Next week, we’ll see the firstStar Warsmovie in over a decade, although you could be forgiven for thinking thatStar Wars: The Force Awakensalready opened and we’re already fans of it. Disney has gone all out to make the film’s release an inescapable force of nature. We know the names “Kylo Ren”, “Rey”, and “BB-8” as well as we do “Darth Vader”, “Luke Skywalker”, and “R2-D2” even though we haven’t seen the latestStar Warsmovie, and in truth, don’t know much beyond a few superficial details regarding the new characters.
I understand the excitement. I understand there are people who don’t only wantThe Force Awakensto be good; theyneedit to begreat. It has to make up for the prequels. It has to reach a new generation. It has to makeStar Warsburn bright again. It’s crazy expectations for a film, and yet I look around and I wonder how many people will be capable of bringing any skepticism into the movie.
“It’s true. All of it—the Dark Side, a Jedi—they’re real,” is a line Han Solo says in the final trailer forThe Force Awakens. That’s the same Han Solo who said inA New Hope:
“I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seenanythingto make me believe that there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything. ‘Cause no mystical energy field controlsmydestiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.”
The Force Awakensad campaign has basically said, “If the cynical Han Solo can be on board, then you have to be too. And if you don’t already believe in the magic that’s about to unfold, we shall pummel you with marketing until you do.”
And I want to believe thatJ.J. Abrams’ film will be terrific, and yet I have a few reasons for not believing inThe Force Awakenswith all my geeky heart and soul.
Trailers Aren’t Movies
Teaser culture conditions us to believe that trailers are events rather than the thing the trailer ostensibly exists to promote. As long as you were tuned into Monday Night Football to watch the premiere of thefinal trailer forStar Wars: The Force Awakens, you were part of “the event”. And once that that event was over and the trailer was available online, you could relive the joy of that commercialagain and again. And once just watching it had worn off, you couldanalyze it,remix it,recut it, or go throughcountless permutationsto keep the magic alive.
Except trailers aren’t movies. You can’t engage with a trailer like you can with a film, and you certainly couldn’t engage with this any of the three big trailers forThe Force Awakens, which made sure that the details of the plot and the characters would be vague. But those details were unimportant because it was selling you on a feeling, and the feeling was “Don’t you loveStar Wars? Don’t you want to go back to that world? Take our hand (there is literally a shot of characters taking each other’s hands in these trailers) and we’ll take you on a new adventure that will get you back to theStar Warsyou love. Trust us.”
The trailers are reinforcing a desire you already have rather than creating something unexpected. Abrams and his crew can spin it as trying to keep the mystery of cinema alive, but we know the logline ofStar Wars: Rogue One. Is the mystery of that movie dead to you? Are you no longer interested in seeing it? Of course not because it’sStar Wars, and if you care enough to watch the trailer a few dozen times, you’ll gladly cough up the money to see the movies until you have no faith in the films.
And thankfully for Disney, enough time has passed since the prequels that the stench they cast over the franchise has largely wafted away.
The Lesson of the Prequels
While the ads may play on nostalgia for the original trilogy, make no mistake that these movies are made for a new generation of fans, and that generation may have no attachment to anyStar Wars, or their attachment to the prequels may be tenuous at best.
The years between 2005 and 2015 have been an odd wilderness for the franchise. George Lucas lost the good will of the original fans (he doesn’t seem to care much about that, and good for him because it’s not like he needs it), and whileStar Warsproducts continued to sell unabated, it’s hard to tell who held the torch for the franchise. People who grew up with the original trilogy didn’t like the prequels, and the prequels—while ostensibly aimed at “kids”—are movies that deal with trade regulations, stone-faced romance, and killing swaths of children.Star Warsbecame more brand than story.
The brand is what Disney wants above all else, but the brand requires new stories to stay potent, and the prequels weren’t going to do the trick. Enter the sequel trilogy and the spinoffs, and there will never be a shortage of newStar Warstoys, bedsheets, mugs, shampoos, etc. again. That’s not to mention the ancillary revenues created by the theme parks, international markets, and so forth. Disney paid a lot of money for Lucasfilm, but they’ll get it back easily as long as people continue to care aboutStar Wars.
But why do they care aboutStar Wars: The Force Awakens? Because this is the real “new hope” for the franchise. It’s the hope for fans that a continuation of a story that began in 1977 can be good again, and it’s a hope for the studio that they can win new fans.
Someone who was five whenRevenge of the Sithcame out would be a teenager now, and Disney desperately wants these people to loveThe Force Awakensbecause they’re the ones who will need to be on board for the sequels and the spinoffs. These people weren’t burned by the prequels because they weren’t part of the build up. They don’t know how fever pitch can give way to crushing disappointment. They never went through the experience of trying to convince yourself that the film isn’t all that bad when deep down you know the truth. They weren’t among these people.[link to 1999 phantom menace video]
I’ve been on this ride before. Hopefully,The Force Awakensisn’t aPhantom Menace-sized disappointment (I don’t think it will be), butStar Warsand the people behind it should earn our trust rather than just assume we’ll blindly love anything just because it comes with the promise of a new lightsaber.
When Did We Fall in with Love J.J. Abrams?
J.J. Abrams is a good face for the franchise. He sells himself as a fan first, and since we like ourselves, we like him. He’s affable, he says the right things, and even his obsession with keeping things a mystery isn’t a cardinal sin. It’s like one of those weaknesses you put on a job application: “I just caretoomuch.”
But is he a great filmmaker? If you were to make a list of your five favorite directors, would he be on it? Would he make the top ten? The top fifteen?
Abrams is a shooter, and his best film, 2009’sStar Trek, is a triumph of direction over crummy story. The one film that’s been completely his—Super 8—is all tone and surprisingly little soul for a movie that’s trying so hard to ape Amblin movies. Abrams likes living in other people’s worlds, which is fine, but it also makes things unsurprising. He knows how to make a movie fun, but he doesn’t know how to make it substantive at the same time. You’re being fed an imitation.
And that’s fine until that imitation can’t support an atrocious story.Mission: Impossible IIIandStar Trekare fleet-footed, playful films that hit escape velocity on their weak plots.Super 8barely manages to pull through until the ending smashes it back to earth. AndStar Trek Into Darknesshad everyone apologizing before the credits even finished rolling. As for his TV series—FelicityandAlias—are these the touchstone TV shows we love? They’ve done more for Abrams than they have for any audience, and that’s fine. His shows and movies are resoundingly fine.
But shouldn’t we demand more than “fine” from the director and co-writer of a newStar Warsmovie? If we give him the benefit of the doubt, then he’s the fan who gets to make the thrilling movie he’s been waiting to make his entire life. He’s living the dream, and you can see that dream coming to life in the trailers. The film looks frenetic but unmistakablyStar Wars.
So perhaps Abrams isn’t just a journeyman director. He’s an artist, and he will speak to your poor, afflictedStar Warssoul. That’s what we hope he will be even if his track record is far spottier. Our desire to haveThe Force Awakensfill theStar Wars-shaped hole in our hearts is enough to overlook any criticisms of his filmography.
You’re Being Given What You Already Adore
Here’s the major problem with franchise filmmaking: it shuts the door on the new. There’s no room for the nextStar Wars; there’s only room for anotherStar Wars. And people have decided to go crazy for another rather than the new.
I understand the reasoning, and it makes sense that you want to support more of the thing you love rather than take a chance on the unknown. Assume there’s an alternate universe where Warner Bros. churns out as muchJupiter Ascendingmerchandise four months before that film’s release, and even if the film had looked good, would you buy it? You may not know much about Kylo Ren, but he’s got a nifty lightsaber. He kind of reminds you of Darth Vader. That’s good enough to buy this toy.
When was the last time you got really excited about a blockbuster franchise you didn’t know anything about? Part of the reason people flocked toGuardians of the Galaxywas because it was so unusual (even though it’s not that weird of a movie, and we’re pretty tame for ever thinking otherwise), but it was considered risky because of a talking raccoon and his tree buddy. Why are we excited forThe Force Awakensif it’s just offering a warm blanket? Shouldn’t we be pushed from our comfort zone just a bit?
That’s my greatest concern forThe Force Awakens: that it will swing the pendulum too far in the other direction, and people will eat it up. The lesson of the prequels shouldn’t have been “Don’t do anything different.” It should have been, “Tell the best story possible.” I’m afraid thatThe Force Awakensis a rehash of what we’ve seen before, and the originalStar Warsmovie didn’t comfort people. It excited them.
We’ve all bought intoThe Force Awakens. I have tickets for opening night in addition to my press screening. I desperately want the movie to be good.Star Warsis a singular universe, and I want to see how talented people can play in it. But there’s nothing wrong with withholding judgment until the closing credits roll. If you’re already convinced thatThe Force Awakensis the savior of the franchise, you’ve bought into a lot of tricks and nonsense.
