I’m not saying a Palpatine can’t. I’m just saying within the framework of established rules that it comes off as a lack of care was given to what came before it. Palpatine never had these parallels in the Prequels or Originals. However if they established right away that Rey was her own character with her own sense of self with some parallels to Palpatine then it could’ve worked much better.
Yeah, that does make sense to some extent.
Like say how Anakin and Leia and Padme and Luke are one of the same. They share many of the same personality traits and qualities but they also have very clear motivations and sense of self. They’re paralleled and connected but it doesn’t stop them from being their own characters. They remain their own people. The same could be said if they showed Rey as a Palpatine from the very beginning and then you find she rejects it all in favour of a different path than that of the Dark Side. She becomes just Rey.
If you don’t have rules within your narrative and story then you create a lack of cohesiveness and consistency throughout the story. The story will eventually run its course and will have nowhere else to go. It’s just as important to respect what came before as it is about expanding upon the story.
“It’s like poetry, it rhymes” became a meme for a reason. What the parallels sounds like, to me, is a way to just make a repetitive story. Yeah, Rebels vs. Empire MKII is also repetitive, but the protagonist’s journey is something new. “Respecting” the past just means “slavishly following the standard beats of the protagonist’s journey” in this sense. I get that it may not be cohesive, but it’s different and a fun spin that fits within the franchise’s themes of found family and rising above one’s family flaws.
That’s the key though as within the fandom it’s okay to pick and choose. There’s no wrong way to enjoy Star Wars from a fan’s prospective. However the fandom and storyteller are separate entities… However it’s just as important to follow the rules of the universe and go from there. It’s about finding a natural progression and middle ground that doesn’t contradict what came before it.
I’d argue that what happened does follow the rules of the universe, but also disregards the pattern found within the PT (and retroactively applied to the OT). It builds upon it and sends the story in a new direction, with more room to expand post-TROS and growth through the other ventures (e.g., Mandalorian, Visions, Book of Boba Fett, etc.
As storytellers you don’t fall prey to what the audience wants you to make.
There has to be a balance. You go too far into one direction, you get George’s sequel trilogy/BBC’s Sherlock/Supernatural (i.e., disregarding the fans). You go too far in the other, you get two hours of the Vader hallway scene (i.e., giving in 100% to fan service).
I think the sequels fit the balance well enough. It could’ve been much much better, but it could’ve been a lot, a lot worse. Still, I’m tempted to disregard everything after 1983 as bonus fluff. Fine, but ultimately inconsequential and irrelevant to the movies. TCW is nice and all, but it doesn’t match the “OT and OT alone” method to me.