Val greatly simplifies what was desired by fans and what JJ and RJ produced, but he is not entirely wrong. Obviously Disney & company wanted to make boatloads of money. And you generally don’t do that by trying to alienate people. It hardly needs saying, but “fans” of Star Wars don’t only include certain obsessives who belong to forums and have cabinets full of toys from the 70s, 80s, and beyond. Casual fans are less easily alienated because they don’t care as much. They love Star Wars but they don’t love love Star Wars.

I’m still not sure what JJ was trying to do with TFA. One idea I see floated by admirers of TFA is that JJ was trying to draw fans back to Star Wars, because prequels, or reacquaint people with the franchise, because old, and those rationales always struck me as false and patronizing. Maybe JJ was simply trying to make Star Wars, but new and shiny. People who love TLJ have recognized that the film seems to stick its thumb in the eye of either the fans or JJ. Mithrandir had some good observations as to why RJ might have created the story he did, which wasn’t about any kind of intentional jab (at least not entirely).

I do think an intent behind both films is to enlarge Star Wars’ appeal, which is also obvious if we use our heads. By giving many core fans what they want and also bending the narratives, themes, and characters to appeal to a broader audience, more money can be made. TLJ went very much in this direction and we see it made a boatload of money but despite high quality, a strong voice, and some new exciting visuals, split fandom’s spirit to the bone (to paraphrase Snoke…although I keep wondering how a spirit can have bones).

Like yotsuya says, just because Val didn’t like it doesn’t mean RJ was trying to make him feel that way. (RJ can’t lose for trying!)