lenny flank
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2016
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OK, as you know if you've seen the movie (and as you should have guessed if you didn't, from the title alone) Luke Skywalker dies--or, more correctly, he pulls a Ben Kenobi and vanishes, leaving behind his clothing. The Net is all atwitter at the philosophical meaning of it all etc etc etc. But what struck me about it was far more down to earth...... Disney SHOULD have titled the movie, "The Last of George Lucas".
With the "death" of Luke Skywalker and the passing of command from Leia to Poe, nearly all of the original characters are now gone (except the ones like C3PO and R2 who still make good merchandising, along with BB-8 and those little bird things). Disney is pretty well-known for keeping a tight grip on all its intellectual properties--they have been known to sue the shit out of nursery schools who so much as paint Mickey Mouse on a wall somewhere. It must have grated on Disney's nerves ever since they bought Lucasfilm that the franchise (and its popularity) was based totally on characters that Disney did not create, did not control, and was not associated with.
This movie has dealt with that. With "The Last of George Lucas", all those characters are gone, and the remaining cast is Disney, all Disney, and nothing but Disney. When the characters in the film talk about "forget the past", about “the end of the Sith, the Empire, the Jedi, the Rebels, the end of it ALL”), that is really Disney talking, telling us, “forget that Lucas guy--this is a DISNEY franchise from now on. The last remnants of the old franchise have been swept away. WE now have direct control".
One good thing, at least, was that many of the leading characters are now female. Traditionally, the role of women in scifi movies has been to be rescued by men and to be underdressed while it happens. This movie had strong females in strong positions of command. It’s nice to see. But, alas, I suspect that Disney has an ulterior motive for that too. Traditionally, scifi has been a genre for young males (hence, the preponderance of underdressed females in the films). Disney movies for the past fifteen years or so (from even before “Ferngully”) has focused on an audience of young females (and besides, Disney owns Marvel—which generates its quota of testosterone action films for the young male audience—complete with underdressed females). So now Disney can use the Star Wars franchise to do something that had always been difficult before—market scifi films (and merchandise) to an audience of young females. Alas, I suspect Disney’s motive for that is total full-spectrum market domination, rather than any political or social conscience…..
So now I presume that, Disney being Disney, they will merchandise everything from toilet paper to night lights and squeeze every nickel they can out of their wholly-owned characters until they finally kill the franchise through overexposure.
Those were my thoughts as I watched.
(Oh, and X-Wings and TIE Fighters are still THE coolest-looking things ever. Though Disney didn't invent them either, and will probably replace them in future episodes.)
With the "death" of Luke Skywalker and the passing of command from Leia to Poe, nearly all of the original characters are now gone (except the ones like C3PO and R2 who still make good merchandising, along with BB-8 and those little bird things). Disney is pretty well-known for keeping a tight grip on all its intellectual properties--they have been known to sue the shit out of nursery schools who so much as paint Mickey Mouse on a wall somewhere. It must have grated on Disney's nerves ever since they bought Lucasfilm that the franchise (and its popularity) was based totally on characters that Disney did not create, did not control, and was not associated with.
This movie has dealt with that. With "The Last of George Lucas", all those characters are gone, and the remaining cast is Disney, all Disney, and nothing but Disney. When the characters in the film talk about "forget the past", about “the end of the Sith, the Empire, the Jedi, the Rebels, the end of it ALL”), that is really Disney talking, telling us, “forget that Lucas guy--this is a DISNEY franchise from now on. The last remnants of the old franchise have been swept away. WE now have direct control".
One good thing, at least, was that many of the leading characters are now female. Traditionally, the role of women in scifi movies has been to be rescued by men and to be underdressed while it happens. This movie had strong females in strong positions of command. It’s nice to see. But, alas, I suspect that Disney has an ulterior motive for that too. Traditionally, scifi has been a genre for young males (hence, the preponderance of underdressed females in the films). Disney movies for the past fifteen years or so (from even before “Ferngully”) has focused on an audience of young females (and besides, Disney owns Marvel—which generates its quota of testosterone action films for the young male audience—complete with underdressed females). So now Disney can use the Star Wars franchise to do something that had always been difficult before—market scifi films (and merchandise) to an audience of young females. Alas, I suspect Disney’s motive for that is total full-spectrum market domination, rather than any political or social conscience…..
So now I presume that, Disney being Disney, they will merchandise everything from toilet paper to night lights and squeeze every nickel they can out of their wholly-owned characters until they finally kill the franchise through overexposure.
Those were my thoughts as I watched.
(Oh, and X-Wings and TIE Fighters are still THE coolest-looking things ever. Though Disney didn't invent them either, and will probably replace them in future episodes.)
