Internets, you sure can be an angry place. After the growing backlash against Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson responded to the hate. I'm not sure he really needs to do this, but I suppose it's nice that he did. I had my problems with Star Wars, just as I have had problems with almost any movie I've ever seen. The difference is that Star Wars is such a nostalgic, prized part of Science Fiction history that fans believe it is "theirs". The only reason that George Lucas wasn't publicly castrated during his catastrophic return to the series was that it was his friggin intellectual property, so what can you say? Stop making your amazing ideas suck?
But now we have Rian Johnson, who has nothing to do with the previous films, so fans are freaking out, screaming, petitioning, making death threats, the whole nine yards. I enjoyed the film, but I thought it had some problems. I would have liked to see more of some stuff and a lot less of other stuff, but, hey, that's life. To quote an amazing song, "you can't always get what you want". Personally, I think everyone should take a deep breath and thank God that we didn't get a film as bad as any of the prequels, but that's just me.
In any event, warranted criticism or not, Johnson has responded. Give it a read below, then go watch the original trilogy and weep for what could have been. Or realize, "You know what? It could have been much, much worse."
Kylo Ren's lightsaber is still stupid though.
Johnson had this to say:
"I’m aware through my own experience that, first of all, the fans are so passionate, they care so deeply — sometimes they care very violently at me on Twitter. But it’s because they care about these things, and it hurts when you’re expecting something specific and you don’t get it from something that you love. It always hurts, so I don’t take it personally if a fan reacts negatively and lashes out on me on Twitter. That’s fine. It’s my job to be there for that. Like you said, every fan has a list of stuff they want a Star Wars movie to be and they don’t want a Star Wars movie to be. You’re going to find very few fans out there whose lists line up. I also know the same way the original movies were personal for Lucas. Lucas never made a Star Wars movie by sitting down and thinking, ‘What do the fans want to see?’ And I knew if I wrote wondering what the fans would want, as tempting as that is, it wouldn’t work, because people would still be shouting at me, ‘F— you, you ruined Star Wars,’ and I would make a bad movie. And ultimately, that’s the one thing nobody wants.”
“And let me just add that 80-90% of the reaction I’ve gotten from Twitter has been really lovely,” Johnson added. “There’s been a lot of joy and love from fans. When I talk about the negative stuff, that’s not the full picture of the fans at all.”
