Re: Star Wars Anthology (Young Han Solo)
Because it's a goof you wrote to troll people. And it was a good one. It's a joke because it's entirely subjective to who is being asked. But it's funny and I'm sure you giggle under that bridge that you live when you see people reference it.
No it's not. SWIQ is real.
Now, did I know it would upset liberals who deny the existence of absolute truths? You know, the kind of person who believes that
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can credibly be called a better film than
Citizen Kane, if an American Millennial (or typical Chinese person, according to some) says it is. Sure I knew that. So of course, in that sense, I was playfully prodding them. But make no mistake--SWIQ is real. And I genuinely wanted to share it with you.
Perhaps, though, I should've explained how I came up with it. My best friend is also a huge Star Wars fan (he's not a member of this site). He and I discuss the movies frequently, and share almost identical opinions about them. We've both been incredibly disappointed with TFA and R1 (although we agree R1 had a couple of good parts). During our many lengthy discussions, we'd wonder why so many fans, really have a poor understanding of what does and does not belong in a Star Wars film. We'd struggle to identify, or label, what it was, generally speaking, that they were "missing", and that we were "getting".
Searching for an appropriate description, I said,
"It's like, they lack a certain Star Wars intelligence. Sure, they may know a ton of *facts* about Star Wars, but there's more to Star Wars than that. Just because they know stuff like, the Bothans stole the plans to the second Death Star, not the first, that doesn't mean they possess a proper understanding of what things do and don't belong in a Star Wars movie. Like Han allowing Greedo to get a shot off before blasting him. Anyone who thinks that's good, or even okay, has a low Star Wars IQ. A low SWIQ, if you will." My friend replied,
"Yeah! SWIQ! That's it!".
So, that's how it came about. SWIQ is comprised of two complementary, but very separate elements:
1) Factual Star Wars knowledge.
2) A more subtle knowledge of Star Wars. The ability to recognize and appreciate all the things, large and small, that make a Star Wars film, a Star Wars film. And similarly, to recognize and criticize all the things, large and small, in Star Wars films that do not belong there.
The theatrical cuts of the first two films released were perfect. In ROTJ, things began going astray. The PT was a mess. And both Disney features were severely lacking. Countless things appeared or happened in those six films that should not be in a Star Wars film.
As I said when I introduced SWIQ on this site, it is absolute, even though it has the appearance of being subjective. Its subjectivity is an illusion. Meaning, I think I have a high SWIQ, and that fans who disagree with me have a low SWIQ--on things like, for instance, Leia snubbing Chewie in favor of comforting a perfect stranger, If you think that was bad, then in my estimation, that counts towards you having a high SWIQ. And if you think that was good, or even acceptable, then I'm gonna conclude you have a low SWIQ. Now, the subjective part means that,
you will think
I have a low SWIQ (even if you're not familiar with, or reject the SWIQ concept altogether). And naturally, you will think that you, and anyone who agrees with you on such things, possess high SWIQs. But, you'd be wrong. Because there are absolute truths to what does and does not belong in Star Wars films.
It's called SWIQ.
The Wook