Beyond The Panels #13- A Love Letter To Star Wars... That Goes a Little Sour
So, since we call this little blog Beyond The Panels, it's time to do just that and go beyond the panels. Not too far, of course, because comic fandom has a certain wheelhouse, a place where most of us overlap. This one place is also where our little fandom overlaps with that of.... well, everybody.
I am speaking, of course, of Star Wars.
I was born in 1980, which makes.... old. Anyway, Star Wars has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When my parents were fighting all the time and were getting divorced when I was 3, I pictured divorce as them fighting each other with lightsabers. I remember the Burger King Return of the Jedi commemorative glasses. I remember having one of my parents cut a whole in a pillow case, putting it on, and pretending I was an Ewok. I remember my Dad taking me to a mall to see Darth Vader like he was Santa Claus and getting scared and running away. I remember owning so many Kenner Star Wars figures it wasn't funny.
Star Wars is my first love, my first fandom. It's where my obsessive need and love for geeky shit comes from. I was the kind of kid who skipped school to watch all three movies once a month. When I found out about Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books, I devoured them and most other new Star Wars books that came out. If you asked what my favorite things about Star Wars were, I'd definitely say the old Extended Universe.
I'm that fucking guy.
I don't hate the prequels, either. I'm going to say something that is controversial- they aren't as horrible as everyone likes to make them out to be. I mean, yeah, Episode I is pretty terrible and Episode II is weird in a lot of places, but thematically, they tell a great story- a bloated old government, brought low by corruption. An order of peacekeepers who have become so stratified they can't even see their enemy when he's standing next to them. The folly and arrogance of power. How cynical people can use revolutions to gain more power. What happens when you deny love. If you ever watched the old making of featurettes on the DVDs, you'll see how much artistry and work went into making the prequels. We mock them for having so much green screen, but even though they do, there was a lot of care and work put into the design of everything. They are flawed, but I enjoy them (except Episode I- fuck you Jar Jar).
It's hard to explain to people my love for Star Wars, hard for me to articulate the whys of it. It's not just the characters (although Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, Ben, Vader, the Emperor, Yoda, the droids, Mara Jade, Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, Talon Kardde, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo, Anakin Solo, Corran Horn, Kyp Durren, and countless others are some of my favorite fictional characters of all time). It's not just the space battles. It's not just the Force. It's not just the adventure or the tech or the care that went in to creating it all. It's not the stories.
It's all of those things.
You know when your girlfriend (or, if you like dudes, boyfriend {although I don't really think men ask this kind of question}) asks you what you like most about her and you say everything and she gets mad? She makes you give her an answer, but then she gets mad at you when you blurt one out? Well, I love Star Wars because of it's everything. Everything about it is my favorite part, even the bad parts (but seriously, fuck you Jar Jar Binks), because it makes up this lovely whole- an entire universe you can lose yourself in, full of warriors and scoundrels and politicians and normal people caught up in crazy shit. A million different worlds, full of new races and technology and chances for adventure. That's what I live about Star Wars- it's a place where there are infinite possibilities, where anything can happen.
So, you can only imagine how I feel about Disney and their ownership of it. Or not because I'm about to tell you about it.
So, Disney buys Star Wars and tells us we're going to get new movies, books, comics, TV shows, amusement park rides, toys, underwear, fucking everything. They sacrifice the EU, which angers me, but I understand it. It's not like they came to my house and they burnt my books (I swear I have something like 200 Star Wars books). There's a lot of baggage there and they're trying for new fans. Okay, makes sense. I'll admit to crying when I saw the Episode VII trailer. It was beautiful. It gave me hope. A new hope, if you will.
You may already see where I'm going with that.
See, the problem with The Force Awakens in particular and Disney's stewardship of Star Wars in general is the feeling of the property being a product. They focus grouped it and you can tell what they're doing- regressing, trying to give everyone back that old Star Wars feeling. The Force Awakens is an anemic story- they lift the plot and situations of A New Hope, change some names and characters, shine it all up, and give it to us. They run away from anything that might remind people of the prequels- we don't know anything about the Republic, the First Order, the Resistance, and the three organizations' relationships to each other, other than the barest shit needed to move the plot ahead. Politics and thinking is out the window. Much like the MCU, the movie seems to exist to hit the next plot point, quip a little, and then get to the next action scene. It's entertaining, but it's dead behind the eyes as it were- soulless.
I watched the prequels in the theaters and when I walked out of each one, I was happy and I loved them and I pretty much overlooked every flaw they had. It was only after a LOT of rewatching that I'd admit they weren't the best stories and that they had glaring flaws. With The Force Awakens, I was critiquing it in my head as I watched the movie, groaning when it did stupid things (which is often). I walked out of it knowing that this wasn't a good movie. Entertaining, sure. Fun, undoubtedly. Good? That's a road too far. Star Wars was never an original property- it used Campbell's Hero's Journey and was a pastiche of all kind of stuff George Lucas loved, from sci-fi serials to samurai movies. However, you couldn't watch one of the Lucas era 6 and say it was completely ripping off one source, nearly verbatim; you can say that and no one can argue it with The Force Awakens. When you can point out the exact source something is ripping off, all consideration of it being good goes out the window. It can still be fun and entertaining and you can enjoy it, but it's not good. It's not a work of love and art. It's a fucking Xerox copy, focus grouped to appeal to the widest base of people.
And look, I love Rogue One. Like, I love it so much, I rank up in the top three of my favorite Star Wars movies. It's a wonderful, gritty little story that reminds of something I read in Star Wars: The Adventure Journal over twenty years ago, but even its going back to the well with things they know we like- fighting Death Stars and Imperials, nothing new, just a new look at the conflict they know we love. It's that change of viewpoint that makes it superior to The Force Awakens- this is a new story told differently than the others. It uses old things they know we like in new and interesting way, but it's still using old things we like. It's still dealing in nostalgia, but at least we get a good, new, original story from it. It's not perfect, but no Star Wars movie is (although, The Empire Strikes Back gets real fucking close).
And that brings us to the trailer that the Internet is creaming its jeans for- The Last Jedi.
Yeah, it's cool. It's also a fucking mess.
Look, I get that a trailer shouldn't give us the story, but looking at this trailer, I already feel like this movie is going to sprawling, bloated, and kind of bad on a story front. I liked to joke and say it would be The Empire Strikes Back II: Uh, We Meant The First Order Strikes Back, but after watching these last two trailers, I'm pretty sure we won't be getting anything as coherent or focused or just plain fucking wonderful as The Empire Strikes Back, although I'm pretty sure we'll be getting a lot of the story beats. I'm sure it will be an entertaining film. I'm sure I'll probably see it more than once in the theaters. However, it's just going to be soulless entertainment. That's it.
You know, I get what Disney is doing- they're positioning Star Wars for that time when fans like me are dead and gone and it's all today's kids and their kids and so on and so forth. They're out for that forever money. They're doing what Disney has made a science of- take something people know, repackage it, and sell it to people but make them think they're getting something new. If I'm being completely honest, Rey and Poe are wonderful characters played by great actors and are worthy additions to the canon. Finn is.... look, Finn was horribly written and lame and just horrible, but John Boyega played the fuck out of the character and made me like him in spite of what happened on screen. There's a lot of potential here and if they maybe tried to tell stories with them that I've never gotten before, they would be a lot better, but I just don't see anyone feeling the kind of resonance they felt with any of the characters from the Original Trilogy. They're all rather one dimensional sketches of cool archetypes, but that's it. I don't see how any fan can have any kind of emotional resonance with anything in this new trilogy, which seems harsh to say after only one movie, but it's the truth. Do you see Disney allowing Rian Johnson to take a chance with The Last Jedi? If you do, I have shares of the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.
Star Wars isn't going anywhere and it will never die. It's one of our culture's great stories, part of our mythology. Right now, I'm not very happy with how it's being handled, but I still love it and look forward to new installments. That says a lot about it. It's like the old saying about bad sex (or bad pizza- one of the two)- it may be bad, but it's still sex. I'd rather be having bad sex with Star Wars than not having any.
Next Issue: You know, I like the X-Men. A lot. So I'm going to talk about why the X-Men are great and what makes them probably the greatest Marvel property of them all. Want to know why? Well, join us next time on.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!
I am speaking, of course, of Star Wars.
I was born in 1980, which makes.... old. Anyway, Star Wars has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When my parents were fighting all the time and were getting divorced when I was 3, I pictured divorce as them fighting each other with lightsabers. I remember the Burger King Return of the Jedi commemorative glasses. I remember having one of my parents cut a whole in a pillow case, putting it on, and pretending I was an Ewok. I remember my Dad taking me to a mall to see Darth Vader like he was Santa Claus and getting scared and running away. I remember owning so many Kenner Star Wars figures it wasn't funny.
Star Wars is my first love, my first fandom. It's where my obsessive need and love for geeky shit comes from. I was the kind of kid who skipped school to watch all three movies once a month. When I found out about Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books, I devoured them and most other new Star Wars books that came out. If you asked what my favorite things about Star Wars were, I'd definitely say the old Extended Universe.
I'm that fucking guy.
I don't hate the prequels, either. I'm going to say something that is controversial- they aren't as horrible as everyone likes to make them out to be. I mean, yeah, Episode I is pretty terrible and Episode II is weird in a lot of places, but thematically, they tell a great story- a bloated old government, brought low by corruption. An order of peacekeepers who have become so stratified they can't even see their enemy when he's standing next to them. The folly and arrogance of power. How cynical people can use revolutions to gain more power. What happens when you deny love. If you ever watched the old making of featurettes on the DVDs, you'll see how much artistry and work went into making the prequels. We mock them for having so much green screen, but even though they do, there was a lot of care and work put into the design of everything. They are flawed, but I enjoy them (except Episode I- fuck you Jar Jar).
It's hard to explain to people my love for Star Wars, hard for me to articulate the whys of it. It's not just the characters (although Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, Ben, Vader, the Emperor, Yoda, the droids, Mara Jade, Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, Talon Kardde, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo, Anakin Solo, Corran Horn, Kyp Durren, and countless others are some of my favorite fictional characters of all time). It's not just the space battles. It's not just the Force. It's not just the adventure or the tech or the care that went in to creating it all. It's not the stories.
It's all of those things.
You know when your girlfriend (or, if you like dudes, boyfriend {although I don't really think men ask this kind of question}) asks you what you like most about her and you say everything and she gets mad? She makes you give her an answer, but then she gets mad at you when you blurt one out? Well, I love Star Wars because of it's everything. Everything about it is my favorite part, even the bad parts (but seriously, fuck you Jar Jar Binks), because it makes up this lovely whole- an entire universe you can lose yourself in, full of warriors and scoundrels and politicians and normal people caught up in crazy shit. A million different worlds, full of new races and technology and chances for adventure. That's what I live about Star Wars- it's a place where there are infinite possibilities, where anything can happen.
So, you can only imagine how I feel about Disney and their ownership of it. Or not because I'm about to tell you about it.
So, Disney buys Star Wars and tells us we're going to get new movies, books, comics, TV shows, amusement park rides, toys, underwear, fucking everything. They sacrifice the EU, which angers me, but I understand it. It's not like they came to my house and they burnt my books (I swear I have something like 200 Star Wars books). There's a lot of baggage there and they're trying for new fans. Okay, makes sense. I'll admit to crying when I saw the Episode VII trailer. It was beautiful. It gave me hope. A new hope, if you will.
You may already see where I'm going with that.
See, the problem with The Force Awakens in particular and Disney's stewardship of Star Wars in general is the feeling of the property being a product. They focus grouped it and you can tell what they're doing- regressing, trying to give everyone back that old Star Wars feeling. The Force Awakens is an anemic story- they lift the plot and situations of A New Hope, change some names and characters, shine it all up, and give it to us. They run away from anything that might remind people of the prequels- we don't know anything about the Republic, the First Order, the Resistance, and the three organizations' relationships to each other, other than the barest shit needed to move the plot ahead. Politics and thinking is out the window. Much like the MCU, the movie seems to exist to hit the next plot point, quip a little, and then get to the next action scene. It's entertaining, but it's dead behind the eyes as it were- soulless.
I watched the prequels in the theaters and when I walked out of each one, I was happy and I loved them and I pretty much overlooked every flaw they had. It was only after a LOT of rewatching that I'd admit they weren't the best stories and that they had glaring flaws. With The Force Awakens, I was critiquing it in my head as I watched the movie, groaning when it did stupid things (which is often). I walked out of it knowing that this wasn't a good movie. Entertaining, sure. Fun, undoubtedly. Good? That's a road too far. Star Wars was never an original property- it used Campbell's Hero's Journey and was a pastiche of all kind of stuff George Lucas loved, from sci-fi serials to samurai movies. However, you couldn't watch one of the Lucas era 6 and say it was completely ripping off one source, nearly verbatim; you can say that and no one can argue it with The Force Awakens. When you can point out the exact source something is ripping off, all consideration of it being good goes out the window. It can still be fun and entertaining and you can enjoy it, but it's not good. It's not a work of love and art. It's a fucking Xerox copy, focus grouped to appeal to the widest base of people.
And look, I love Rogue One. Like, I love it so much, I rank up in the top three of my favorite Star Wars movies. It's a wonderful, gritty little story that reminds of something I read in Star Wars: The Adventure Journal over twenty years ago, but even its going back to the well with things they know we like- fighting Death Stars and Imperials, nothing new, just a new look at the conflict they know we love. It's that change of viewpoint that makes it superior to The Force Awakens- this is a new story told differently than the others. It uses old things they know we like in new and interesting way, but it's still using old things we like. It's still dealing in nostalgia, but at least we get a good, new, original story from it. It's not perfect, but no Star Wars movie is (although, The Empire Strikes Back gets real fucking close).
And that brings us to the trailer that the Internet is creaming its jeans for- The Last Jedi.
Yeah, it's cool. It's also a fucking mess.
Look, I get that a trailer shouldn't give us the story, but looking at this trailer, I already feel like this movie is going to sprawling, bloated, and kind of bad on a story front. I liked to joke and say it would be The Empire Strikes Back II: Uh, We Meant The First Order Strikes Back, but after watching these last two trailers, I'm pretty sure we won't be getting anything as coherent or focused or just plain fucking wonderful as The Empire Strikes Back, although I'm pretty sure we'll be getting a lot of the story beats. I'm sure it will be an entertaining film. I'm sure I'll probably see it more than once in the theaters. However, it's just going to be soulless entertainment. That's it.
You know, I get what Disney is doing- they're positioning Star Wars for that time when fans like me are dead and gone and it's all today's kids and their kids and so on and so forth. They're out for that forever money. They're doing what Disney has made a science of- take something people know, repackage it, and sell it to people but make them think they're getting something new. If I'm being completely honest, Rey and Poe are wonderful characters played by great actors and are worthy additions to the canon. Finn is.... look, Finn was horribly written and lame and just horrible, but John Boyega played the fuck out of the character and made me like him in spite of what happened on screen. There's a lot of potential here and if they maybe tried to tell stories with them that I've never gotten before, they would be a lot better, but I just don't see anyone feeling the kind of resonance they felt with any of the characters from the Original Trilogy. They're all rather one dimensional sketches of cool archetypes, but that's it. I don't see how any fan can have any kind of emotional resonance with anything in this new trilogy, which seems harsh to say after only one movie, but it's the truth. Do you see Disney allowing Rian Johnson to take a chance with The Last Jedi? If you do, I have shares of the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.
Star Wars isn't going anywhere and it will never die. It's one of our culture's great stories, part of our mythology. Right now, I'm not very happy with how it's being handled, but I still love it and look forward to new installments. That says a lot about it. It's like the old saying about bad sex (or bad pizza- one of the two)- it may be bad, but it's still sex. I'd rather be having bad sex with Star Wars than not having any.
Next Issue: You know, I like the X-Men. A lot. So I'm going to talk about why the X-Men are great and what makes them probably the greatest Marvel property of them all. Want to know why? Well, join us next time on.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!
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