I've been as disgusted as anyone by the deliberate trashing of the Star Wars mythos by Disney's final three movies in the franchise. Their social-justice-warrior, liberal-progressive focus has been blindingly obvious, and box office results have confirmed that many fans have seen through the smokescreen to the reality beyond.
Others have seen it as well. Bill Whittle gave a concise breakdown of the scale of the problem in a recent video discussion that he called "The Unmaking of Star Wars: Why Progressives Killed It and How". I highly recommend it.
John Nolte discusses "11 Ways Kathleen Kennedy Killed the ‘Star Wars’ Golden Goose".
To understand just how big of a failure this is, you have to remember what the original plan was: to turn Star Wars into the next Marvel, to expand the Star Wars universe into two blockbusters a year, all of which was more than possible. After all, we are talking about the most beloved film franchise in history — one with endless possibilities and a devoted fan base that includes a talent pool of some of the best filmmakers and storytellers in the world.
Most of all, though, there was all that goodwill. Millions and millions and millions of fans wanted this franchise to succeed… Do you know how rare that is?
And they squandered it.
Well, not they…
She.
She, as in Kathleen Kennedy, the producer in charge of Star Wars and all things Lucasfilm.
Boy, did she blow it.
Before we get started, it’s important to first dispel a myth going around — this myth that Star Wars fans are hopelessly divided, that the fans now live in two different camps and can never be brought back together. You see, one camp is filled with toxic fanboys who only want their nostalgia G-spot rubbed. The other camp wants more affirmative action for Mary Sue characters like Rey and Rose Tico, more superfreaks like Solo’s pansexual (I don’t know what means and I don’t want to know) Lando Calrissian.
This myth is part was created by sycophants in the entertainment media to defend and excuse Kennedy, to pretend there was nothing she could do to satisfy everyone, so none of this failure is her fault.
Do you want to know what proves that myth a lie?
The Mandalorian.
Everyone loves The Mandalorian, the Disney+ TV show. Which means…
Guess what? The fans are not forever divided.
So here’s a list of the main things that Kathleen Kennedy got so horribly wrong.
. . .
But everything boils down to one thing... Through a divisive political agenda delivered with a heavy hand, Kennedy squandered all that goodwill. It’s gone now, and so is the golden goose.
There's more at the link.
As all long-time Star Wars fans know, there were (and are) three true Star Wars movies: Episode IV – A New Hope, Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (to many fans, the best of the original three films), and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. All the others have been false starts, disappointments, and a mishmash of everything the original Star Wars movies were not. For most fans, they simply don't count. For us, they're not part of the canon.
Frankly, thanks to the disaster Disney has inflicted on us with the last three Star Wars movies, I won't bother to subscribe to the Disney+ streaming service, no matter how good The Mandalorian may be and how much I'd like to watch it. I'll wait until the DVD's come out, or it's available elsewhere (perhaps on someone's DVR?), then friends and I will enjoy them together. We'll make sure to lend them to others as well, so Disney's revenue from their Star Wars blunder will be minimized. That seems like appropriate revenge to me for their dumping this crap upon us, and destroying a beloved franchise.
Peter
All things Star Wars became dead to me when Han shot second. I understand adding things to Episode IV - A New Hope, like Biggs leaving Tatoo-world (as on the original radio series, no, really, Star Wars radio series, with the original actors doing the voices and everything. It totally rocked) or Jabba's huttmen bothering Han, or more development of the whole 'find R2D2 in the desert' thingy.
ReplyDeleteBut to change such a central part of Han's story, that he's a Wild West semi-hero destined to become a hero (shades of Eastwood's Man with No Name or Outlaw Josie Welles) just sucked.
Gah. Dead to me. DEAD TO ME!
Meh... I watched them, they were good for the times, and ORIGINAL! I've never understood either the star wars or trekkies fascination with them.
ReplyDeleteAs Dave Burge put it:
ReplyDelete1. Target a respected institution
2. Kill & clean it
3. Wear it as a skin suit, while demanding respect
I am grateful that the inheritors of some Pop Cult fandoms have made a point setting their false religions on fire.
ReplyDeleteI liked Rogue One and felt it a worthy addition to canon. I can't say the same for the prequels, sequels, or Solo.
ReplyDeleteI liked Rogue One, although there were things I might have done differently. Solo could have been good, but they tried to cram too much backstory into one movie.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars was always crap.
ReplyDeleteShiny, pretty crap, but crap nonetheless. George Lucas loves making movies, loves the visual arts, but has zero talent for writing dialogue or storytelling. He's also totally ignorant of the genre--Star Wars is not science fiction, in any way, shape, or form. It's an homage to the old serials that happened to hit the right moment in the zeitgeist, with the right mix of visual style and looks.
It's a pretty confection, but that's all it's ever been--Empty calories with no real substance. Contrast the lack of depth and consistency that is Star Wars with nearly any actual science fiction produced by the canon greats. Star Wars has not one original idea--It's all derivative of other genres, like Japanese samurai movies. Contrast Star Wars with the purity of vision in Conan the Barbarian by John Milius, for an example. There's actual depth and consistency in that movie, which isn't displayed anywhere in any of the Star Wars movies extant.
It's all crap, all the way down. There was never a real legacy to destroy, because it was all fluff, cotton candy visuals with no real science fiction. You could have told the same story with knights and wizards, which basically means that there's no real component of science fiction to any of it.
I loved the original movie, but the rest of the crapfest that they churned out? Should have left it all on the cutting room floor, especially the Ewoks, and Jar Jar Binks. Star Wars is a toy marketing tool masquerading as a movie series, and always has been.
One of Whittle's points is one man could have stopped the change - Mark Hamill. Instead of going along, he could have refused to let Skywalker be turned into a whiny, child-killing, bitter old man. Break the contract, refuse to do it. But he didn't...
ReplyDeleteSame in the Trek universe. Fan films are better made than the Studio product, ( see Axenar, w/ several big names!)