Saga A Social Experiment I Conducted

I watched the Star Wars saga in this order; OT, OT:Special Edition, PT, ST, but I have always wondered how people would find watching the saga in chronological order. So I showed 3 different people of different demographics the saga from I-VIII and Rogue One. I thought it might be risky starting them off on TPM, thinking I may lose them there but actually they thought that was the perfect starting point and loved the film. Here was their judgement:

Female/27 years old/Likes Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and Avatar (no other interest in sci-fi or fantasy and hates war films)
Enjoyed the prequel trilogy, especially ROTS. Thought the OT was a bit rubbish and boring. Enjoyed the ST so far, thought TLJ was a good thriller. Thought R1 was good but very much a spin-off and not to be seen as part of main saga. Thought saga was good in general but not going to be a huge fan, interested in IX and to an extent, Solo.

Male/23 years old/Likes Doctor Who and Harry Potter.
Really enjoyed the PT, loved the politics of TPM. Thought OT was okay but wished there had been a more complicated story and more politics, felt simple compared to PT. Loved the new ST characters. Thought R1 was good but too much action over story. Excited to see Solo and IX, now keeps up to date with news and speculation.

Boy/8 years old
Loved all films. SW is now his favourite thing in the world. ROTJ is his favourite, mainly because of the music in the scene where Luke goes nuts against Vader. Although loves TFA and TLJ (probably watched TFA more than any other film), he thinks that TFA and TLJ should not have been made as ROTJ had the perfect ending and wishes the saga ended with VI. Enjoyed R1, especially K-2SO, really excited for Solo and IX.

Very surprising feedback, at least I thought so. Has anyone else here conducted a similar experiment with chronological viewing?

 

We are collecting statistical feedbacks here: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-last-jedi-statistical-analysis.50048510/page-7

 

Sort of. I have a number of friends with kids in 8-10 range. Only one of of them in that group is a big Star Wars fan but on the scale of Star Wars fandom I'd say they're closer to being a casual fan. The general impression they have, which saddens me, is that the ST is the perfect entryway for the kids because it combines the best parts of the PT and OT into one slick, modern package. They also like it for the same reasons and literally chalk up the hate to "Angry fanboys like (talking about me)." And all of the kids love it to such an extent that many of the boys now have Kylo Ren posters on their walls and toys and 2 of the girls are huge Rey fans.

One person even made an analogy to their new Mustang and stated that it had all the best elements of the past Mustang but all the best modern touches too.

The adults loved Rogue One. The kids did not like it as much as the ST.

That's all I've gathered from people with kids in that range anecdotally.

 

Of course, 3 people is not enough to make a general statement, but it's always good to see that the PT works really well without any other film. The OT is a bit harder to get through, partly because it comes after the very complex PT, but also just because it is a simple old-fashioned narrative that you never find in the movies nowadays.

Oh, and I fully agree with the 8 year old boy. The Saga should have ended with ROTJ.

 

And that's exactly why I would watch (though I guess such a marathon will never happen in my life) or introduce the saga to a potential viewer who doesn't know SW, in the order they were made, and not include either TCW or ST. I'm not sure if I'd include R1, possibly at the very end as a "flashback" to the OT, or maybe even start with it and then proceed with the OT and PT.

 

I introduced my four kids (6,7,8, and 9) to the SW films last fall. And then TROS when it came out. They all (except one, who doesn't like sci-fi) loved the whole thing. My youngest got a bit bored during parts of the slower ones (TPM, ESB, TLJ) but they were all able to grasp the overall story and recognize the parallels between trilogies' main themes for the most part. The biggest thing perhaps was that they actually saw I-VI as completely Anakin's story. Then the ST was basically a continuation of events after that, kind of a "what happened with the rest of the characters afterward" feeling. Them seeing Palpatine return seemed to make sense to them, as basically "he came back and they have to kill him for real this time" kind of idea. There was nothing missing by them knowing Vader was Luke's father from the beginning-and only my two oldest realized that Sidious and Palpatine were the same person. Also, they saw no discernable difference from a special effects and picture/audio quality standpoint from trilogy to trilogy-but then again, they're little kids...

At any rate, by seeing it all in a row from I-IX, with spinoffs in their place, they became very invested in the story as a whole-and the lack of OT shock value didn't diminish any of their enjoyment.

 

what this proves is:



the younger you are the less cynical you are. I think the 8-year-old boy captured what Star Wars is all about. And probably testament as why the Skywalker saga part of the franchise should have stopped after ROTJ

 

Yeah. I was fortunate enough to not use the Internet regularly until I was a teen, so I never saw the PT hate or that "it ruined the OT" until I was about 13 around 2011. And I was pretty shocked to see that. Luckily, I never really dug deeper into it until I was 17. And then I joined the boards during TFA to see the magnitude of anti-PT sentiment, which died a lot in the last few years. So, I was able not to see or think much of it during the height of it, and when I did realize it, it died down just as quickly as I found it during the ST era.

 

Reminds me a lot these tweets





Also if you are interested in digging in a bit

I mean I think seeing it all at once, the OT just becomes part of the wider hole instead of this....Pinnacle of Star Wars that thou shall not touch or mess with. It's just...a piece of a larger tapestry of Star Wars.

A tapestry that one also includes TCW, Rebels, Resistance, Mando, if one reeeeeeeeaaaaallly wants to add to the On screen Star Wars watch.

 

I agree with the highlighted. I've always felt the politics of the OT are very reminiscient of the Nazi era (at least the Empire itself), and I imagine there were many during the time of the OT that were in their childhood while all that was going on-or who had parents who lived thru all that, so I'd guess it could hit a note for them in that way (Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone who was an adult in the late 70's, cos I was only 2 when ROTJ came out so I'm just presuming based on logic). I also agree that the young generations of today-like 20 and under-enjoy the ST and possibly the PT more since they not only better reflect the kind of diversity we see in society today, but also that they are more "hip with the times" if you know what I mean in terms of the acting, comedy and action. I experienced this abit with my kids as well (see my previous post from a few days ago).

Now, one big thing I will add though is that another thing which contributes to why someone may like a certain trilogy better than another is also this: what was it that they were first exposed to?

It's a natural thing to greatly favor the original of something, cos that's when it all started for that person. We see this with books, movies, even music-there's a special sense of nostalgia that can't (no matter how hard we try) be matched by anything that comes after. There are many people that love the OT cos they saw them all in theaters but barely-if at all-like any other SW films, there are those (like my 18 yr old nephew) who greatly favor the PT but don't care as much for the rest, cos that is their first experience with SW, as a little kid. Both of my sons-who are 7 and 10-like Kylo Ren better than Darth Vader and they prefer the ST films the best, cos that's what was in all the stores, commercials, posters, theaters and even soup cans and school supplies when they were first starting to get interested in SW. There's of course many all-saga fans (like myself) and of course it's not a hard and fast rule, but there's no denying there's always just that extra something special about the first ones we were introduced to-the first ones that started it all for us and sparked our love for SW. Some may come super close, but still...just lack that special...something that our personal first one has.

 

Gonna be honest I think we are there... I know a few people around my age who think the OT is kinda boring

To speak for myself I defiantly find ANH slow at points and really only like the 3rd Act of ROTJ myself....Empire honestly holds up the best from begging to end

 

I first saw the OT when I was in my early teens (special edition) and enjoyed it very much. Then along came the PT and I really enjoyed it, probably slightly more than the OT. But I also discovered over the years at how much I enjoyed how the two trilogies meshed well together. I have yet to warm up to the ST, but I really enjoyed the two stand alone films.

Huh?

 

I find these kids you interact with wise....I can't wait for them to be the dominant voice of the Star Wars fandom and kick us old hats in the intellectual behind so we can go off and retire ;p

 

Sorry for the DP but I did think of something.

I do feel like overall the ST was skewered a lot more towards younger audiences by just the characters and the pacing and the action compared to the Anthology films and maybe even Mandalorian.

TFA especially.

So I can see age being a factor when it comes to maybe younger kids not liking the Anthologies like Rogue One more than the ST films.