To Star Wars Fan’s Who Don’t Like Star Wars

by Mark “Darth” Gustafson | 09.06.10

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Mark Gustafson. I am the producer of Sock Monkey Sound and have had a great time over the past year trying to get our community behind the arts in the Rockford area. I have tried at great length to stay behind the scenes as much as I can, but you can catch me on the microphone from time to time.

To put it plainly I am a Star Wars fan. I’m not just a fan- I’m a BIG fan. When I wake up in the morning I drink coffee out of my Darth Vader mug and eat toast from my Star Wars toaster (it burns a silhouette of Darth Vader’s mask onto the bread). After my shower I use my Star Wars towel to dry off my Star Wars tattoos. I put on my Star Wars t-shirt and Star Wars belt with the Star Wars buckle. After lunch I grab a cookie from my Darth Vader head cookie jar and … well you get the idea.

This year is the 30th anniversary of what many, including myself, deem to be the best of all the Star Wars movies- The Empire Strikes Back. I felt it was time to write an article for Sock Monkey. And what better topic than Star Wars? I hear a lot of grumble from the masses that the new trilogy was rubbish. I disagree. I know my view isn’t the popular one, especially among hardcore fans. But after many years of watching the prequels I enjoy them a great deal. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I don’t hold them as matches to the original releases of “Episodes IV, V, and VI”- but as their own films made in a different time period. Over the years you can imagine the debates that have ensued over this topic. I will try not to address all the finer details of these arguments, as this article would be far too long to write- let alone read. This will hopefully address a larger view of the saga. So were to begin?

It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… sorry I had to. I will start with a question. Should artists in any form have responsibility to their fans? Were The Beatles wrong for “turning their backs” on the teenybopper fans by making Sgt. Pepper? Those young fans were the ones that made and defined the band. To one group of fans, Pepper became the new art form of “The Album” while to others it was nonsense. I’m not trying to put more weight on the prequels by relating it to Sgt. Pepper just showing that change will always seem good to some and bad to others.

Some may equate that The Beatles went from a pop sound to a more artistic vision and Star Wars did the opposite. To that I say, Weezer. I used to love Weezer so much so that I have a Weezer “W” in Blue Album Blue tattooed on my wrist, but I can’t get behind the new albums. That band had some great power-pop records that helped inspire many bands that I listen to still, but now they seem like that show The Soup to me. They attach themselves to TV and Internet fads and turn that into some sort of new career. Some kids love what they do now and it gets them interested in the older Blue Album and Pinkerton they may not have listened to before. That’s great but I don’t like their stuff now, so I don’t buy it. At the same time, though, I don’t rag on the kids jamming out to “Beverly Hills” or “Pork and Beans”. They eat that up; so let them. That leads me to my next point.

Darth serves up some Jar-ducken

Maybe these newer Star Wars movies weren’t made for you. If you don’t find the movie is to your liking, DON’T WATCH IT. But there’s no need to come down on those who do like it. These were made for a younger audience and did so successfully, I think. I have two children who (shockingly enough) love Star Wars. What’s interesting to me is to observe someone young seeing them “Ep. I – Ep. VI”. They are crushed to see their hero, Anakin, fall to the dark side and then overjoyed to see him regain his humanity at the end of the series through his son. Generations of filmgoers are now in the unique position to watch them as they like. Some may appreciate the way I saw them starting with the originals. Some may not. I have two nephews who are banned from the prequels because of the violence, so they are watching the originals waiting for the day they can see the new ones to discover how this bad guy was created. It’s like looking back on my five year old life.

As for the new trilogy having funnier characters (i.e. Jar Jar Binks, etc.), kids find him funny. For that very reason, he is one of the highest grossing characters in Star Wars memorabilia. I know I said I would try not to get into details but as some of these reasons are why haters discredit the entire trilogy, I feel some need to be addressed. If you were a Jar Jar hater you should look back on the droids in the original three. The idea for A New Hope was to tell a space opera from the point of view of the comedic droid duo. Some other good examples of comedic relief are the first time we meet Yoda and any sequence at Jaba’s Palace. Salacious Crumb anyone? When you were a kid I bet you were laughing your head off at these characters. I know I did. So, cut some slack for today’s kids that like the funnier characters in the new movies.

As for Anakin being a brat as a kid, have you listened to Luke on Tatooine? Talk about whining! I believe there are more similarities with these six movies than most want to admit. If you liked Return of the Jedi than I don’t know why you can’t like the prequels. They are the closest in style and ridiculousness. Ewoks are no reason to discredit that entire movie, so why are new characters cause for people not to like the new movies? You didn’t like the CG characters? Well, you probably didn’t like the new Yoda puppet either, so you can’t have it both ways. I could go on for days about these topics, and I have so I’ll stop this here.

I don’t think I had an end for this in mind when I set out writing it. I guess if you can take any idea from this it should be tolerance. You don’t have to like what others like. George Lucas didn’t ruin your childhood by making new movies. He just inspired a new generation to dream of The Wars. Hopefully some of those kids will get into the original movies, the great books, and comics that continue the series. And for those of you that are still upset over the special edition nightmare, the bonus disc of each original Episode is the original version directly transferred from the laserdisc- complete with original commentary. So you can watch the movie you remembered from your own childhood. Now can’t we all just get along?

Darth Gustafson

Han shot first? You bet your ass!