Here's been my experience, outside of the RPF, with respect to people's reaction to the films.
I know a lot of Star Wars fans. Not all of them are as steeped in the culture as I am, but a lot of them are. Some are OT only, some are OT but don't mind the SEs, some like the OT and PT, some know the EU although many don't. One guy was a contributing author at West End Games and wrote one of the D6 RPG sourcebooks.
With one, maybe two exceptions, everyone really enjoyed the movie. Many rank it just behind Empire as their favorite Star Wars movie. None of them -- aside from the 1-2 exceptions I mentioned -- had a problem with how the characters were handled, what they did, how they were portrayed, etc. These are all people who are about my age -- ranging from mid-to-late 30s up to early-to-mid 40s.
Several of the female fans talked about how awesome it has been to see a character like Rey on the screen, because it let's them feel like Star Wars can truly be "theirs," too. That's something they said they didn't really feel when it was about Luke and Anakin, or at least didn't feel the same way. They loved Leia, thought Padme was ok, but there wasn't that central hero in whom they could see themselves. Now there is, and they love it.
Most of them loved the messages in the film.
Most of them have said that there were a few "WTF?!" moments in the movie, and everyone has their particular criticisms, but on the whole, it didn't diminish their enjoyment of the films.
I think they're a pretty representative cross-sample of Star Wars fandom, ranging from the OT purists to the EU creators to the more casual fans who know and love the films but haven't committed them completely to memory or who don't get bent out of shape by things like the awful color timing in the SE blu-rays and DVDs or whathaveyou. And as I said, they've almost all found the film to be good-to-great.
My point here is that, while there is certainly a vocal group within the fandom that dislikes this film, and while their opinions are valid and they're entitled to them (even if I disagree with them), the notion that this film is an objective failure for all fans is simply not the case. My anecdotal experience doesn't bear that out, and the numbers don't bear that out. I recognize that the intarwebz may make it seem like there's this huge uproar against the film, but I think it's more accurate to say that it has not been met with universal acclaim but has generally been well received. The film also clearly doesn't "betray the fandom," because a goodly portion of "the fandom" seems to like it just fine.
None of this is to say that people aren't entitled to find the film unsatisfying or wish it had been different. Nor is it to say that I have no sympathy for them. As I've said, I went through feeling like "Star Wars isn't for me anymore" after the PT. But that view (1) seems to be a minority view, and (2) it's a real shame because I think there's much that one could like in this new setting.
I'll say that even if you dislike what's currently happening with the films, wait to see what's going to happen with the additional material set in the Sequel Trilogy milieu. You may find things to enjoy the way I have with the PT era. I still don't "enjoy" those films, and view them as fundamentally flawed in many ways. But I've come to appreciate the setting itself and the stories that can be told within those settings. Also, remember that Star Wars has grown exponentially in recent years, and it's not like ALL we have are the tentpole movies anymore. I think we'll see good stuff come of the ST, even if the films themselves don't fully satisfy.
Anecdotedly I had a similar polling of local people, one out of ten didn't like it, the rest were very positive.
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Here's been my experience, outside of the RPF, with respect to people's reaction to the films.
I know a lot of Star Wars fans. Not all of them are as steeped in the culture as I am, but a lot of them are. Some are OT only, some are OT but don't mind the SEs, some like the OT and PT, some know the EU although many don't. One guy was a contributing author at West End Games and wrote one of the D6 RPG sourcebooks.
With one, maybe two exceptions, everyone really enjoyed the movie. Many rank it just behind Empire as their favorite Star Wars movie. None of them -- aside from the 1-2 exceptions I mentioned -- had a problem with how the characters were handled, what they did, how they were portrayed, etc. These are all people who are about my age -- ranging from mid-to-late 30s up to early-to-mid 40s.
Several of the female fans talked about how awesome it has been to see a character like Rey on the screen, because it let's them feel like Star Wars can truly be "theirs," too. That's something they said they didn't really feel when it was about Luke and Anakin, or at least didn't feel the same way. They loved Leia, thought Padme was ok, but there wasn't that central hero in whom they could see themselves. Now there is, and they love it.
Most of them loved the messages in the film.
Most of them have said that there were a few "WTF?!" moments in the movie, and everyone has their particular criticisms, but on the whole, it didn't diminish their enjoyment of the films.
I think they're a pretty representative cross-sample of Star Wars fandom, ranging from the OT purists to the EU creators to the more casual fans who know and love the films but haven't committed them completely to memory or who don't get bent out of shape by things like the awful color timing in the SE blu-rays and DVDs or whathaveyou. And as I said, they've almost all found the film to be good-to-great.
My point here is that, while there is certainly a vocal group within the fandom that dislikes this film, and while their opinions are valid and they're entitled to them (even if I disagree with them), the notion that this film is an objective failure for all fans is simply not the case. My anecdotal experience doesn't bear that out, and the numbers don't bear that out. I recognize that the intarwebz may make it seem like there's this huge uproar against the film, but I think it's more accurate to say that it has not been met with universal acclaim but has generally been well received. The film also clearly doesn't "betray the fandom," because a goodly portion of "the fandom" seems to like it just fine.
None of this is to say that people aren't entitled to find the film unsatisfying or wish it had been different. Nor is it to say that I have no sympathy for them. As I've said, I went through feeling like "Star Wars isn't for me anymore" after the PT. But that view (1) seems to be a minority view, and (2) it's a real shame because I think there's much that one could like in this new setting.
I'll say that even if you dislike what's currently happening with the films, wait to see what's going to happen with the additional material set in the Sequel Trilogy milieu. You may find things to enjoy the way I have with the PT era. I still don't "enjoy" those films, and view them as fundamentally flawed in many ways. But I've come to appreciate the setting itself and the stories that can be told within those settings. Also, remember that Star Wars has grown exponentially in recent years, and it's not like ALL we have are the tentpole movies anymore. I think we'll see good stuff come of the ST, even if the films themselves don't fully satisfy.
Anecdotedly I had a similar polling of local people, one out of ten didn't like it, the rest were very positive.