MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Why is Star Wars so beloved?

Why is Star Wars so beloved?

posted 3 months ago by FredBurroughs (21447)
33 replies | jump to latest

I don't see where all the Star Wars love comes from. The movies were written for children, but mostly adults see them. I've seen all the movies only because a coworker recommended it. Why did it start so innocent and gradually get darker? The prerequisite to kill is simply to want it? Piece of cake. The only thing I truly enjoyed was the back story for the Clone Wars. The final battle was truly the lamest fight ever seen in Cinema. They were mostly dancing and avoided hurting each other.

Everyone just loves and adores Star Wars, but why?

[–] aliensalmon (5603) 3 months ago

Space. Force Powers. Lightsaber duels. What more can ask for?

[–] roger_dat (1561) 3 months ago

To me the short setence right at the start set me up just right

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77352) 3 months ago

The acting casts were really cool, the special effects were amazing, the oddball space creatures are legendary (seriously, everybody loves those Wookiees!)

I thought Lucas wrote extremely stupid dialogue (‘uh-oh, we’ve got company!) but overall I love Star Wars and the various associated projects.

[–] GolfnGuitars (2886) 3 months ago

I think it all goes back to the very first movie (I think it's now labeled as "Episode IV: A New Hope," but it was just known as "Star Wars" for a long time). My family didn't go to the theater very much to see movies growing up (unlike some families), but we actually saw "Star Wars" in the theater during its initial run. There just wasn't anything like it back then... just the way things looked on the big screen, plus the sound effects, seeing and listening to Darth Vader (who I think accounted for a large part of the movie's success), the "good vs evil" narrative, etc. It just hit all the right notes as a kid.

Also, I think the movie was marketed extremely well and the "Star Wars action figures" were really promoted heavily for kids (My younger brother and I--especially my brother --collected and played with them a lot as kids). It was kind of the "right movie at the right time."

I tend to agree with you about the huge "Star Wars" fans out there and the obsessions that some fans have with anything related to Star Wars. I was excited to see the "Prequel Movies," but, unfortunately, feel like George Lucas kind of botched them overall. I didn't really care for the recent movies either. But I still hold the first three "Star Wars" movies (IV, V, VI) in high regard. Each movie was a "must see" event for a lot of people back then.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77352) 3 months ago

I agree that the original trilogy was pretty much perfect, the prequel trilogy was sometimes a bit boring but I did enjoy the final three movies. I sort of enjoyed having a female Jedi hero who kind of rocked…awaiting the usual soyboi cuck woke accusations LOL!

[–] GolfnGuitars (2886) 3 months ago

Awesome! You won't get any accusations from me! 😀

I should say that, despite the flaws of the "Prequel Movies," I saw all 3 of them in the theater and found them all to be entertaining. I remember seeing "Attack Of The Clones" on a rainy late May day back in 2002 and it fit the mood of that movie so well. That was the last movie I saw in the theater as a "single person"...less than a month later, I first contacted my future wife and that was that! 😀

[–] mikethemartian (6705) 3 months ago

I hate when it is called “Episode IV: A New Hope”.

[–] GolfnGuitars (2886) 3 months ago

I don't like it either...it will always be "Star Wars" to me.

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 3 months ago

They started calling it that years before ep1 came out though , i remember my dad joking "oh we missed first 3 " , mustve been when it first came on TV , or into the video store.

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 months ago

I think it was re-released in cinemas as Episode IV: A New Hope in late 1980 or during 81. (After Empire Strikes Back was released in any case, which was always called Episode V.)

And it was released on VHS in circa 1982 under the rejigged title.

[–] Pactive (19) 3 months ago

You've only recently watched them?

You need to put things into the context of it being 1977...

[–] FredBurroughs (21447) 3 months ago

I don't know what you mean about "the context of it being 1977", but if you're one of those people who harp on the whole "Jimmy Carter = Darth Vader" theory, you'd best take that baloney to the Politics board.

[–] DarthAckbar (2039) 3 months ago

OT fans were hooked as children

they roped in their own children

PT fans were hooked as children

they roped in their own children

that's millions of child fans who were impressionable and then became fans for life

[–] MaximRecoil (4597) 3 months ago

"that's millions of child fans who were impressionable and then became fans for life"

It doesn't work that way, at least not for me. There were a lot of TV shows and movies that I liked as a kid, but they don't hold up now.

I liked any and all cartoons back then; I couldn't get enough of them on Saturday mornings. Now the only ones that hold up are Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

I liked the A-Team, Knight Rider, Airwolf, and MacGyver, but I find those shows boring now.

I liked the original Star Wars trilogy when I was a kid and I still like them now (theatrical cuts only), because they are good movies; not just good from the perspective of a kid. The same goes for Star Trek (the original series, plus some of the original cast movies). I don't care for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I didn't like it all that much when I was a kid either, but I liked it better then than I do now. It was never as good as TOS in my mind.

[–] DarthAckbar (2039) 3 months ago

fair enough,

but i feel like i do have to point out,

here we both are, posting about STAR WARS

and almost 50 years later

[–] Pactive (19) 3 months ago

An excellent point.

[–] jriley555 (8117) 3 months ago

That's it. Anyone watching this drivel for the first time as a sentient adult would give all future endeavors, permutations, reconfigurations, pre and post quels, a hard pass.

[–] VinceD (9805) 3 months ago

I think you're about my age, right?

In any case, I somewhat understand what you mean. I like some Star Wars stuff, but I don’t fully connect with it the way I see others do—some folks practically treat it like a religion!

My hypothesis is this: if you were born just a few years too late to catch the original trilogy in theaters, and then were in your late teens or early twenties when the prequels hit in the '90s, you sort of missed the wave of the cultural phenomenon.

Here’s what I mean: Someone that was ten years old in 1977, probably saw the original Star Wars in theaters and grew up with the original trilogy on cable and VHS. Fast forward a couple of decades and the prequel trilogy comes out. Now this same person is an adult, perhaps with kids of their own, and experiencing a surge of nostalgia as they take THEIR kids to see 'The Phantom Menace' (1999) in theaters. This introduces their kids to the Star Wars culture. A few years later, these kids are watching the Clone Wars cartoons and reaching adulthood when the shitty sequels drop, maybe even watching them with THEIR own kids.

That’s why I initially asked about age. I was born in '79, so I was either not around or too young to experience the original trilogy in theaters and never developed the same level of nostalgia that some others have. I saw 'The Phantom Menace' in theaters and was, to say the least, underwhelmed.

[–] FredBurroughs (21447) 3 months ago

I truly appreciate the honest response, dude, but I'll be honest: I did not put that much effort into the OP and expected everyone to immediately see it as a jokey copycat parody thread.

[–] VinceD (9805) 3 months ago

LOL 🤷‍♂️

[–] FredBurroughs (21447) 3 months ago

I definitely agree with all your points, though. ;-)

The proliferation of Star Wars as a monoculture myth is still worth discussing, especially since it spans at least a couple generations.

[–] VinceD (9805) 3 months ago

Ahh ok I see the other thread now lol.

[–] GolfnGuitars (2886) 3 months ago

I thought the post seemed "out of character" for you, given your knowledge of movies and based on your previous posts. But I didn't see it as a "parody!" 😀

What's funny is that I've never read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I think that's why I didn't make the connection that this was a "parody thread."

[–] BuckleBilly (1107) 3 months ago

The original trilogy was a big improvement on special effects and storytelling.

The prequels were the first new Star Wars in theaters for young people born after 1981. It was 23 years without a new Star Wars movie. They also had an impressive show CGI's capabilities

The Disney Era is nostalgia had overabundance of material. It became normal and lost popularity

Now, I think Star Wars is as appreciated as the matrix.

[–] parkerbot (8993) 3 months ago

I think the people who grew up with it love it, everyone else, probably not so much.

Personally, the first two were great, the third not so much.

The Christmas special showed that the franchise was not made of stainless steel and would rust in time.