ST Is Star Wars purging the most demanding fans by design to bring in the new?

There seems to be this impression that the so called "real fans" are going to stick it to Star Wars and that will show them. Don't we have enough evidence to believe that the new Lucasfilm -- and I think even Lucas felt this way by the end -- is more concerned with making stories that the hope will connect with new people than focus exclusively on pleasing only the most demanding fans of the saga?

Consider the evidence:

1) They deliberately made the old EU irrelevant by design and started new canon. They knew this was going to infuriate people but they ran the numbers and didn't care. Out with the old. In with the new and anyone old who enjoys and wants to keep up with the new.

2) They decided not to adapt the Solo twins storyline which they knew would have been a hit with EU fans because they obviously felt they wanted to generate more buzz around a new story instead and not have another lineage-focused conflict.

3) They deliberately stuck to their guns when the anti-liberal folks swore that they'd boycott the film for a female protagonist and a black Stormtrooper. Again, running the numbers, and doing what they thought was right, and being willing to lose those fans who cared. I'd argue they stuck it to those people even more with TLJ but I digress.

4) They decided against another full rehash of the OT with the same parent/child issue and instead flirted with a Reylo dynamic that they must have known would play well with some new fans and alienate some others.

5) They made the choice early on to transition out all of the big OT cast members and not turn the new saga into an "old heroes on one final mission" kind of trilogy, deciding that each cast member would get their own movie in a way and that each would make way for new heroes.

So, I don't quite understand when people act like this isn't by design. This is a huge billion dollar company. They've ran the numbers. They've clearly determined that the most controlling fans are too difficult to please and have instead focused on all of the other demographics the Star Wars brand was losing to other franchises and brands and have decided to put their efforts into telling new stories for the fans who will go along for the ride and all of the new fans, including new kids, and new demographics, who are connecting to Star Wars for the first time in their lives via this Sequel Trilogy. There's no sticking it to them and it sounds like those who wanted to already have. Star Wars remains a global phenomenon that has already paid for its own purchase and the critical acclaim for the new saga will ensure that new fans, even younger, will find it and that this may end up being their first experiences with Star Wars.

Agree? Disagree?

 

I doubt it...

 

Doubt it's that complex. They have to count on the old Star Wars fans dying off anyway and needing to court a new generation and that generation is more liberal.

 

I don't think so...why would they?

I think it's just symptomatic of modern day blockbusters - ready-made, shallow heroes, basic character arcs and plot-hole filled storylines designed to set up big crowd-pleasing moments. All Star Wars has to do now is hold its own against Marvel and DC. It doesn't have to live up to its roots.

 

Oi, most of us aren't ready for our graves just yet thank you very much...

 

If you were a teen or older in 1977...you're starting to knock on that door.

 

Stop making fun of my age, or I'll beat you with my cane!

 

I was born in '77 and had my first cinematic experience with ROTJ ( as a 5 years old so I;m OK.... )

 

Thanks for the detailed response. I enjoyed reading yours (as usual). I do think you missed the part I'll bold though here:

They've clearly determined that the most controlling fans are too difficult to please and have instead focused on all of the other demographics the Star Wars brand was losing to other franchises and brands and have decided to put their efforts into telling new stories for the fans who will go along for the ride and all of the new fans, including new kids, and new demographics, who are connecting to Star Wars for the first time in their lives via this Sequel Trilogy. There's no sticking it to them and it sounds like those who wanted to already have. Star Wars remains a global phenomenon that has already paid for its own purchase and the critical acclaim for the new saga will ensure that new fans, even younger, will find it and that this may end up being their first experiences with Star Wars.

So, my thought was more that they've ran the numbers and believe that there will still be a lot of old fans who'll still who they think they can still deliver compelling stories to, and who'll enjoy the ride of the new stories, so long as there's a commitment to quality (and Kennedy's made it clear that she expects a lot), but that they are probably willing to lose the most controlling fans who say things like "Star Wars is dead to me if ____ happens" among some of the other things they decided they wouldn't be held hostage to in my OP. If they were truly scared of losing those types of fans I think they would have determined the most popular EU story (the Solo twins saga) and adapted it. They had to know they'd lose some and they were obviously comfortable doing so because they believe that they'll also gain new fans they didn't have in new demographics that weren't connected with Star Wars in 2012 to present day. And it sounds like they may have connected with many new fans too.

 

I feel like the ST was always supposed to be a "new flavor" of Star Wars. They want to drag as many of the OT fans back into the fold as possible (by giving us bits of the familiar) but if we abandon it, then they placate us with stuff like Rogue One and Solo. It's clever on Disney's part.

 

Nobody asked for a Han Solo movie.

 

The older fans mainly have families and kids = new possible customers, or not through alienated parents. Star Wars has always been a family event until now....maybe they don't want familes anymore, so if this is the new target.......

 

When I went to the theater there were families there... I don't see how Star Wars alienated families.

 

Huh? My second viewing was 80% kids under 15. They seemed to enjoy themselves. If we were talking about RO you might get me to agree...

 

OH dear. Why do we have to bring this down to liberal or anti-liberal.

It's simple.

Either people liked it or they didn't.

 

yes.

At least thats how I feel.

 

I mean the thought crossed my mind

Think about it, slowly getting rid of staples from the OT (Han, Luke, Ackbar)

getting rid of everything that the OT heroes built (families, New Republic, New Jedi Order)

not having ANY recognizable aliens from the OT or PT in any scenes (not including specific characters like Nien Nunb etc)

Hell Kylo Ren even yelled "You're still holding on! LET GO!" - He was yelling at us...


Disney wants its own GFFA, with no attachments to what was


Then again I love paranoia and conspiracies

 

Twilight fans? sure!

 

Purposely purging the fans? No.

Recreating Star Wars in their own image? Absolutely.

I jumped off the Reywalker bandwagon when it hit me, quite suddenly, that Disney didn't invest 4 billion dollars in George's franchise to spend the next 40 years paying endless reverence to his saga ideas. They would begin their take on the saga with a relatively "safe", throwback Star Wars film, but then follow up with a sharp right turn, one that took the saga in a direction distinct from Lucas.

And everything from that moment on made sense to me. Why they hired Rian Johnson, who is not a safe choice whatsoever. I expected to see them wrapping up the Skywalkers, and the older characters in general, as we watched the baton being passed, and protagonists being expanded beyond the confines of this one family.

They want the current fans. But they're also very interested in creating new fans, the ones who will fall in love with their Star Wars.

Disney is currently having it's cake, and eating it too. And it's working.

 

Huh..

Star Wars is still a family event, it still is for every generation but as George Lucas said " at it's heart Star wars is for 12 year olds", the film isn't perfect, but it is Star Wars at it's core; it still has conflict, battles in space, Jedi and mythological escape we as kids loved. Star Wars is and will always be about family. Which families and kids they continue to entertain is completely up to the general audience.

 

By design? Probably not. It's just a side effect of adapting to a new generation of moviegoers.

 

They almost have no choice if they're going to continue the saga in any direction. Think about it from a legal manner. If they were to make movies around the EU material, it would be no easy task to work out the licensing, copyright, etc. with all parties involved in any eu material they used. My only wish would be since the EU has been rebranded as "Legends", that they allow new stories to also be written under the Legends banner besides the new canon material. They should be more lenient and let authors have more creative freedom that way and if they see something they like, then work out a deal to incorporate it into the new canon. Bright side to everything is since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, maybe we'll at least get the classic fanfare added back into the movies.