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| Image courtesy of Douglas Cootey |
[Insert standard disclaimer about it being poor form to say “I told you so”, but…]
Regular readers may remember how I warned Hollywood that moviegoers can only stomach so much cynical propaganda disguised as entertainment before a backlash sets in.
The main impetus for that post was the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters, which did indeed fail spectacularly. But Disney’s mishandling of the Star War franchise didn’t escape unscathed. Reader JD Cowan commented:
However, and this is a very unpopular opinion, I do believe that there will be a backlash on Star Wars: TFA eventually. Most of the defense against it is centered on waiting to see what the next movie does. If anyone has ever seen a sequel to anything J.J. Abrams has ever made, then you know exactly how good it will be.
To which observation I replied:
Almost certainly. The once undreamt-of phenomenon of fans expressing fond nostalgia for the prequel trilogy foreshadows the backlash.
Star Wars fans know they’ve been had. Some will have their cognitive bias shattered as soon as Rogue One.
This blasphemy against the high priests of Disney’s multi-cult earned us a heaping, smug helping of reddicule.
As a matter of fact, it turns out that we did.
In a single tweet, Weitz and Whitta spewed enough social justice buzzwords to sweep the SocJus Bingo board.
Hey, Disney, are you having reservations about two of your writers publicly associating one of your flagship IPs with an antidemocratic movement directly connected to what can only be called acts of domestic terrorism?
That’s what I thought.
For the record, I also thought that Disney’s run on Star Wars would start to evoke a backlash as soon as Rogue One.
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| OK. Perhaps this guy beat me to the punch. |
It’s truly mind-boggling. Lecturing and insulting your core audience diminishes their desire to see your movie. Who could’ve predicted that?
Answer: me and my readers.
In the interest of fair play, I’ll give my detractors the last word:
