the Star Wars brand.
Do you think Disney did this on purpose?
Some have even mocked the poster by remaking it, replacing the lightsaber hilt with pictures of tampons.
All the imagery they could have used for the poster, and they went with Jedi tampon. Bravo, Disney.
— Jim Strabo WBS (@WBS_JStrabo) March 18, 2024
“All the imagery they could have used for the poster, and they went with Jedi tampon. Bravo, Disney,” one X user wrote in a blistering post.
The Force is Female so of course the lightsabers have periods now.
— Mark Bell (@Pimpslap_) March 19, 2024
“The Force is Female so of course the lightsabers have periods now,” another biting response quipped.
Lightsabers don’t make people bleed because the blade cauterizes the cut immediately. 0/10 poster https://t.co/szFO4YaRv3
— Zacc Brannigan (@SHIN0BILI) March 18, 2024
“Lightsabers don’t make people bleed because the blade cauterizes the cut immediately. 0/10 poster,” another user wrote.
During a live stream that aired on Tuesday just after the poster’s debut, freedom-loving entertainment commentator and YouTuber Gary Buechler (who just reached 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel Nerdrotic — a mighty impressive milestone) argued that Disney deliberately meant for the poster’s saber hilt to look like a tampon.
“Here’s the kicker: that’s what they wanted you to think. That’s absolutely the message they are trying to send. You received it loud and clear,” Buechler said.
He went on to note that this strange obsession with periods in Hollywood is nothing new.
“Remember the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel that was canceled, ‘Bloodmoon’?” Buechler asked.
“You know what ‘Bloodmoon’ is? In ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ [the book the series is based on], when you have that time of the month, it’s called moon’s blood.”
“And it was supposed to be a female-centric [show]…”
