I recommend these videos as they touch on the subject of the poetry angle to a degree.
It’s more than a repetitive device. It’s about creating links between the two trilogies of two different generations and families. They’re one of the same yet different from each other. The Original Trilogy on its own really follows the trajectory. Mind you it’s to a lesser extent but it’s there. The trilogy has lots of parallels within its own narrative. IV and VI correlate in certain ways. Just as V and VI do. The Prequels do it within their own narrative as well. It’s not about copying but creating moments that are poetic yet different from each other. Just like written poetry. The Sequels tried but ended up copying and pasting a lot of the time. The Last Jedi I find gets closest to getting it right in connecting the whole saga together. It doesn’t fully but it does succeed at times.
Again, it just strikes me as formulaic in a bad way when it comes to the PT and ST. Derivative, not poetic. I get the importance of the visuals and the poetry of it, along with the repetition, but it just comes off as a derivative quality whenever the PT or the ST come into the equation. It’s why I appreciate prequel rewrites that deviate greatly from the originals. Also, I find AOTC and ROTS to be on the same quality level as The Room and Nothing But Trouble, with all the after-the-fact justifications being flailing to try and counter-act the fairly correct assessment of the movies from their contemporary time.
I’d prefer the final word in the Skywalker saga being George’s vision and having what comes after it beginning the process of creating something new and more experimental. It can mix it up and go in different directions as it’s not beholden to the established rules of the saga films. I would have welcomed new takes and spins with open arms as the story that was intended as a nine part saga was completed as the original author intended.
“Original author” is where I lose interest. For me, George was the problem with the PT. Nobody was there to tell him no to his more outlandish ideas. If another director came in and gave his story beats something better, then a bunch of us would have a better opinion of the PT. I’d compare the PT to the first few seasons of TNG or Star Trek: The Motion Picture in terms of being misguided creatively. Heck, the comparisons to The Room and Nothing But Trouble are apt in how the “ultimate auteur experience” is nigh-unwatchable.
It honestly doesn’t bother me when creators of work go in a different direction than that of what fans want. They’re not there to please us. It’s when someone else has a responsibility to continuing a story that I have a problem. It’s the difference between one vision and that of a corporation in a way. One does it for the joy of telling their own tale, while the other does it to max out on profits.
As if the prequels weren’t made to max out on profits. Lionizing George’s intentions, when one considers the merch push during the PT time, is sketchy to me.
Besides, a few important beats of George’s story carried through (elder Luke, female protagonist, etc.). I know it’s not enough for some, but a lot of us wouldn’t have wanted to see a story that doubled down on the weaknesses of the PT.
I wish I had more of a favourable view of the Sequels like you do. The only time I find I do is when I see them as disconnected from George’s story. As their own thing they are pretty enjoyable popcorn flicks but as a conclusion to what he started I find they don’t work for me. Star Wars was always a collection of art films with aspects of popcorn flicks to entertain. I find they’re now just the latter and nothing more.
I find them a worthy conclusion to a nine-part series that’s 2/3 questionable (or 5/9, depending on your opinion of ROTJ). Heck, I even like the idea of OT-ST with no PT at times (really, OT + TLJ). If anything, there was some relief on my part that the series can now focus on serialized programs and one-offs that fill out other realms of the universe. It doesn’t have to follow the Skywalkers, Solos, Palpatines, or the two droids.
George is now Gene Roddenberry or Yuji Naka - he got it started and built the fictional world, but other people can play with said world/story and create their own stories from it that don’t need to play by the original rules. Granted, George never interrupted a filming shoot to describe how an alien species mated or made Balan Wonderworld, so I guess he has that above Roddenberry and Naka (respectively).
I’m thankful for what George did, but no fictional universe needs to be 100% dependent on a creator or their vision. I can see where you find the disconnect, but I don’t see it as much. If anything, I see a PT-rest of the movies disconnect that fan edits can help resolve. I guess that’s all I have to really say on it.