The first film in the new Star Wars trilogy, The Force
Awakens, won’t be about for another year, but you can see the
trailer today. It’s got rolling droids, Storm Troopers, X-Wings,
and a nifty new lightsaber. It’s great. Really, really
great.
Watch it below:
Low-flying X-Wings on a misty river. Yes.
I’ve been somewhat skeptical about this project. Another
trilogy? By J.J. Abrams? The same guy whose last film was
an awful Star Trek reboot sequel? But I’m slowly being
won over.
I
suspect part of the reason is that, in contrast to the last
Star Wars trilogy, the filmmakers and producers are
actually paying attention to the audience this time around. They’re
aware that the prequels were poorly received, and that fans are
skeptical. Part of that is the transition in creative leadership.
The prequels were made by George Lucas, the creator of the original
trilogy, who, with a few exceptions, often seemed uncomfortable
with, if not outright dismissive of, the incredibly intense fanbase
that grew up around his creation. And the prequels reflected that;
watching them, you often got the sense that Lucas didn’t really
want to make the movies, but that if he was going to make them, he
was going to make them his way, giving the fans what he was
interested in.
Since then, the Star Wars universe has been
sold to Disney, which isn’t bound up in the same sort of
decades-old creator/fan relationship as Lucas. So you get a more
straightforward, confident attempt to give fans something they
might actually want to see, rather than, as with the prequels,
something that the creator thought they should see. In some sense,
the Star Wars franchise, which helped create both modern fandom and
the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster, has been handed off to the
fans. Yes, it’s been bought by a giant corporate entertainment
behemoth, determined to make as much money off the brand as
possible, but the people involved in the film all grew up in a fan
and film universe shaped by Star Wars, and the key
creators on the new trilogy are all Star Wars geeks.
They’ve all seen Star Wars invaded and shaped pop culture,
and at this point they probably have a better sense of why it works
and why people love it than Lucas does.
As with The Avengers franchise, what you’re seeing
here is a sort of pop-culture transfer of power to fans—or at the
very least, a recognition that as these series and franchises have
grown up and expanded and become part of the pop culture firmament,
fans have become part of the story too.
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