I have come to the point where I am more interested and fascinated by the train wreck nature of this franchise and by the toxic battles within its own fandom then the actual material.
That mindset haunts me too in terms of the Prequels. I can’t enjoy Episode I - III as movies anymore. I guess i watched the Making Ofs & Web-Docs (The Beginning, From Puppets to Pixels, etc.) more often than the movies itself. And when i watch them occasionally, i just watch them with audio commentary. I wanted to enjoy those movies so many times, but it always comes down to: trying to understand George Lucas’ awkward decision making and neverending ‘it-always-meant-to-be’ justifications. It is a puzzle i can’t solve. The OT is not tainted for me, but the PT is.