No, I’m not talking about the newest Star Wars series priemiering on Disney+ right now: Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think the Force is VERY strong with that series. Unfortunately, I’m talking about another internet pundit, who seems to think that nostalgia is the cause of the problems with Star Wars. He claims that Generation X, the people who “grew up” on the original series are to blame for the “crippling” of Star Wars in that it doesn’t let new ideas come to the fore.
The pundit in question is Michael Green, a writer for a tech website whose newsletter I subscribe to (I used to subscribe to) for Digital Trends, whose YouTube channel featuring Caleb Green is one of the best sources of tech information around. Too bad that knowledge and evenhandedness doesn’t seem to apply to much of the rest of the organization. While Green’s piece is the one I’m going take issue with the most, I’ve been less than impressed with their video game editor/writer in past as well.
Let’s let the wisdom of Yoda guide us through this
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Here is what Michael Green has to say about Star Wars and Generation X. Here is the direct link for those who like to see where they’re being redirected:
Not pretty is it. Even though the author classifies himself as a part of the group, he doesn’t say that he’s part of the problem (slick rhetorical move there to put himself above the issue while saying that he gets to criticize because he’s a part of the “in-group”). Not so fast there, Mr. Green. I, too, am a member of Generation X and I can tell you that it isn’t nostalgia that’s tripping up Star Wars–but rather narrative dissonance, or to put it a better way, the inability to tell good stories). There are other issues that have nothing to do with nostalgia or even poor narratives, but we’ll get to those in a moment–for now, let’s stick with narrative.
On YouTube, there is a well-known and popular video that describes how Star Wars was saved in the edit. Here it is for reference:
The original trilogy is not without its faults. However, even with its faults, it managed to come together as a satisfying “whole” that encapsulated a narrative that was infinitely watchable/rewatchable and one that led to many visualizing what a future could be (and what movies should be). And as an African American, I won’t even discuss that Lando was the only major black character in the movie, who didn’t come on board until movie #2 of the original series–although I could.
What Generation X’ers wanted from the prequel trilogy (& Disney sequels) is storytelling that matched, if not exceeded the original, which has its high points and low points in terms of dialogue, characterization, plotting, etc. However, when you give us characters like Jar Jar Binks, whose function duplicates that of C3PO and Artoo Detoo for comic relief and who’s only purpose for being in the movie is to get Queen Amidala to appeal to the Gungan army, you have a problem with characterization, with pacing, with plotting, oh, I don’t know, the ENTIRE basis of Western story development! Now, I want to be clear that I’m singling out Jar Jar Binks and not the actor Ahmed Best (who only did what Lucas told him to do), but it’s clear when a character exists as a plot device, not as a fully realized character with their own motivations, you’ve got an issue with your story and you need to go back to the drawing board.
We won’t even get into dialogue for the prequel trilogy; dialogue that is almost wince inducing to those of us who have aspirations of being storytellers. I’m going hit a sacred cow here: take Prequel dialogue and/or plotting and apply it to George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series (books, TV show)–heck, you could even do it to his newest “golden child” the Elden Ring video game, and see HOW LOUDLY FANS COMPLAIN ABOUT IT NOT BEING “AUTHENTIC” TO THE REST OF THE “EXPERIENCE.”
Oh wait, Game of Thrones: Season 8
My point is that most fans are forgiving of quite a bit–until it comes to not fulfilling story expectations. That is what gets creators into hot water almost every time. Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters 2 (another 80s Gen X “joint”), I could go on and on for sequels not surpassing the original. There’s a reason why Aliens is considered a worthy successor to Alien. There’s a reason why Terminator 2 is spoke about in such reverent tones as to holding up to the original Terminator, and perhaps (potential heresy here) maybe even surpassing it. Narrative is king, but many studios want to rush out a sequel to “strike while the iron is hot” (while the property is still in the public’s mind). Not really a good strategy and one that mostly leads to diminishing returns.
“That is why you fail.”
When will movie “pundits” learn? New for the sake of newness isn’t a solution. Just because Rian Johnson wanted to do something “new” doesn’t mean he should get an automatic pass–nor should any of the Disney sequel creators. This is Star Wars–an established property–and he should follow the same “genre conventions” that he would need to for any other property. Heck, I have a LOT of NEW ideas for Game of Thrones. Here’s one for free: Bad people will stop doing bad things to good people in the GoT universe. Not very “Game of Thronesy,” is it? Most GoT readers/watchers wouldn’t like my GoT because it would look NOTHING like what GoT has been established as in the past. So why would I even write GoT? Well, two reasons: 1) it’s easy, there’s already a fan base and I don’t have risk anything to build up a new fan base and 2) it’s easy, there’s already demand there, so people will spend their (hard earned) money on something that has the words Game of Thrones in that order. So, if I wanted to take the EASY way out, I write a Game of Thrones “thing” that looks nothing like Game of Thrones and that way audience and money are there for the taking without have to RISK anything and I’ve just written something “new” and then get mad at the fans for not responding with as much money and love and adulation as I wanted, even though I got some (oh, did I mention money?).
My solution: write the “new thing” and take the risk. With great risk comes great reward (sure, that’s not always the case: I’m sure Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a good risk on a “new thing” to someone), but I’m ALWAYS of the opinion that if you don’t want to follow genre conventions or you want to do a new thing, the PLEASE DON’T TITLE YOUR PROPERTY “GAME OF THRONES,” “STAR WARS,” OR WHATEVER THE “PROPERTY” IS AND COME UP WITH YOUR OWN NEW THING!
Knives Out, anyone? Anyone? Mr. Green?
“Pass on what you have learned.”
Example: Jordan Peele and Get Out. Jordan Peele used the conventions of the HORROR genre masterfully. Yes, he incorporated social commentary in his horror movie, but at the end of the day, it WAS STILL A HORROR/THRILLER MOVIE. He didn’t just wake up one day and say, oh, I don’t need SUSPENSE because I’m doing something “new.” Or, I don’t need a strong protagonist for the audience to root for because, I’m doing something “new.” He adhered to the conventions of the genre he was writing in and he made “newness” INSIDE the genre–that’s how you make it new and fresh and exciting for the audience, NOT “newness” for newness sake.
When you’re writing for a “property” (one that has already been established), YOU DON’T GET TO CHANGE THE RULES MID-STREAM. Yes, I know it’s unfair and I know you think that it inhibits creativity, but it actually doesn’t. That’s the reason we have referees and rulebooks for sports–it takes unfairness out of the equation and makes about the skill of the players. This is similar in that it makes it about the skill of the creators. Look at what the Russo Brothers were able to achieve with Captain American Winter Soldier/Civil War and Avengers Infinity War/Endgame. Not only do these movies adhere to the “property” elements that came before in the MCU, they expanded on them in Captain America and completely pushed them to their limits with Avengers (so much so that Phase 4 with the MCU seems to currently be having issues matching them).
That is HOW YOU WIN AT CREATING INSIDE A PROPERTY. We should getting “The Jedi Wars” where Luke and Leia have established a new Order of Jedi, but maybe “Ben” or some of the other Jedi are getting restless and looking at powers beyond their control–push past the boundaries of what’s happened before while honoring and expanding on the past. How about figuring out where and how some of the surviving Jedi from Order 66 made it through the Purge? What about a Jedi’s quest to find himself/herself by building his/her lightsaber? There are so many stories to tell that branch off from the main narrative that radical reinvention isn’t necessary (and is, as we’ve seen, detrimental to the storytelling process).
For good or worse, THERE CAN ONLY EVER BE ONE “REVOLUTION.” EVERYTHING ELSE THAT FOLLOWS IS EVOLUTION.
Why, oh why is there always someone who advocates continuous “revolution?” It can’t be done.
Well, that’s not true, it can be done, but it means creating something “new” each time. Which is exactly what creators don’t want to do–they built up their audience and now they want to keep them. They can only do that if they call the thing the same thing every time “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Matrix,” “Transformers,” and etc. You can’t have a “new” revolution inside an existing property unless you’re willing to alienate the fans. The better strategy is to take the risk and create something new (and call it something else entirely) if you are a “creative revolutionary” (aka Rian Johnson) or push the genre to new and different places through integration of new areas that are entirely appropriate for your genre and/or property (aka Jordan Peele, the Russo Brothers).
This, Mr. Green, is how you make sure that the property evolves with newness–not by haranguing fans about their supposed nostalgia. For me, Star Wars (the originals) had a story that was beyond compare and no story so far, by Lucas himself or the pretenders to the throne, have matched the “magic” of that storytelling experience, no matter how hard Mr Green tries to gaslight me into thinking it was all in my head.
Sidney
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