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Post #1240511

Author
DominicCobb
Parent topic
Star Wars as a cohesive universe/canon.
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1240511/action/topic#1240511
Date created
15-Sep-2018, 4:45 PM

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

Star Wars has been dividing fans since Empire. Considering the passion fans hold for this series, and its nature as an ever expanding and evolving mythology, each new installment is bound to cause a considerable stir no matter what. Everyone would be a lot happier if they stopped getting so angry about the things they didn’t like and just ignored them, and instead focused on the things they did like. No need whatsoever to stress about things “not fitting canon” that way.

The MCU seems to be doing just fine with creating a universe without all animosity and hate that the Star Wars franchise has become known for these days. So, the past and current creators must be doing something wrong, since this state of affairs surely isn’t what Disney was going for.

There are millions of reasons.

  • The MCU has a back-history of mythology that they’re pulling from. With each new Star Wars film they reveal something new about the universe, and for some fans those things can contradict their understanding of the universe (whether justified or not).
  • The MCU is a by nature a collection of divergent styles. No one cares if Guardians feels different than Captain America, because they’re used to it.
  • When divisive things happen in the MCU (like say Iron Man 3), fans know that it will have basically zero impact on the rest of the movies.
  • Because the film series is so recent, and has been made at such a steady clip, there has been extremely little room for the hardcore nerds to build up and speculate what the universe means to them and where they think things and characters should go, or what the backstory should look like. I would wager a significant reason why the PT and ST are so divisive is both trilogies have had decades worth of pent up hype and speculation. If Marvel stopped making movies in 2017 and waited until 2030 to release Infinity War, even if it was the exact same movie, I’d put money on a significant portion of the audience absolutely hating it.
  • Ultimately, people are much more invested in Star Wars than the MCU.

Basically, with Star Wars, I legitimately think you’re asking for something impossible. There is no scenario where Disney made Star Wars movies that weren’t divisive. Even if they played things conservatively and middle of the road, like Marvel, there’s going to be people mad about (I mean look at Solo). You’re just frustrated because you ended up in the mad group for the ST. But look on the bright side, you liked the PT a lot. So take what you like and be happy about it. Don’t fret over the rest.

I actually didn’t like the PT a lot, but I appreciate it on a conceptual level. The PT movies range from passable to pretty good in my view, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan of any of them.

The point is not whether I personally like or dislike the ST. The point is how the current movies and its creators have approached the existing canon and its fanbase. There will allways be detractors, but when a movie like TLJ is so divisive, and causes such an emotional response, I think there’s reason for concern.

People like to point to the extremists, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. There are huge numbers of reasonable fans who have qualms about the current state of the franchise, who feel they are between a rock and a hard place.

I don’t know what to tell you. They made a movie that they thought was a good continuation and expansion of the series and the canon. For a lot of people it was. I’m absolutely certain they were genuinely shocked by the extent of the reaction (obviously they knew some would hate it). I know I was. When I saw the movie for the first time and saw the audience’s reaction, I thought it was going to be a massive hit with the fanbase and go over a lot better than either TFA or the prequels (to me, it felt like TLJ was made for Star Wars fans first, while TFA felt like it was made for general audiences first, and the prequels for Lucas first - FYI I don’t think any of those are bad things). Little did I know how some others would react, and how extremely.

Just goes to show in my mind that we’ve gotten to a point with this series where people’s emotions are so charged, and in some ways so disparate, that it’s impossible to completely reconcile them all. In my mind the only thing close to a solution for Disney/LFL is to move entirely beyond the existing characters, so at least there will be one less factor that comes with a lot of emotional baggage for fans.

It’s not just about disliking a movie anymore, it’s about being accused of sexism, racism, and toxicity. It’s about being ostracized for not liking a movie.

That stuff goes entirely both ways and has nothing to do with the films themselves.