Just in case you missed the news elsewhere on the World Wide Web, the latest victim falling to the pandemic is the greater Star Wars franchise as the Walt Disney Company recently announced that new films in mankind's most profitable space saga have been delayed until 2023, 2025, and 2027, respectively. No word yet on what the plot will be, and there's absolutely no rumors that I've been able to find about who it'll star and whatnot.
Still, I can't find myself reading various accounts on this in multiple media accounts and wondering, "Does Star Wars even matter any more?"
Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't the ruminations of an aging fanboy yearning for the days of yore when heroes were heroes and entire planets were expendable. The George Lucas saga came along at a fortuitous time in our culture wherein audiences didn't even know that they were missing something like Star Wars in their diet. Science Fiction cinema of the 1970's tending to be either (A) low-brow low-budget escapism/exploitation fare that was lucky to see theatrical release beyond major markets or (B) high-brow art-house concepts that tried too hard to be meaningful that it left most viewers behind.
Star Wars was pure escapism in what I've always termed a 'lived in universe.' That landspeeder Luke Skywalker tooled around Tatooine with? Looks closely, and you'll see dents, scuffs, abrasions. Those droids he bought from those Jawas? Why, they were so dirty they both needed oil baths to look even modestly appealing. That Millennium Falcon? Even Princess Leia was famous for saying, "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"
Unlike the Prequel Trilogy that came out and a much different time in our civilization, the Original Trilogy was built to look like it was real; and that brought with it the bruising so many of us know from our daily existence. Only the Empire had things that were polished to shine, and then those items were only available in shades of black and white. No marks. None were tolerated. Even Luke Skywalker was too short to be a Stormtrooper, and that says something about the world he tried to disguise himself a part of: he just didn't fit in.
And I think those sentiments are the undercurrrent of what made the Original Trilogy the cultural behemoth it was in its era: it was the little guy that everyone counted out.
Today?
Today, the franchise is owned and operated by W-A-L-T F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G- D-I-S-N-E-Y, the ultimate entertainment conglomerate that's ruled by committee and dispensed in the proper corporate doses.
"Does Star Wars even matter any more?"
Thankfully, Disney has made some smart moves, giving Dave Filoni the creative freedom he needed to finish up The Clone Wars the way he apparently wanted to. They even were wise enough to recognize a good thing when they saw it and greenlit Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian to their Disney+ Streaming Service. (If you haven't seen it, jeepers, how do I even know you?) For what it's worth, The Mandalorian feels like vintage Star Wars, and it's good enough that the episodes could easily be cobbled together into some massive full-length motion picture if Favreau wanted to take a stab at it.
But I digress ...
These days, everyone wants to be part of The Resistance, a politically motivated turn to the Sequel Trilogy that kinda/sorta put the franchise on the wrong path, in my opinion. (Personally, I would rather they have called it something like the 'Grand Alliance,' but that's a story for another day and another time.) All one need do is turn on the television, and we see everyone is in 'The Resistance,' and it's gotten very old very quickly. What made Star Wars special -- so far as I'm concerned -- was that it wasn't what everyone wanted but very quickly lit a fire within that mankind responded to. Instead of being something different, the current iteration has chosen to morph into political territory a true Space Fantasy probably would've ignored.
I guess on one level Star Wars will always matter. I just never imagined the day would come when it would mean so many things to so many people in such vastly different ways. It's a shame that nowadays kids aren't encouraged to run down the street with blasters in their hands because our society is so opposed to guns. My day? My day, we all would've said, "These aren't guns! They're blasters! And hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side!"
I guess we're just not allowed to dream any more.
So, yeah, Star Wars is delayed. Let's hope that whoever ponies up some new movies will go back to delivering the magic our society so desperately needs.
Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope.
Still, I can't find myself reading various accounts on this in multiple media accounts and wondering, "Does Star Wars even matter any more?"
Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't the ruminations of an aging fanboy yearning for the days of yore when heroes were heroes and entire planets were expendable. The George Lucas saga came along at a fortuitous time in our culture wherein audiences didn't even know that they were missing something like Star Wars in their diet. Science Fiction cinema of the 1970's tending to be either (A) low-brow low-budget escapism/exploitation fare that was lucky to see theatrical release beyond major markets or (B) high-brow art-house concepts that tried too hard to be meaningful that it left most viewers behind.
Star Wars was pure escapism in what I've always termed a 'lived in universe.' That landspeeder Luke Skywalker tooled around Tatooine with? Looks closely, and you'll see dents, scuffs, abrasions. Those droids he bought from those Jawas? Why, they were so dirty they both needed oil baths to look even modestly appealing. That Millennium Falcon? Even Princess Leia was famous for saying, "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"
Unlike the Prequel Trilogy that came out and a much different time in our civilization, the Original Trilogy was built to look like it was real; and that brought with it the bruising so many of us know from our daily existence. Only the Empire had things that were polished to shine, and then those items were only available in shades of black and white. No marks. None were tolerated. Even Luke Skywalker was too short to be a Stormtrooper, and that says something about the world he tried to disguise himself a part of: he just didn't fit in.
And I think those sentiments are the undercurrrent of what made the Original Trilogy the cultural behemoth it was in its era: it was the little guy that everyone counted out.
Today?
Today, the franchise is owned and operated by W-A-L-T F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G- D-I-S-N-E-Y, the ultimate entertainment conglomerate that's ruled by committee and dispensed in the proper corporate doses.
"Does Star Wars even matter any more?"
Thankfully, Disney has made some smart moves, giving Dave Filoni the creative freedom he needed to finish up The Clone Wars the way he apparently wanted to. They even were wise enough to recognize a good thing when they saw it and greenlit Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian to their Disney+ Streaming Service. (If you haven't seen it, jeepers, how do I even know you?) For what it's worth, The Mandalorian feels like vintage Star Wars, and it's good enough that the episodes could easily be cobbled together into some massive full-length motion picture if Favreau wanted to take a stab at it.
But I digress ...
These days, everyone wants to be part of The Resistance, a politically motivated turn to the Sequel Trilogy that kinda/sorta put the franchise on the wrong path, in my opinion. (Personally, I would rather they have called it something like the 'Grand Alliance,' but that's a story for another day and another time.) All one need do is turn on the television, and we see everyone is in 'The Resistance,' and it's gotten very old very quickly. What made Star Wars special -- so far as I'm concerned -- was that it wasn't what everyone wanted but very quickly lit a fire within that mankind responded to. Instead of being something different, the current iteration has chosen to morph into political territory a true Space Fantasy probably would've ignored.
I guess on one level Star Wars will always matter. I just never imagined the day would come when it would mean so many things to so many people in such vastly different ways. It's a shame that nowadays kids aren't encouraged to run down the street with blasters in their hands because our society is so opposed to guns. My day? My day, we all would've said, "These aren't guns! They're blasters! And hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side!"
I guess we're just not allowed to dream any more.
So, yeah, Star Wars is delayed. Let's hope that whoever ponies up some new movies will go back to delivering the magic our society so desperately needs.
Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope.
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