The dislike of the Star Wars Sequels: Are they just bad movies or do the originals get in our way? A Blog post also known as: My method to seeing sequels.
The Reactions to the Originals, Prequels, and Sequels.
The original Star Wars movies were groundbreaking, all three coming out between 1977-1983. Fans lining up outside of theaters to catch a glimpse of the first movie, excitement buzzing in the air.
Released in only thirty-seven theaters due to the doubt of its successfulness, Star Wars broke records. The attraction to the movies was astronomical, and it was extremely successful. "On its first day, Star Wars made over $255 thousand. After six days, it accumulated over $2 million. In just three weeks Fox’s stock had risen to a record high. Star Wars played for an astounding 43 weeks and made over $226 million domestically. It also became a huge success overseas and added an additional $314 million" (Hogarty).
In the late 90s-2000s, the prequels came out. Telling the story of Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader. They were received negatively, many making comments and complaints about Hayden Christiansen's performance as Anakin Skywalker. Along with the chemistry between Christiansen and the actress playing Padme, Natalie Portman. The 'corny' dialogue was the main issue in this series, and not so much the actor's performances themselves. There are groups of people who adore the Prequels today, but they were certainly not received well in their time period.
There was a bit of excitement when the sequel trilogy was announced. I remember people around me talking about how their excitement for Star Wars returned after watching the trailer for The Force Awakens. However, it seems after the release of the latest trilogy from 2015-2019, a lot of people had criticisms of the series. Arguments about Rey, the directors, old characters, new characters, and the plot itself included into massive separation of fans when talking about the sequels.
Connections to Old Characters
A main complaint of the series was 'destroying' the old heros that we saw in the original series. Luke is isolating himself, hiding from his decisions, Han went back to smuggling and was separated from Leia, and Leia was still focused on her work. However, all these characters and their pain stems from their treatment of Ben/Kylo ren. It is obvious that Han and Leia were not good parents to Ben, on top of what is revealed to be Palpatine in his head since childhood. They send him off to Luke, who senses darkness, and in a fleeting moment might kill him, but decides not to a moment too late.
Many fans of the original series argue that Luke would have never behaved like this, he would not have let his emotions get the better of him and think to kill his nephew. This situation harmed many people's opinion of the movies greatly, especially with their attachment to the original characters.
When it comes to Han and Leia, it makes sense to me that they wouldn't have much time to pay attention to their son. They main focus was the resistance and the return of the republic. Leia loved her work and we can see in her character that she would always stick to her passions working for a republic. In Han's reaction to Ben turning to Kylo, we can see he was always fleeting. Han claims that they processed his turn in their own way, but instead of facing it head on or fighting as Leia did he ran. Which he tries to do a multitude of times in the original movies. He even claims "There's too much Vader in him" blaming his son completely and voiding himself of responsibility in the matter. It is not a stretch of the imagination that Han would not be a very emotionally supportive father. His death was not taken well at all, although on several occasions actor Harrison Ford Wished for his character to be killed off.
Through this development, a lot of fans from the original series detest the sequels. Believing that the characters they knew in the 70s and 80s wouldn't behave in this way. While I think that the behaviors of Luke Skywalker are a stretch from his character, i think the idea that Han and Leia wouldn't treat their son as they did, intentional or not, could be connected to nostalgia and attachment to the characters. We don't want to believe our favorite characters have such strong flaws, but looking at their character, it is possible they would not be good parents. Our attachments to old characters, and their placement in our minds as heros greatly flaws the way we see their actions. It is often that the audience will claim something is out of character, when it is entirely plausible given the character's previous actions.
Comparison of Main Characters
All of our main characters are very similar. Rey, Luke, and Anakin are all orphans, find a mentor and connection to the force, and set on their path. Through each turns out different, they are very similar characters. Another main complain of the sequels is the Rey should not have the fighting skill or force skill that she has in any of the movies, as we had never seen her train with the force. When it comes to the idea of her fighting skill, she was an orphan that turned into a scavenger on Jakku. She needs fighting skill to survive, and it is proved on several occasions in the beginning of the first movie that she can. As for her defeat of Kylo Ren at the end of the first movie, it is possible for her to fight with the lightsaber because she has fought with her staff most of her life. As well as the fact that he had been shot with Chewie's bowcaster after killing Han. Kylo was actively bleeding out during the fight, allowing her to maintain the upper hand in the end.
Luke and Anakin also grew up on desert planets, Anakin a slave and Luke a farmer. This would make is less likely that they would know how to fight than Rey, even though Anakin was taken too young for it to be a reasonable occurrence. We don't see Anakin and Luke train with the force a whole lot either, just like Rey. We saw a small montage of Luke training with Yoda, just like we saw a scene of Rey training with Leia. Along with her training a small bit with Luke. With the claims that Rey shouldn't have caught on so fast, it needs to be reminded that she was training with Leia for a year, along with being the granddaughter of Palpatine.
The only real difference in these characters is the fact that Rey is a woman. The women in the series have always been the side characters, and when Rey was put in the spotlight, she got the most unreasonable ridicule as a character.
Nostalgia and Other Sequels
Though the sequels have flaws, just like all the other series, the most hate comes from the development of everyone's favorite characters. The connection of nostalgia to the original movies does not allow audiences to watch these movies as a separate entity from the others. There are different directors, a lot of different actors, and plotlines that connect to the originals. These films are not objectively bad. They are entertaining, have interesting characters, and an interesting story.
The audience of these movies also need to take into consideration the amount of flaws even the original Star Wars movies hold. Every one of these trilogy;s have plot holes, awkward lines, and regardless people love them.
That is why fans always want more movies, however they come to a roadblock when they don't end up getting exactly what they expected. They demand more content, then criticize it's quickly produced nature or development of their loved characters.
From this we can conclude, while we can be critical of movies due to the connections they have made to previous instalments, we cannot claim these movies are bad due to simply that fact. The sequels would be good stand alone movies if they were not connected to an older series, and these needs to be thought about when watching any sequels.
Works Cited
Hogarty, Joe. "Where It All Began: The History Of The Original “Star Wars” In The Cinema." 26 May 2019. Wdwnt.com. April 2021.