Anyone claiming to be a "fan" of a film franchise feeling they're owed something, resulting in silly online rants/complaints/petitions: Join the biz. MAKE the film you want. Experience creating a project from concept to completion. Good luck. For now, shut it.
#StarWars
To clarify a few points: this is not intended to be an attack in any way of the original tweeter (I don't know him personally but I'm a fan of his voice acting), but this particular tweet got me thinking. I understand the point he's trying to make - it's much easier to criticize someone else's work than to make your own. Believe me, I know that all too well. In addition to being an easy way to vent your own creative frustration, it can turn into an endless cycle as you criticize your own work rather than produce it. I also tend to agree that fans shouldn't feel entitled to have the movie exactly the way they want and that, ultimately, the creative decisions belong to those who actually do the creating (or who own the rights, as the case may be).
However, given that Star Wars was specifically cited here gives a certain indication: that Star Wars is somehow exempt from criticism. And this, if the intent, is where I disagree with the tweet and the surrounding attitudes. First of all, I want to ask - how many people would agree with this statement if he had tweeted it right after Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith? How about the animated Clone Wars movie? Granted, I do think that the same points in the previous paragraph should apply to the prequels as well as the new movies, and I think there is a lot of fan entitlement surrounding the prequels (and even the original trilogy). But if you agree with the tweet in relation to TLJ but not other movies, then perhaps we need to take a step back and think a little deeper about the implications.
The fact is, I am one of the fans who didn't care for The Force Awakens. I liked Rogue One slightly better, but basically only for the second half of the movie. When both movies came out, I had (and still have) my criticisms. Many of them I have in common with others - TFA is too similar to A New Hope, RO has too many characters. I have a few that are more specific to me - The First Order lacks any villains I find intimidating, charming, or otherwise compelling, and I'm convinced that RO will feel like a very dated movie in about 10-20 years (and not in a good way). I'll admit that some of these criticisms have come just from the fact that I feel I need to justify why, as a geek and someone who generally likes Star Wars, I don't like the new movies but I do like the prequels. There's a lot of social pressure in the geekdom, and I feel like I have to justify my opinions. (I could go into a whole 'nother rant about the irony of geeks trying to legislate each other's opinions and determining who's cool enough to be in the club of social outcasts, but I digress.)
This morning, I finally settled on a word: soulless. I think that the newest movies are technically good on most levels, but I find them soulless. I recognize that's a very loaded word, and gives a sort of objective connotation despite being subjective, but ultimately it is my biggest problem with the new turn the franchise has taken. I am not invested in the new characters, the new setting(s), or the new conflict (in part, because they're not willing to diverge from the old ones). I watch the new movies and I don't see a story at all. We are three movies into the new franchise, and a new Star Wars movie every year already feels mundane. There is something very wrong when a new Star Wars movie feels mundane.
I know this opens up several other cans of worms - how can I call the new movies soulless and not the prequels, what was I expecting from a blockbuster franchise, etc. - and while I'm willing to discuss those, that's not the point of this post. What I will say is to reiterate that this is subjective - the new SW movies don't stir my heart or soul. I won't deny that there are others who enjoy them, and I think no less of those who do. Admittedly, I do ask that those who do enjoy them - especially those that do and don't enjoy the prequels - extend me and those like me the same courtesy even though we disagree. I already have a blog post about the frustration of having to defend unpopular opinions in the geekdom, and while I will do it (because I'm stubborn and kind of stupid), I owe you nothing, and I should not have to justify my own tastes to anyone.
But this is why I don't like the newest movies, and it's why I have not seen The Last Jedi, nor do I intend to see it until a friend or family member buys it and offers to let me see it. It's why I freely offer my criticisms of the previous movies. I desperately want to like Star Wars again, I want to see it grow artistically as well as be entertaining, I want it to win back my affections and have earned them. Maybe TLJ will actually do this, but so far, nothing I have seen or heard has convinced me that it's worth breaking my heart again. I've slid past hate and right into apathy towards the franchise. I suppose I really can't hate it. After all, no one hates Star Wars except the fans, and I'm not fully sure I qualify anymore.
TL;DR: In response to the original tweet, it's true, the fans don't own anything and the filmmakers aren't obliged to do anything that they don't want to. However, the reverse is true: they are not owed my time, energy, or money if they are unwilling to create a project I think is worth seeing. There is such a thing as bad criticism, there is such a thing as entitled fan, but there is no such thing as art that is exempt from criticism.
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