The one thing I absolutely loathe the most about the onslaught of prequel revisionism is that it’s all in spite of the sequel trilogy which I find to be entirely hypocritical. They say “The sequels had awful world building,” while turning a blind eye to the dozens upon dozens of idiotic artistic choices Lucas made in the prequels that were either insanely contrived or outright contradictory to the original trilogy. They say the sequels have bad world building but Anakin building c3po, knowing R2 is fine. Kenobi knowing R2 and C3po is fine. Qui gong’s existence, contradicting what Kenobi recollects in ROTJ is fine, Yoda knowing R2 is fine, explaining how force ghost exists in the most haphazard way is fine. Midichlorians are fine. And the list goes on and on. All these idiotic narrative choices ruin the suspension of disbelief, which to me is awful world building because it makes it feel like a silly cartoon.
Also the whole “the sequels suck because they made it up as they went along, there was no plan!” complaint is more hypocrisy LOL. Yes, it was made up… just like the original and prequel trilogies! Look at all the ridiculous retcons from the prequels! Look at Leia being Luke’s sister! It’s arguably just as jarring as the subversions in LJ or Rey now being a palpatine in ROS. “Making it up as we go along” and retconning is a Star Wars tradition!
But the thing i find most insufferable is how prequel fans have been calling these films “masterpieces,” which is just pure insanity. It is fine to like these movies in a schlock popcorn movie sort of way. I like schlock. I like Transformers 1 and 2. I like the Underworld films. But I will never pretend that they are masterpieces. That’s just ridiculous. I don’t think these clowns even understand the implications of calling the prequels masterpieces. A masterpiece is like Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Blade Runner, The Good Bad and Ugly. I deal with this by trying to explain the absolute pitfalls in film making that the prequels are guilty of. I try to educate. Especially on the complete lack of blocking, staging, business for actors, and mediocre camera set ups in the prequels. But 99% of the time it’s like talking to an ignorant child that refuses to listen. So I just let them make fools of themselves with a warning: “I advise not to call these films masterpieces out loud in front of serious film buffs. You likely will get laughed out the room or be highly thought of as a fool in the minds of everyone and avoided.” Again, I have no problem with people liking the movies. I enjoy ROTS in a summer popcorn blockbuster movie sort of way. But in no way would I consider it high art.