I may not fully see eye to eye with Dre’s points, but do agree to some level that the direction of the ST is lacking… an artistic soul? I think that’s what Dre is getting at. There’s a ton of people at helm of the ST, wearing and carrying the Star Wars mantle but for almost different reasons than originally intended pre-Disney acquisition. TFA may had been, an arguably, solid opening for the ST, more so than how the PT started with TPM. But, after TLJ and a few side stories, it feels like a game of throwing darts on the idea board with buzzwords of iconic OT characters/stories. As a result, it’s a matter of using these ideas/concepts to draw people in on the surface, but very little to take away from.
What I mean is, there’s some level of resonance when you see Luke stare into the binary sunset, feeling the internal guilt of wanting more than being a desert farm boy but not wanting to let down his uncle and aunt. TFA captured a tiny bit of this similar aspect with Rey, but the following movie, I think, just squanders it all into some weird kind of mess due to a result of rushing into meeting deadlines.
But to take a step further back, despite how magically Star Wars began, it’s not like Lucas is some masterful “artist.” He took many ideas from other sources and put them together in a very creative and successful way. That is admirable. But the success of Star Wars was more so the other people involved. It was a different time, a time where they had to prove the story was worth its salt.
Nowadays, everyone knows the value of it. The true loss of an artistic soul happened when we have the higher ups trying to keep Star Wars relevant. All the tools are available, which is totally different from when LucasFilm had to work its way from the ground up.