INCOMING RANT AND MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT
Since it's going to be so long, and probably boring to many people, I'll just put in spoiler tags.
No TL
R, because I had a lot to say, and I really needed to vent.
EDIT: People are mistaking me. I do NOT think that Star Wars going to Disney is a BAD thing. I just want to clarify that.
Since it's going to be so long, and probably boring to many people, I'll just put in spoiler tags.
A while ago, I found that I cannot go to nearly any part of the internet that does not have someone bemoaning his disdain for the Star Wars prequels, and deifying the originals. Naturally, this is all part of fandom; there are going to be good and bad examples of fans and followers of every aspect of media. Unfortunately, I find Star Wars fans to be amongst the most inescapable and unrelenting of whiners, next to Transformers G1 fans and both the Twilight haters and lovers. And now that Lucasfilm has been acquired by Disney, it seems that the joy will never end.
Never has there been a larger group of people who claim that someone "raped their childhood"; a phrase that I have gradually hated more and more. If some CGI additions and three underwhelming prequel films are enough to make you feel raped, then you are a sad, pathetic human being. I've seen recent film versions of things I grew up watching (Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks), and the crappy results thereof, but here's the thing, I got over it. As much as I love the art of film making and the historical impact it can have, I know when to take a step back and say "It's just a movie."
Perhaps its because I never really liked Star Wars all that much. I was around 7 or 8 when the special editions were released to theaters, and those were my first times watching the series. Not long afterwards, my family got the VHS boxset containing all three special editions, and I all but never watched them. Unlike other kids who saw the series, it never griped me from a a young age. Some might say it was because I saw the special editions, but I think that's horseshit, because the story was virtually untouched. Oh, I think the films are fun enough, but I cannot empathize with people who grew up loving these movies from a young age because, whatever it was, I didn't have the same reactions.
Which is why I wondered why so many people were antagonistic towards Phantom Menace when it was released. Yes, I was a child, and I later learned how to formulate my opinions better, but I still didn't understand so much of the hatred towards it. A few years after that, I started taking movies more seriously, and I began to understand why people didn't like them, but upon re-examining the original three, I didn't find THAT much to be enraptured about.
Yeah, its a bit of a first-world problem to feel outcast because you like to be in the sci-fi fan community but you don't really like the originals and don't think the prequels deserved so much hate but can't really tell anyone because the horde of fanboys will tear down any flame shield you can possibly construct. The lazier of whom will just post a link to RedLetterMedia's take on the movies and call it a day. If any of the overwhelmingly nitpicky fans dared to turn such an attitude to the original three, they would find just as many problems. If the originals were brand new, released today, they would never escape the scrutiny that comes with being a piece of fictional media in the internet age. Nostalgia is it's only defense.
Regarding the prequels, no, they aren't that good, but do you really consider them to be so soul-crushing? Did you never learn that practically nothing will ever be as good as your expectations? Do you really let three mere movies ruin your faith in humanity or whatever it is you like to complain about? I know some movies can really leave a mark, but did you never learn to accept that something you didn't like was made and just move on? Was all your griping worth it?
Cut to a few years later, and I'm seeing "George 'Raped My Childhood' Lucas" shirts floating around, I'm hearing people claim that no one hates Star Wars more than George Lucas, and I STILL hear people complaining about these movies that came out years ago. Then I see that Jake Lloyd, the boy whose performance as Anakin in Phantom Menace was widely criticized, retired early from acting because of the never-ending teasing and insults he received at such an early age, and still receives to this day. It was around this time that I began thinking that Star Wars fans should be ashamed of themselves. He was 10. Not many people are great actors at that age. He could have gotten better. Do you really think a 10 year-old deserves to be insulted out of acting for just ONE movie?
I may not agree with some of the changes in the special editions (ex. I really don't mind Han not shooting first, but the scene is a modified image and it looks terrible as an effect, and Hayden Christensen doesn't belong at the end of Jedi.), but I do think Lucas does have a point when he says "Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it." (from an interview about Star Wars and Red Tails. Link in spoiler tag.)
They are his movies to do with as he pleases. His ideas, his direction, his production, his movies. While I am someone who always advocates the availability of older versions and I don't approve of his reluctance at releasing the theatrical cuts anymore, I'm fine with him doing what he wants with these movies.
For nearly everyone else however, the whining never stops, the insults and accusations do not cease, and people like me get sick of seeing it absolutely bloody everywhere.
And apparently, George is, too. "Why would I make any more," Lucas says, "when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?" (from the same interview in the previous spoiler tag).
So, is it any wonder that Lucas is letting Star Wars go into someone else's hands without a fight? He's been blamed for every lackluster thing to come out of the franchise, even if he didn't do anything to make them. Do you really think he had much of a hand at all in Star Wars: Kinect? Don't be ridiculous. People have blamed him for ego-mania by putting his name on everything. Well, duh, his name on everything, his STUDIO is called Lucasfilm. The studio that makes games based off his movies is called Lucasarts. Of course they have his name on it, he's the origin point of all this, he is the original creator, they HAVE to use his name, they are making things based on HIS creation. But that doesn't mean he MAKES all this rubbish, plenty of others do that for him.
We all know that Lucas was damned if he did and damned if he didn't in regards to his response of the acquisition by Disney. He can't even mention Star Wars without fans desperately whining in vain to protect a couple movies. Better to let someone else hold the target on their ass after yours has been shot to death. Still, Disney did a fair job so far with the Marvel license, so it doesn't look like the end of the world. Not to me, at least.
But I am just one person, and I am not important enough to matter. To so many others who think they DO matter, a few changes to a few movies are the worst things to happen to humanity, they will never be satisfied.
He is far from being an extraordinary filmmaker, never has been, but I never thought George deserved all the dickheads that hound his every breath.
So to all the unrelenting, unforgiving, and perpetually unhappy Star Wars "fans" out there, I say look at what you've done. You mocked a boy out of his acting career and you drove a man to hardly care anymore about his creation because you think it belongs to you and only you.
Give yourselves a round of applause. /rant
Never has there been a larger group of people who claim that someone "raped their childhood"; a phrase that I have gradually hated more and more. If some CGI additions and three underwhelming prequel films are enough to make you feel raped, then you are a sad, pathetic human being. I've seen recent film versions of things I grew up watching (Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks), and the crappy results thereof, but here's the thing, I got over it. As much as I love the art of film making and the historical impact it can have, I know when to take a step back and say "It's just a movie."
Perhaps its because I never really liked Star Wars all that much. I was around 7 or 8 when the special editions were released to theaters, and those were my first times watching the series. Not long afterwards, my family got the VHS boxset containing all three special editions, and I all but never watched them. Unlike other kids who saw the series, it never griped me from a a young age. Some might say it was because I saw the special editions, but I think that's horseshit, because the story was virtually untouched. Oh, I think the films are fun enough, but I cannot empathize with people who grew up loving these movies from a young age because, whatever it was, I didn't have the same reactions.
Which is why I wondered why so many people were antagonistic towards Phantom Menace when it was released. Yes, I was a child, and I later learned how to formulate my opinions better, but I still didn't understand so much of the hatred towards it. A few years after that, I started taking movies more seriously, and I began to understand why people didn't like them, but upon re-examining the original three, I didn't find THAT much to be enraptured about.
A New Hope is a bunch of stock characters that don't really develop at all over the course of the movie. It's plot is a standard good vs evil empire story that only won audiences back in the day with its astonishing visual presentation and memorable soundtrack. Only those who were children back then thought that the story was unique.
Empire Strikes Back...oh God, if I were to choose any movie that I thought was the most overrated of all time, it's this one. Too long have I seen fans hold up this film as a bastion of cinematic perfection, flawless and undeniable...*sigh* I can't stand Han Solo's whining throughout most of the movie, Harrison Ford's and Carrie Fisher's chemistry was terrible, their dialog was just as clunky as Anakin and Padme, the entire Hoth sequence was poorly paced, those iconic AT-AT and AT-ST walkers are stupidly designed vehicles of war, the crew on the Falcon should have been sucked into space when they stepped outside the ship inside the asteroid-worm, Yoda was poorly introduced, and Luke should have died when he fell after hearing Vader was his father. The only good things I can say are that Darth Vader is at his best in this movie, and the third act on Cloud City was excellent. But until that point, I find the movie to be a chore to watch.
Return of the Jedi, while being my favorite of the six, is still a retread of A New Hope, and it has a slow, plodding sequence with the Ewok village before they get back to the story. I do think everyone's performance is better in this movie, so while I don't find it to be any more original than New Hope, I find it easier to sit through.
The prequels are a bit easier to criticize because all three share the same problems. They lack a strong central villain, the way Darth Vader was in the originals (Palpatine almost counts, but he's not in the spotlight enough), and all three have too much emphasis on political subtext. Dialog and chemistry were stiff, just as they always were. Yes, Jar Jar is a bad character, but I'm honestly rather indifferent to him. I easily see how people don't like him, but I never really hated him. Hayden Christensen did not do that good a job acting, and General Grievous was a lame unless you saw the 2D Clone Wars show.
Empire Strikes Back...oh God, if I were to choose any movie that I thought was the most overrated of all time, it's this one. Too long have I seen fans hold up this film as a bastion of cinematic perfection, flawless and undeniable...*sigh* I can't stand Han Solo's whining throughout most of the movie, Harrison Ford's and Carrie Fisher's chemistry was terrible, their dialog was just as clunky as Anakin and Padme, the entire Hoth sequence was poorly paced, those iconic AT-AT and AT-ST walkers are stupidly designed vehicles of war, the crew on the Falcon should have been sucked into space when they stepped outside the ship inside the asteroid-worm, Yoda was poorly introduced, and Luke should have died when he fell after hearing Vader was his father. The only good things I can say are that Darth Vader is at his best in this movie, and the third act on Cloud City was excellent. But until that point, I find the movie to be a chore to watch.
Return of the Jedi, while being my favorite of the six, is still a retread of A New Hope, and it has a slow, plodding sequence with the Ewok village before they get back to the story. I do think everyone's performance is better in this movie, so while I don't find it to be any more original than New Hope, I find it easier to sit through.
The prequels are a bit easier to criticize because all three share the same problems. They lack a strong central villain, the way Darth Vader was in the originals (Palpatine almost counts, but he's not in the spotlight enough), and all three have too much emphasis on political subtext. Dialog and chemistry were stiff, just as they always were. Yes, Jar Jar is a bad character, but I'm honestly rather indifferent to him. I easily see how people don't like him, but I never really hated him. Hayden Christensen did not do that good a job acting, and General Grievous was a lame unless you saw the 2D Clone Wars show.
Yeah, its a bit of a first-world problem to feel outcast because you like to be in the sci-fi fan community but you don't really like the originals and don't think the prequels deserved so much hate but can't really tell anyone because the horde of fanboys will tear down any flame shield you can possibly construct. The lazier of whom will just post a link to RedLetterMedia's take on the movies and call it a day. If any of the overwhelmingly nitpicky fans dared to turn such an attitude to the original three, they would find just as many problems. If the originals were brand new, released today, they would never escape the scrutiny that comes with being a piece of fictional media in the internet age. Nostalgia is it's only defense.
Regarding the prequels, no, they aren't that good, but do you really consider them to be so soul-crushing? Did you never learn that practically nothing will ever be as good as your expectations? Do you really let three mere movies ruin your faith in humanity or whatever it is you like to complain about? I know some movies can really leave a mark, but did you never learn to accept that something you didn't like was made and just move on? Was all your griping worth it?
Cut to a few years later, and I'm seeing "George 'Raped My Childhood' Lucas" shirts floating around, I'm hearing people claim that no one hates Star Wars more than George Lucas, and I STILL hear people complaining about these movies that came out years ago. Then I see that Jake Lloyd, the boy whose performance as Anakin in Phantom Menace was widely criticized, retired early from acting because of the never-ending teasing and insults he received at such an early age, and still receives to this day. It was around this time that I began thinking that Star Wars fans should be ashamed of themselves. He was 10. Not many people are great actors at that age. He could have gotten better. Do you really think a 10 year-old deserves to be insulted out of acting for just ONE movie?
I may not agree with some of the changes in the special editions (ex. I really don't mind Han not shooting first, but the scene is a modified image and it looks terrible as an effect, and Hayden Christensen doesn't belong at the end of Jedi.), but I do think Lucas does have a point when he says "Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it." (from an interview about Star Wars and Red Tails. Link in spoiler tag.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/george-lucas-done-with-star-wars-red-tails_n_1210951.html
They are his movies to do with as he pleases. His ideas, his direction, his production, his movies. While I am someone who always advocates the availability of older versions and I don't approve of his reluctance at releasing the theatrical cuts anymore, I'm fine with him doing what he wants with these movies.
For nearly everyone else however, the whining never stops, the insults and accusations do not cease, and people like me get sick of seeing it absolutely bloody everywhere.
And apparently, George is, too. "Why would I make any more," Lucas says, "when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?" (from the same interview in the previous spoiler tag).
So, is it any wonder that Lucas is letting Star Wars go into someone else's hands without a fight? He's been blamed for every lackluster thing to come out of the franchise, even if he didn't do anything to make them. Do you really think he had much of a hand at all in Star Wars: Kinect? Don't be ridiculous. People have blamed him for ego-mania by putting his name on everything. Well, duh, his name on everything, his STUDIO is called Lucasfilm. The studio that makes games based off his movies is called Lucasarts. Of course they have his name on it, he's the origin point of all this, he is the original creator, they HAVE to use his name, they are making things based on HIS creation. But that doesn't mean he MAKES all this rubbish, plenty of others do that for him.
We all know that Lucas was damned if he did and damned if he didn't in regards to his response of the acquisition by Disney. He can't even mention Star Wars without fans desperately whining in vain to protect a couple movies. Better to let someone else hold the target on their ass after yours has been shot to death. Still, Disney did a fair job so far with the Marvel license, so it doesn't look like the end of the world. Not to me, at least.
But I am just one person, and I am not important enough to matter. To so many others who think they DO matter, a few changes to a few movies are the worst things to happen to humanity, they will never be satisfied.
He is far from being an extraordinary filmmaker, never has been, but I never thought George deserved all the dickheads that hound his every breath.
So to all the unrelenting, unforgiving, and perpetually unhappy Star Wars "fans" out there, I say look at what you've done. You mocked a boy out of his acting career and you drove a man to hardly care anymore about his creation because you think it belongs to you and only you.
Give yourselves a round of applause. /rant
No TL
R, because I had a lot to say, and I really needed to vent.EDIT: People are mistaking me. I do NOT think that Star Wars going to Disney is a BAD thing. I just want to clarify that.
