Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
With “the death of the author” attitudes among lifelong fandoms, and corporate franchise owners/milkers calling them “toxic fandoms,” we’re reaching a point where the storytellers are caught between their audiences and their patrons. The Matrix subthreads in particular reminded me of this.
So, for a fun fandom kerfuffle, I’d like to know, what stories and characters do you believe you know better than their (current) authors/production team?
Well, (cracks knuckles) I am going to say Star Wars, and before I am challenged, let me say I understand it as it was pre-the prequels, before costume design and retconning and attempts to make sense of who-is-supposed-to-be-how-old-and-when came into play. I won't say I understand it better than, say, Lucas himself, but I think even he veered from his original stated vision at various points (cough, C3P0, cough). I definitely think I understand it better than Deborah Chow (who directed the Obi Wan series) and probably at least as well as Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who have had some swell ideas I guess but who have to answer to producers and higher-ups. And better than about 99% of redditors, in particular those who post regularly in any subreddit associated with the franchise.
Short of Rogue One and now the Andor series I've been left dumbfounded since Return of the Jedi, though unlike many SW fans I count The Phantom Menace as one of the best post-OT films.
"The last thing we need are any more trigger-happy fly boys."
They purposefully made an anti-Star Wars film that has the characters clearly state they will not be delivering according to viewer expectations. And later Finn makes a desperate suicidal attack on the bad guys and again a character plainly states that is wrong and stops him. They did everything but look at the camera and say "we aren't going to make space combat pilots look cool, here's a purple haired HR manager to explain why that's actually bad".
Then strangely had a very good lightsaber battle a bit later that delivers according to what fans would expect. And the following film went big on trigger-happy fly boys gunning down their enemies and desperate suicidal attacks repeatedly used to win. Which is back on brand for Star Wars. So they ultimately couldn't commit to subverting fan expectations. I assume Disney executives put them back on track.
Or—hear me out—they thought they could throw in Something For Everyone, and get money from Tumblristas in addition to the existing grognards.
Of course, incoherent jumbles don’t lead to cultural cachet. The diehard fans want some semblance of an artistic vision. But it’s the kind of oversight that I’d expect from a sufficiently large committee.
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