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Harrison Ford on Jimmy Fallon earlier this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0qrxL8oGbE
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This is probably the most refreshing Force Awakens discussion I've seen on any podcast so far. So much of what I've seen, read or heard on the topic so far has been about fans being swept up in fannish-gushing and giddiness.
ReplyDeleteAnd Omar is absolutely right with every point he's making in this discussion. We nerds have been burned so many times, and we also need to accept the harsh truth.
With the mainstreaming of science fiction, superheroes and other things we love, the price we pay for getting so much new stuff with great production values is that we're longer the target market for it.
Disney and Lucasfilm are responding to the prequel backlash by pouring on the nostalgia with both their movies and their comics and novels and toys.
People want cute robots and TIE Fighters and Stormtroopers and Han and Chewie. It's what people think of when they think "Star Wars" is. It's a massive course correction that very likely has a coldly corporate motivation behind it.
But that doesn't mean it can't also be great, or that it can't be art. Toy Story 2 was originally slated to be one of Disney's countless cynical direct-to-DVD sequels. But it ended up being so good that they gave it a theatrical release.
I'm probably somewhere between the two of you on Star Wars these days. The Omar in me is very strong, and I spent a good decade feeling exactly the way that he does now. I might end up getting burned by the Force Awakens, but what I've seen so far have given me real pause and a reason to doubt my more cynical impulses.
I'm starting to hear more negative than the positive. I will be taking my 8 year old. She is pretty excited as am I . I am saddened that George wasn't really involved in the production. It must have been hard to walk away, even with the huge paycheck. I think the real misstep is the movies in between. I sure they will be some compelling stories, but is it too much. 25 years ago I would have said hell no today I feel like be carefull what you wish for. I grew up with this franchise from the tender age of three. I lived through the dark times. I reveled in the high expectations and heady days of the summer of '99. I quietly mourned SW going away again after Sith. It was a good finish to the saga but it didn't match my imagination of the clone wars and the fall of Anakin that I would envision with my Kenners. I enjoyed SW clone wars but it wasn't my SW. It had passed me by. The new movie is nostalgia and market research shoved down our throats, but maybe they are going with what works. I like that I don't know where our heroes are going. There is no end point. Am I feeling the hype? Hell yeah! I am happy SW will continue. I just hope that it will continue in a wise manner. Great episode! MTFBWY!
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