i Editor's Letter: News for Star Wars fanboys
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Such outrage at the news Disney is buying Lucasfilm, and with it the rights to Star Wars and Indiana Jones! If you wondered what sort of person lived on Twitter, now you know: Star Wars fanboys. They are outraged that George Lucas, who created Star Wars, could be so crass as to sell to the Disney devil, even though they've universally panned everything Lucas has done since the first three films.
Neil Norman explains why the deal is actually a good fit. I'm not a big enough fan to get emotional, but many others are! That said, I did enjoy Star Wars the second time around – not when I was young, but when my girls were. I will commit heresy now by suggesting they haven't aged well, certainly not up against some other gems of the era such as Spielberg's Jaws, Close Encounters and ET.
Perhaps it's because of the obvious: as films that rely on fantasy and effects, today's ability to portray fantasy through effects is far beyond what even the maestro Lucas could achieve back then – they now look amateurish. We then focus too much on simplistic good vs evil plotlines, and in some movies, the terrible jokes and lame characters (Ja Ja Binks being the least favourite by light years – among adults! Children think he's hilarious). Not even the luminous beauty of a young Natalie Portman can save the day.
The trouble with the adult critics is just that: we have all grown up. We've lost our sense of wonderment and our ability to laugh in innocence. In 2015, when those of you with children take them to Disney's Star Wars 7, watch it not as your 1977 selves, but through the eyes of your child. You both. Love it will. I bet!
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