(SORT OF SPOILERS FOR SW:BLOODLINE MAYBE)
Having just finished reading Bloodline, I’ve only just realised it was Korrie who Leia sends to her vainful death…
J.J. prioritized ‘fan service’ over effectiveness.
What? I think this is proof of the opposite.
He wanted Leia to appear at a certain moment in the film, for maximum “nostalgia” effect. Thus, important scenes like this were left on the cutting room floor.
Maximum nostalgia or not, that was the most effective place to put her introduction. I think having her in the film from the start would have been fan service when she only becomes important to the story halfway through.
That being said, I think Leia’s introduction in the final cut is perfect, but we lost scenes that could have provided much needed context.
Is that context really necessary for this film though? Whether the Resistance has the full support of the Republic isn’t something that really affects the story of TFA in any significant way.
Not to say there couldn’t or shouldn’t have been more context, but it wasn’t worth sacrificing the pacing and structure of the film just for the sake of these Resistance scenes.
I’d say it does need context, especially since this cut scene shows us Korrie’s relationship with Leia. In the final cut we only see her being vaporized, with no idea who she was.
It’s a few seconds and it’s not just her. It’s the Republic. That’s all we need to know.
That was my biggest gripe with TFA - there was no thorough explanation as to who was doing what in the New Republic. It is just miraculously destroyed… again.
But the thing is the New Republic wasn’t really all that important to this story.
The issue arises when people like us come in expecting a full on sequel to ROTJ, with all the questions about what’s happened since then answered. This is kind of the problem with how many view TFA, they want a direct sequel when that’s not really what it is. As a film by itself, I think it made perfect sense to streamline this aspect.
Again, that’s not to say neglecting explaining the situation at all was what should have been done (I’m not saying I completely agree with all of what they did, more just I understand where they were coming from and think it works), but I think, in the case of cutting this scene, it was the right choice.