towne32 said:

As someone who doesn't hate the PTs but is incredibly disappointed in them:

I don't think there's anything wrong with the PT having homages to the OT, but it's absurd to call it poetry. It really shows you how massive the problems are with the PT, when a group needs to grasp at straws to the point where reuse of visual motifs is somehow supposed to save the films.

Yes. Palpatine was manipulating both sides. You could even call him a bit of a phantom menace in that regard. Yes, the Plinkett video was even worse than the PT itself. No, MIND is not BLOWN.

Padme as the protagonist would have been a great idea. It's a shame it wasn't filmed that way whatsoever.

I agree that George Lucas's use of ring composition was a TERRIBLE idea. I was not defending it, but trying to understand what the heck Lucas was thinking. The prequels were not even MEANT to be a good story. That is sad. I'm pretty sure the only prequel he actually tried on was Revenge of the Sith.

So if Padme isn't, who is? Qui Gon? I already explained how she was filmed as the protagonist and fit Joseph Campbell's hero archetype( which btw is the same Lucas used for A New Hope ). She's the protagonist, even if it was completely unintentional. She's boring, I know, but the only other character that fit Joseph Campbell's hero archetype was JAR JAR BINKS. Now that's food for thought.

I was trying to be objective, man.