And to your point, I think fans ARE being more generous with TFA than they normally would. They’re just so happy that TFA didn’t completely suck that they’re willing to gloss over its obvious shortcomings and “enjoy the ride”.
I feel the opposite. It seems to me that some fans wouldn’t be happy with anything this movie was. IMO this movie had an incredibly high degree of difficulty, just as TPM had. But TPM failed, and TFA did not.
It’ll be interesting to see if TFA has as many fans 5 or 10 years from now as it does today. Everyone loves to claim today that they hated TPM when it came out, but out of all the Star Wars fans I knew back then, I don’t recall one saying they didn’t like it. That happened later.
I fully admit to the embarrassment of liking TPM. I saw it three times in the theater and bought it on DVD as soon as it came out. It took me a while to “get over it” although honestly, I still find some charm in much of it. It definitely sucks but I enjoy it on some levels as well. I honestly can’t see a situation where TFA is in that same boat. It doesn’t come close to sucking, and I don’t see how that will change in 5 or 10 years.
It’s true that Star Wars has always required a rather liberal suspension of disbelief. I was okay with that when I was 10. I’m not anymore.
To make a point you’ve been making, that came off as a bit condescending to those of us who like the film.
I guess what I’m saying is that I no longer accept the shortcomings of the previous films as an excuse for the latest film in the franchise not to aim any higher.
Do you accept the shortcomings of the OT? Seems like you do. If you ask me there were plenty of those, but they’re still great movies (too).