Theres no universe where the sequels are good. For film, books, video games, or any art medium to be good they have to have something they want to share/say/show to the world, and wanting to show a film to make a bunch of money is not one of the passions that makes art good. You want Star Wars to be good again? Give them 25 dollars and hire Palestinians directly from Gaza as the writers. It’ll come with the bonus of everyone hating Israel more.
It was trying to show how Star Wars could grow into more complex storylines than good Jedi vs evil Sith. How the concept of balance the previous films tried to talk about could be reinterpreted as a search for balance within one’s self. Reconciling ones own light and dark aspects makes a whole person. An idea epp 6 started with the turning of Vader at the end.
Also there was the idea of getting away from the power of dynastic bloodlines. The idea that The Force could choose anyone.
Finally there was shoehorned in there a message about the inequality in the galaxy, even with the new republic having taken control. There was still the ruling ownership class, and the exploited working class. That part I’ll admit, was very forced and inelegantly tacked on. Should have been saved for the next trilogy.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I do remember all of those themes now that you mention it. That trilogy really suffered from having multiple directors, though, because it feels like Rian Johnson took some hard left turns that JJ Abrams felt the need to correct, which made the sequels feel extremely unplanned.
I think your comment on the casino planet sums up my thoughts on the movie: forced and inelegantly tacked on. Not that I had a miserable time with the film, but it felt like Luke’s character establishment was done a bit oddly, the Holdo secret plan was done a bit oddly, I guess the film was a bit odd for me. Luke especially. I’ve never taken Hamill as someone hard to work with from any of the BTS footage I’ve seen, so the fact that he also was struggling with Luke’s arc between 6-8 when the director was in front of him and could explain it leads me to believe that Johnson really cared about having certain things in his film and didn’t care much about how or why they’re in the film. But obviously I’m one of those fans that didn’t care much for it.
I just read a book called The He-Man Effect by Box Brown that centers on corporations preying on nostalgia for brand growth, and it touches on this. Most Star Wars fans have been pushed toward that when they were young. The Prequels and Sequels got so much backlash not because they didn’t live up to the Original Trilogy, but because they didn’t live up to the imaginary Star Wars in every fan’s head. The strategy of capturing fans as children really began with Star Wars, and no film camera is going to capture the full Star Wars that someone experienced as a child, because the brand supplemented itself with toys so the child’s mind would expand the universe itself and further engross itself until it’s inseperable. If the adult fan is racist, they’ve expanded on the property so much in their imagination that they likely view it as racist or sexist at this point. Which is why Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, and John Boyega got death threats after 8. This is not just with Star Wars, but with all brands marketed toward children. I don’t feel that strongly in hatred toward the movie, but I must admit that my perception of the brand may be affecting my enjoyment of the plot points presented in the movie.
Except the Leia force ghost. I guess in-universe it’s kinda sweet but irl when I watched that movie, seeing Leia’s body fly through space with the Force right after Carrie Fisher actually died was just so offputting to me.
Theres no universe where the sequels are good. For film, books, video games, or any art medium to be good they have to have something they want to share/say/show to the world, and wanting to show a film to make a bunch of money is not one of the passions that makes art good. You want Star Wars to be good again? Give them 25 dollars and hire Palestinians directly from Gaza as the writers. It’ll come with the bonus of everyone hating Israel more.
Epp 8 had something to share, say and show the world.
But some of the fans weren’t happy about it.
Again, the middle one was the best.
Genuinely, what was that?
It was trying to show how Star Wars could grow into more complex storylines than good Jedi vs evil Sith. How the concept of balance the previous films tried to talk about could be reinterpreted as a search for balance within one’s self. Reconciling ones own light and dark aspects makes a whole person. An idea epp 6 started with the turning of Vader at the end.
Also there was the idea of getting away from the power of dynastic bloodlines. The idea that The Force could choose anyone.
Finally there was shoehorned in there a message about the inequality in the galaxy, even with the new republic having taken control. There was still the ruling ownership class, and the exploited working class. That part I’ll admit, was very forced and inelegantly tacked on. Should have been saved for the next trilogy.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I do remember all of those themes now that you mention it. That trilogy really suffered from having multiple directors, though, because it feels like Rian Johnson took some hard left turns that JJ Abrams felt the need to correct, which made the sequels feel extremely unplanned.
I think your comment on the casino planet sums up my thoughts on the movie: forced and inelegantly tacked on. Not that I had a miserable time with the film, but it felt like Luke’s character establishment was done a bit oddly, the Holdo secret plan was done a bit oddly, I guess the film was a bit odd for me. Luke especially. I’ve never taken Hamill as someone hard to work with from any of the BTS footage I’ve seen, so the fact that he also was struggling with Luke’s arc between 6-8 when the director was in front of him and could explain it leads me to believe that Johnson really cared about having certain things in his film and didn’t care much about how or why they’re in the film. But obviously I’m one of those fans that didn’t care much for it.
I just read a book called The He-Man Effect by Box Brown that centers on corporations preying on nostalgia for brand growth, and it touches on this. Most Star Wars fans have been pushed toward that when they were young. The Prequels and Sequels got so much backlash not because they didn’t live up to the Original Trilogy, but because they didn’t live up to the imaginary Star Wars in every fan’s head. The strategy of capturing fans as children really began with Star Wars, and no film camera is going to capture the full Star Wars that someone experienced as a child, because the brand supplemented itself with toys so the child’s mind would expand the universe itself and further engross itself until it’s inseperable. If the adult fan is racist, they’ve expanded on the property so much in their imagination that they likely view it as racist or sexist at this point. Which is why Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, and John Boyega got death threats after 8. This is not just with Star Wars, but with all brands marketed toward children. I don’t feel that strongly in hatred toward the movie, but I must admit that my perception of the brand may be affecting my enjoyment of the plot points presented in the movie.
Except the Leia force ghost. I guess in-universe it’s kinda sweet but irl when I watched that movie, seeing Leia’s body fly through space with the Force right after Carrie Fisher actually died was just so offputting to me.