Mark Beall at Cinematical talks about the prequel trilogy, at length. Nothing new, really – the entertaining part is the commentary over at Big Dumb Object:
I’m so sick of this. No one seems to understand. Let me spell it out (hopefully for the last time).
When you saw the original Star Wars films you were a child. Children love the new Star Wars films. Your expectations of the prequel films are not that of a child.
A bit harsh, maybe – Beall isn’t all that obnoxious, on the grand scale of fanboy obnoxiousness. (It goes to eleven.) But true enough. And as a ‘hardcore’ fan, I really don’t see why it’s so hard to just shrug off the prequel films if you don’t adore them. I certainly didn’t enjoy them as much as the OT, but I don’t feel the need splooge over fandom because of it. They’re just… there. They were a good excuse to gather and do fun fannish stuff. And snark. Very, very good for snark. But why continue to dwell on the bitterness?
And can we please drop the ‘true fan’ crap already? You don’t have to adore everything about Star Wars to be a ‘real’ fan, otherwise most of CJ would have been disqualified the moment the notion of a burgerpult entered our heads. (Looong before TPM.) There is NO SUCH THING as a ‘true fan’ or ‘true fanboy.’ You like the movies? ANY of the movies? You’re a fan. It’s not an all or nothing situation. Star Wars is much too large, both as a franchise and a fandom, for such a mindset to be practical. So, yes: deal.
Preach on, sister! Let us get an amen from the crowd!
Yeah, Mark Beall wasn’t obnoxious at all, I’m just so bored of people talking about how they don’t like the prequel trilogy.
I agree with your thoughts about being a “true” fan.