I wonder how the same sort of people that said Star Wars was overly simplistic in its good/evil duality (a charge particularly relevant in the murky moral climate of 1970s cinema) could also say the film had “no moral, no message”. Is it a film with too simple and didactic a worldview, or is it not simple & didactic enough?
I suppose Star Wars was hard to figure out after a decade or so of very mature, and quite often highly political films. Maybe simple good vs evil just seemed quaint at the time? I mean some of the most popular and critically acclaimed 70’s films pre-Jaws and pre-Star Wars was stuff like the Godfather, The French Connection, The Conversation, etc. Not to mention a lot of political dramas in the Nixon era. I especially find it funny how the reporter in the first clip specifically points out that Star Wars “has no sex scenes.” I suppose that was also unusual in the 70’s. Ironically these were all reasons that Star Wars become so popular in the 70’s. At least by the last few clips in 1983 they’d dropped the critique of the films and moved over to being confused by the fans.