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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2024
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Star Wars
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I've been wondering about this for a while. Silly as the prequels were, they were still the result of one person's vision and tried to tell a story. The new ones are neither, theyre corperate and disconnected from each other. So will they be met with the same nostalgia and re-examination that the prequels got? I really don't know
Prequel nostalgia exists because kids at the time liked them, and are now able to push back against existing criticism from older fans. There won't be sequel nostalgia, because kids today simply don't give a shit about Star Wars, so they're not going grow up and decide to push back against sequel criticism.
@TallonMetroid @Lyre The prequels were largely saved by the the Clone Wars animated series as well. I don't see how that happens for the sequel trilogy.
Thats interesting, I was always under the impression that the animated series came out as a response to changing opinions about the prequels, not the other way around. But the more I think about it maybe the timeline doesn't work out so you're probably right
True, i think superheroes probably fill that niche in cultural zeitgeist for kids growing up nowadays. So i wonder if we'll see a similar phenomenon happen with something like Batman vs Superman or some other superhero property that was critically panned
I updated my post :
https://lemmy.world/comment/10685927
I totally agree with you, the magic of star wars is largely a product of Lucas's mind. Sometimes newer installments capture flickers of that magic, but it's pretty sporadic these days, definitely not enough to build a foundation of nostalgia. Plus, there's little to no philosophical message in the sequels, so their value rests entirely on the action and dialogue, which was kind of lackluster compared to the execution of the previous movies.
A large part of the magic of Star Wars, for me at least, didn't really have much to do with Lucas. It was the EU books and comics, how they expanded the world and made the characters much more than simple archetypes.
The biggest thing about them, though, is they built off what was already in existence. They didn't try and replace or re-imagine it, they just let what was be and made it more.
It didn't always work (and quite often didn't), but the beauty was that there wasn't any really one thing you had to stick with to enjoy it. If you didn't like one series or game or whatever? Don't indulge in it.
The problem with the new movies, and even for a lot of the shows, is that they present it as "This is your Star Wars now." It's not a whole wide world, it's just a focused idea of what a few people want to make... and a few people want desperately to sell to an audience.
That was something that really baffled me about the disney acquisition. They spent 4 billion on the property but never thought to have someone explain to them what actually made it profitable. It was the universe that people latched onto, thats what sold the merchandise and the novels and spin offs. Yet the new films seemed almost spitefully bent on ignoring all that
Another thing the sequels didn't have: accompanying games. The gaps between movies weren't filled exclusively by live action and animated series
Sure, only Revenge of the Sith actually had an actual "the movie the game", but the 90s and early 2000s saw a number of amazing Star Wars games (and some less than stellar), most only partially related to movies, others with completely news stories, which definitely helped keep people interested in the universe, even if they didn't like the movies. KOTOR, Republic Commando, Battlefront, X-Wing series, Dark Forces series.
Meanwhile, during the Disney years, we had Battlelootbox 1 and 2, Squadrons, Jedi Fallen Order+Survivor and... that's about it (also some Lego Star Wars stuff). The mobile stuff might as well be SW skins of whatever is the current mobile trend.
I updated my post :
https://lemmy.world/comment/10685927