Fantastic Article on Fan and Critic Response to The Last Jedi

[labingi]

I loved this article on fan and critical responses to The Last Jedi and why the film is so divisive.

I see myself a bit in both camps (fan and critic). I liked it on the whole and like it more the more I think about it. Some of my niggles are fannish niggles: concerns that Luke and Leia wouldn't behave this way, etc. I think part of the what makes this surprising film easier for me to embrace than for some fans is that I'm very used to running parallel Star Wars fanon and canon. I've been off-canon in my head since the Expanded Universe started being canon in the 1990s(?). I'm even off canon a little bit with regard to the original trilogy. And right now, I'm glad about that because it makes the surprises easier to absorb. I can appreciate them without feeling that they have assaulted "my" Star Wars.

I am surprised, however, that there's so little talk about this film on LJ/DW. I mean, I know LJ, DW, and long-form fan meta in general are fairly dead, but... it's Star Wars. Are y'all not seeing it?

Comments

[vilakins]

I saw it and really enjoyed it, despite the fact that the rebels are on the ropes. The end, with what Luke did, and the little boy with his broom, made me very happy. I think it's the best of the latest three, and I really liked Rose too; I've heard a lot of people didn't.

This is a very good article too about the film.

I think people have held off posting because of spoilers. I certainly didn't want to say much, though selenak on DW pretty much did it for me.

[labingi]

Thanks for your thoughts and the link to the article. It is a good article. I also liked Rose. I wasn't excited about her especially, but I liked her fine. I didn't see Selenak's post despite bring subscribed. I'll have to go track it down. :)

[vilakins]

Selenak's post is here, and expresses well what I think.

[labingi]

Thanks. Just read it! It's very good.

[sffan]

I've been pretty non-bloggy for a really long time, thus the no posting.

I did see it and I did like it, but I also had some issues that prevented me from adoring it like The Force Awakens and Rogue One.

1) Too many things sub-plots. Each individual story arc was excellent. I feel like this movie should have been split into two. Because they couldn't, it made the movie feel really choppy and disconnected in a way that it actually wasn't
2) This is super nitpicky - too much slavish devotion to either the structure of the original 3 and/or the cartoon. Seriously, we've seen that throne room scene before. And Laura Dern's purple hair looked as out of place as a Ford Fiesta would have. It just threw me out of every single scene she was in. And don't get me wrong, I love purple hair. I had it myself for a while.
3) Snoke looked too much like a cartoon to take seriously. It's time for movies to lay off the CGI created characters for a while.

I do want to see it again, though and I will be purchasing it.

[labingi]

I feel like this movie should have been split into two. Because they couldn't, it made the movie feel really choppy and disconnected in a way that it actually wasn't.

Thank you for articulating that! I've been feeling it, but you sum it up really well. This is why I liked the end better than the beginning. It took until the end for the plot threads to all come together.

I also agree Snoke should not have been CGI. I actually thought he was one of the best CGI-rendered characters I've seen. Between the wrinkles, which hid some of the smooth unreality, and the weird face shape, which hid some of the unhumanness, I thought he almost looked real, but I would definitely have opted for completely real in makeup.

Thanks for your thoughts!