ST Rian Johnson to write and direct Episode VIII (and also new SW Trilogy - see page 194)

My point was not suggesting you need to be intelligent to get the film, my point was that a lot of people clearly understood the film before RJ started clarifying - in response to Q&As, podcasts or questions asked of him in his twitter feed. The only think I can think off that has not been spoken about on the boards within the first week of release was the fact that Luke's Force projection was canon at one point in that Jedi Code book. And that has nothing to do with whether that moment works or not anyway.

See also any film that has any critical essay written about it, or any deeper meaning that gets analysed, and any film that involves a director being interviewed about his work. Everyone knows that all good writing is presented fait accompli with zero discussion before or after the fact. Full understanding is immediate and never discussed again once the good writing has been presented.

 

Is it bad if here I point out that earlier on a poster literally used WWE wrestling as an example of how to successfully juggle legacy characters with new ones? And somehow we have to engage with that nonsense and somehow do so without risking being in any way patronising.

 

Film commentary, you say?

 

Well I don't know either. But if he feels the need to clarify anything, it's a sign.

 

Is The Jedi Code, canon then?

 

Are you just ignoring that other people have pointed out that “clarifying” aspects of a film is literally what happens at q&a’s all the time?

Consider the sheer amount of discussion about every Star Wars film for a second. Now think carefully before answering this, because it’ll inform whether I believe you’re posting in good faith or not; can you imagine any scenario in which the existence of a new Star Wars film doesn’t provoke fans to ask lots of questions from the director, if the director attends QnA or has a twitter account?

 

Yes, it's a sign that people want to discuss the film.

 

It’s a shame so many directors do commentary tracks for home release of movies. Clearly the LOTR films were a total train wreck as they felt the need to not just one track but several from the directors, actors and special effects crew to justify why did things. How embarrassing. Did they not know they will only anger the haters and feed the trolls? They can’t win!

EDIT: it appears Artoo Dion already made this point hahaha.

Side note - giving interviews and explaining processes of story choice and direction are not a win/lose scenario. They are a factual recount.

 

OK, I've thought carefully, thanks.

You are completely right about the amount of discussion. With this movie much of it is negative.

If the story was better there would more agreement and the makers wouldn't need to clarify what they were trying to depict.

 

“Better” being entirely subjective. There’s no universal “better”

 

He did these kinds of Q&As for past films like Looper and Brick as well. This isn’t exclusive to this film. It’s just that there’s more of these due to this being his biggest film yet. He still answers questions online about his other films too.

However, there are certain things he’d rather the fans interpret as well. He’s clearly a fan of nuance. Too much for some. Not for others who enjoy nuance.

Tons of great films go over the average person’s head or become “I don’t get what the hype was about” films. I suspect that many of these films would divide too.
https://www.criterion.com/

Crowd pleasers that work pretty well for everyone are either classics (the OT/Shawshank Redemption/The Godfather) or are just Films focus grouped to death to become the equivalent of Independence Day or Fate of the Furious or something along those lines where they exist strictly for thrills and nothing more.

TLJ is personal enough and nuanced enough to be a classic SW film for some but different enough to also divide and anger some others.

 

The other important point is that silence from Rian could just as easily be spun as him having no answers and putting no thought into the script. If people want to interpret perfectly innocent actions in the worst possible light, they will.

 

Much of the debate is (sadly) negative.

 

Yep. See how KK’s silence is spun as “ooooh she hates the way fans have reacted and is going to sack RJ”
If she’d come out and praised him it’d be “of course KK praises Rian, he killed off the old guard in favour of KK’s favourite”

 

I do agree with you, but as there has been a lot of negativity about TLJ, its easy to see why people like me think such clarification is an attempt to justify things that are seen to be wrong, by some of us (I know many love this film)

Peace

 

It might be notable if Rian Johnson wasn’t notoriously open with fans to discuss his films.

 

An example:

Thank your posting this. This is exactly the attitude I keep seeing for fans of TLJ on these boards. You are the only ones who get it and everyone is else is inept. Whatever. Its all opinion.

 

Why is answering fans' questions viewed as "an attempt to justify things"? So how exactly is he supposed to handle interviews or questions from fans about his creative decisions? This really is a bizarre line of criticism.

 

You know, ultimately, it’s just a film. You can love it, you can hate it, you can be anywhere in between.

Everyone of us is right in how we feel about the movie. But it is just that. A movie.

Be good to each other. I don’t want to come across all let’s all hold hands. But there really is more important things in the world to get upset about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

This is a "perfect" criticism. RJ is screwed, no matter what he does.

 

When you say:

A) The movie is dumb or bad you’re saying fans are dumb or only like bad movies.

B) That people didn’t get it then you are inviting others telling you that they did get it. Many of us fans have been saying many of the things Johnson has since said before he said it.

We like it because we get it. Some things fly over people’s heads and they miss out and some things require more thought than some want to put into a blockbuster film. Everyone’s different. I doubt people are loving this movie because they don’t get it, or because they think huge parts don’t make sense to them though.

 

That's just stating the truth of the matter.

Yet again a negative interpretation trumps everything else. I don't think that's what Satipo meant.

 

I dislike the way Johnson has been explaining the movie, but it's okay because: 1.) I've been able to ignore him for the most part, and 2.) the movie is perfectly wonderful without further explanation. For those who like Johnson's approach to post-release exposition, power to them.

 

To back up my previous claims that TLJ is the most disliked Star Wars movie since AOTC...just go to the comments section of the Solo teaser trailer on YouTube. Filled with people making references to their dislike of TLJ.

It's real.

 

YouTube comments? Sounds scientific... not.

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/10/why-are-youtube-comments-worst-internet