Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
It's also possible for someone to go into the prequels with a double standard that favors the classic trilogy.
I think a lot of us saw the classic trilogy when we were much younger, and a lot of us just accepted it unconditionally. Some of us actually go so far as to call them perfect. Now we are older, we know more about how movies are made, and we pick up on the seams in the tapestry Lucas is weaving with these films.
I really think a lot of the things people say are bad in the prequels, were also issues in the classic trilogy. Maybe if we were 20 some years older than we were when we first saw them, we would be picking apart the classic trilogy in the same way a lot of us pick apart the prequles, but we already accepted them into our hearts when our minds were much more open and now they enjoy a granfather clause that keeps them from being subject to the same critical reasoning a lot of us use to condemn the prequels.
It's also possible for someone to go into the prequels with a double standard that favors the classic trilogy.
I think a lot of us saw the classic trilogy when we were much younger, and a lot of us just accepted it unconditionally. Some of us actually go so far as to call them perfect. Now we are older, we know more about how movies are made, and we pick up on the seams in the tapestry Lucas is weaving with these films.
I really think a lot of the things people say are bad in the prequels, were also issues in the classic trilogy. Maybe if we were 20 some years older than we were when we first saw them, we would be picking apart the classic trilogy in the same way a lot of us pick apart the prequles, but we already accepted them into our hearts when our minds were much more open and now they enjoy a granfather clause that keeps them from being subject to the same critical reasoning a lot of us use to condemn the prequels.
I disagree with that Gomer, actually I think the reason many fans like myself still give the PT a try every once in a while is because of the OT and the hope that 1-6 works the same way 4-6 did for 20 years.
Whatever you want to say nobody ever says that the OT is perfect. For me, and I have said this many times, ROTJ is an average film that ranks to the level of the PT movies in terms of pacing, acting, plot points, etc. The only reason ROTJ gets a pass from me is because it ties up the OT good enought that it is satisfying. So I look at the OT as two classics and one OK movie, and that is fine with me. If you are asking me now to watch the saga with 2 classics and 4 OK movies, that is a bit much.
Being young and loving SW has nothing to do with my love of SW now. Great movies are great movies, and if ESB were of quality of ROTJ, then I wouldn't even be an OT fan. Sure as a kid you watch movies for a different reason then you do when you are older, but that doesn't mean that we are watching movies for nostalgia purposes now, cause if that were the case, I would be watching The Karate Kid just as much as SW, but I can't cause that movie did not pass the test of time for me.
The PT movies have the luxury and burden of being tied to the OT movies. They have the luxury that fans saw each one in the movies from 99-05 even though they may not have like any one of them! They have the luxury of having OT fans give them a second chance cause that many average movies would never get after a person sees it the first time.
Now the burden they carry is that they will always be compared to the OT movies, so in that respect, they were never going to live up to that quality, but as I said, either did ROTJ.
As for new fans seeing the saga 1-6, I do believe that there won't be this huge divide among trilogies, cause either the new fan will accept the story or not in its entirety. The problem now is the saga is a tougher sell to the average fan who fell in love with ANH as their first love, and that is because the story of Anakin just won't appeal to the mainstream moviegoer. The saga now 1-6 is more tragic because it is really about Anakin now, so you have to love that story to love all 6 movies since they won't be seeing it as 2 trilogies, and that type of story just doesn't resonate the same way the OT 4-6 movies did to the mainstream fan because that was a basic good vs evil story that has a upbeat message and were fun to follow to the good guys for two hours.
I am actually thankful I see them as two trilogies cause even though I dont hate the PT movies like many do here, I am just not interested in the story of Anakin, the same way I love the upbeat story of Luke, Leia, and Han. SW '77 was what sold me as a fan, and that is why that movie has grossed more than all other 5 SW movies, cause that is the most appealing to the mainstream fan. The saga now will appeal to people who really love anything with SW, cause it is much different than just watching the OT 4-6. I know so many friends who love the OT 4-6 story, that just never got into EU & the PT movies, cause they weren't diehard SciFi fans. But the ones that liked the PT and were jazzed about it for years, were the ones that liked the EU stuff and wanted more. The problem GoMer is the reason SW became so popular during the OT was the MASS of fans who loved the movies, not the niche diehards that seem to love the PT.