I get that the droids have always been comic relief, but I feel like the arena body-swap gag took it way too far. It doesn’t really feel like the OT’s style of humor, more like something out of a cartoon. I’m fine with comic relief, but the prequels’ style of comic relief has always rubbed me the wrong way.
Sorry, but this feels like an insane stretch. If you have any quote where Lucas actually says this was his intention with the body swap, I’d love to see it. But I didn’t see any sort of commentary about desires and duty, it just felt like something George thought would be funny when he was planning out the factory scene. And I wouldn’t have a problem with that, if it was actually funny.
I also don’t mean to be rude, but I just don’t see how chronological order works at all. You say it makes the story clearer, but I’ve always thought it just made it more confusing. In the OT, we learn info along with our main protagonist Luke, creating a human element that makes the universe much more engaging. In the prequels, however, important info just appears with little-to-no explanation, and the dry, clinical style makes it hard for the audience to latch on to anything.
And also, how does the coincidence of the droids showing up disappear if you watch in chronological order? No matter which way you watch it, the droids land on a vast planet in search of Obi-Wan, only to conveniently be sold to a random farm boy who just happens to know Obi-Wan and is also the son of the second-most-powerful man in the galaxy. If anything, watching the prequels first makes that even more ridiculous.
It’s all subjective and the Original Trilogy has its share of comic relief that’s just like the Prequels. I don’t want to assume but it probably doesn’t bother you or isn’t as noticable because you saw the Originals first. Your view on what Star Wars should be is informed by your experiences seeing it before you saw the Prequels. You had time to decide what you feel Star Wars should be. There’s nothing wrong with that either as I’m like this with the Sequels we ended up with but it explains why certain things may fly and other aspects not so much. I’m fortunate to have grown up with both of George’s Trilogies at the same time. So my view of Star Wars is informed by all six. It’s all generational in a lot of ways. Plus at the end of the day these films are for children as George always said. I may not be a big fan of Jar Jar’s potty humour now that I’m older but I can still get a giggle out of it. I don’t really view Star Wars through adult eyes except when analysing the layers within it.
There’s no quotes that I know of and it’s my personal view of things. Anakin has desire to protect and be with Padme, just as C-3PO has a desire to stay aboard Padme’s starship and doing as he’s told. Duty comes in play with Anakin’s commitment to the Jedi and C-3PO’s staying loyal to Anakin. The droid factory in itself is symbolic and full of foreshadowing. In a way it’s a blazing hellish place as Ben Snow, visual effects supervisor, more or less called it. It foreshadows Mustafar. Anakin also gets his arm stuck in a machine foreshadowing it getting chopped off later by Count Dooku and his transformation in the suit. The biggest thing though for me is that the Droid Factory and Clone Factory on Kamino are both manufacturing what will bring about repression and the Empire. It’s a play on THX 1138 and Metropolis as you can see when syncing up the imagery of the films. I made a post awhile back showing the lines with THX 1138 if you wanted to go through my posts. I’m sure you’ll see it. I also included American Graffiti.
I don’t want to be rude but that’s your own personal view of things. It wasn’t difficult for myself or others. It all depends on when you’re exposed to the films I think. The Prequels are just as much of a personal story to me as the Originals. They just have a more complicated plot as the nuances have to be weaved to show where we get to in the Original Trilogy and later if George’s Sequels had been followed. I don’t find them to be dry at all but done more in the styles of 40’s cinema before method acting became a thing and a Saturday matinee serial. Watching the films chronologically allows you to see Anakin’s journey to becoming Darth Vader and that he’s a slave to making the wrong choices as he makes a pact with the devil who we see slowly across the trilogy exploit a fragile senate and complacent Jedi Order. Anakin ulimately loses his free will after gaining it in the podrace. He’s only redeemed through the love of his children, namely Luke. You see the Empire begin to fall in the first film of the next trilogy with A New Hope and Anakin/Darth Vader sensing something strong in Luke during the Trench Run. Only to go on a personal quest to find him in the next film. You see Anakin and Luke go through the same lessons and core issues in each film of their trilogy but ulimately make different choices to finally fully intertwine aboard the Death Star II in the final film of the trilogy. It’s Anakin’s story but is also a family space opera. The story works better I-VI as the stories play off of one another with the poetic links becoming clearer and obvious. You also see the different choices made across generations. You see how Leia takes more after Anakin while Luke takes more after Padme in terms of personality but they also have their own sense of self. You don’t get these things and much, much more viewing things IV-VI, I-III. Sure you kind of do by going back but not to the same effect as you’re already influenced by preconceived beliefs on what something must be like instead of just taking the story at face value as you have nothing to compare it with.
You’ll hate what I’m going to say but … the Force. As Qui-Gon says to Anakin, “Our meeting was not a coincidence. Nothing happens by accident.” The Force works in mysterious ways. We have free will but it has some control over our destinies. George planned to explore this very question in his Sequels. It’s all a symbiosis ecology and a major part of Star Wars. I find this also becomes clearer watching things I-VI. The greater circles within more circles through duality and balance that runs through the films gets bigger and bigger as the story goes along to eventually where George planned to eclipse the entire universe. George has spoken of this himself. So it’s not just my own personal view of things.