NeverarGreat said:
-Every character in these movies is more compelling than any character in the prequels.Do you really believe that?
Well maybe not Ric Olié. 😉
More seriously, it’s not that the Ewok movie characters are more realistically portrayed or well acted (they aren’t), but rather that there is some ineffable sense of energy and earnestness in their writing and direction that has been wrung out of the prequel characters. Just look at the behind the scenes materials for Episode 2 for the sort of energy that all but disappeared when George was done editing.
I think that feeling of earnestness is the essential component in a Star Wars movie, which is why the sequel trilogy has worked so much better than the prequel trilogy in my opinion.
Wow, I can’t believe that you hold that opinion. Earnestness is all well and good, but it can’t save bad characters. By the end of TFA, I felt like JJ had not done the work to get me to like Rey, but rather took shortcuts like having Leia and Han be too eager to help/like her. For example, when Leia walks past to Chewie to hug Rey, and THEN sends Rey out of all the Rebels to be the one to find Luke, their only hope.
I don’t feel that GL took those same shortcuts with PT characters. I think he knew that aging up Anakin in TPM would have pleased more of the audience, but he didn’t do it for reasons he saw as logical (Leaving his mother at 9 instead of 13 is going to do more damage, 9 year olds are more innocent than filthy teenagers, etc.)
Also, TPM Anakin is plenty “earnest”.
So yeah, i’d say that earnestness is way down on the list of what makes a good character, since the main character of the ST sucks, despite being more earnest than PT characters (according to you).
I’m also not above speculating that JJ counted on her gender making it easier for him to take investment shortcuts and still get good audience and critic reviews.
Take Rey vs Ahsoka. It takes Anakin 3 whole seasons to stop trying to hold Ahsoka back. Filoni did not count on Ahsoka’s gender/is not a lazy enough filmmaker to essentially try to “force the meme”.
And don’t even get me started on how Kylo Ren is about ten years older than AotC/RotS Anakin and is STILL more of a whiny petulant baby than Anakin ever was, despite coming from a loving household (barring TLJ Luke style OT3 character assassinations.)
And finally, I think what people don’t like about the PT is that it’s actually TOO earnest. It doesn’t get more earnest than Anakin’s fireside monologue, or the Tusken confession.