Ok, so we all know the Star Wars prequels sucked. Now that we have that out of the way, we can move on to something…new.
Disney announced that in addition to the new trilogy starting with Episode VII in 2015, there will be a new Star Wars film every year until…whenever.
There was word of that a while back. The word on the street now is that these new films will be origin stories for popular characters. Rumors are that they could possibly be about Yoda when he was younger, Boba Fett’s fall into the seedy underworld of bounty hunting, or Han Solo’s back story.
(Image via Nerd Repository)
With the prospect of having a seemingly infinite number of Star Wars films, many fans seems split over the idea.
There are some who love the concept of having new Star Wars content coming at them at a consistent rate and will gobble it up lovingly. Others….not so much.
When I read the different fan reactions to the origin stories idea, it reminded me of something my Grief and Loss professor said to me. She said that no two people grieve in the same way, that the process is different for every person, and that everyone’s way of grieving is valid.
With that being said, everyone’s form of Star Wars fandom (and grieving over what has become of the franchise) is valid.
The fans (like myself) who feel that there were at least some redeeming qualities in the prequels are justified in thinking so. Darth Maul is my favorite character, and I found watching Anakin’s descent to the dark side in Episode III exciting.
The fans who hate everything about the prequels and only admit to the original trilogy’s existence are also justified. They may feel hurt that what they accepted as true has been distorted. Anger is a natural part of grieving a loss.
There are also those who want to give Disney a chance to do something new with the series (and praise that George Lucas will keep his hands off of these new movies). From the announcements made by Disney, it looks like Episode VII will have some promise.
(Image via Tech Fleece)
With regard to the new origin stories, some feel as though the market is over-saturated and that it feels like a dead horse is being beaten into the ground. Others feel as though this is a chance to introduce new material to a younger generation and bring them into the Star Wars universe. Some like the idea of new stand alone movies, but would prefer new characters to be explored (it isn’t like there is a shortage of things in the universe that haven’t been explored). In a way, all them are right.
My personal opinion is that I would love to see some back story on some of the characters. I love getting to know more about characters in anything I watch or read. In particular I enjoy trying to understand why they act and think the way they do (no wonder I went into psychology…). I’m excited to see what Disney will do with the franchise. Lucas already screwed things up, so they can’t do too much worse, right? I’m also excited about having good, relevant, new movies to show to my children (since Disney will still be pumping them out by the time I have kids, apparently).
That’s just my opinion, which will be different from yours. Both of our opinions will be different from the next person’s, and so on.
Regardless of whether you feel like the only way to be a Star Wars fan is to shun everything other than Episodes IV-VI, or if you want to soak up anything and everything Lucas or Disney throws at you, you are a Star Wars fan. Star Wars doesn’t just belong to me, or you. It doesn’t belong to one person. It belongs to all of us.
Our fandom is our own. We are free to grieve the loss of what we held sacred, or celebrate the release of new content. Or any combination that can be found in between. Any and all of these reactions are healthy (as long as we don’t become belligerent with each other).
So what I said about us all knowing the prequels sucked was a lie.
I’m still saying that they could have been a heck of a lot better with a little more Darth Maul, and a lot less Jar Jar Binks.
(Image via Dune Sea Times)
Where do you stand? How do you grieve?