ST Why I think TFA is going to resonate with a lot of young people (and do very well)

The bolded for me as well.

 

Paul McCartney of course transcends generational youthful rejection of parental culture. The Beatles after all, as they themselves admitted, were bigger than Jesus. McCartney is like Shakespeare or the bible. He's not pop culture. He's the thing that pop culture is built on. Star Wars never had that kind of pull.

And yeah, that midnight Toys R Us event is ALL about the kids.

what teenager wants to sit in a movie theater full of 40-50 year old men?

 

We aren't there to see who is in the theater. We are there for the movie.

 

But teenagers reference what older adults like so that they know what to dislike. You can't even tell a 10 year old what to like. They find that out from their cohorts. And their cohorts aren't interested in Star Wars.

For most kids, Star Wars is just "that thing grampa likes." Like trousers that pull up to your chest and going for long walks in the mall

 

I'll preface this, I'm not African American (or black), nor do I live in the United States although I'm a frequent visitor because I have business over there.

I am an Italian/Egyptian Australian, which I can assure you is our equivalent (of course without the slavery/frequent shootings by police etc) and I can tell you that growing up I mostly associated with minorities like myself because there was racism from the anglosaxon/white majority.

Our group at school mostly listened to hip-hop, in our circle if you professed a love for Nirvana then it would set you apart from the rest of the group. Remember that your group is your 'protection' from the majority who don't seem to like you for being who you are.

White kids listened to Nirvana, went surfing and played rugby etc and non-white kids listened to hip-hop/breakdanced and played basketball. Now of course I could have listened to Nirvana and surfed but I'd be all on my own, no surfer looked like me - surfers all had blonde hair.

All I am saying is -

1) We can't pretend to know how someone feels about race and how that impacts them.
2) Racism hasn't been eliminated
3) Having someone of your race in a movie series you like might go some way to making liking that movie series less of an issue

 

While people may disagree about whether Paul McCartney ranks as high as Shakespeare and the printed bible in western pop culture, we all agree that very few Star Wars fans were born after 1975, and not even a rounding error of the population of children born after 2000 has the slightest interest in Star Wars.

 

Seriously, show us the data.

 

Im more of a take me away to another galaxy type fan but when i saw ESB - i didnt view lando as black, just another character. Where i grew up we just didnt think of it that way, they just have or dont have a better tan than you. But your reasoning makes sense and if it creates more fans..then that just means more movies for said fans...i cant argue against that.
I hope it resonates with young fans, technically people my age are supposed to be like grown up and stuff like that and not into that nonsense.

But the kids? they need to escape into a galaxy far far away from terrorist, wackos with guns, government politics, gobal warming, dying animals, poverty for at least a couple hours.

I am amazed at how people find these expressive memes for any specific situation.

 

I'm equally baffled by this statement, I'm pretty objective when it comes to my fandoms, I accepted there was a day when kids couldn't name all the Ninja Turtles (ok they're back now but a few years ago kids were clueless) but as for Star Wars I'd say some of the most avid consumers of new Star Wars material were born after 2000 otherwise Lego star wars wouldn't be the juggernaut it is. Clone Wars wouldn't have stretched for 6 seasons and we definitely wouldn't have Rebels. Us hardcore fans are the minority not the kids.

 

All you have to do is look at the population trend lines for children in the U.S. and think about tickets sold declining from ANH through ROTS. With every film, a smaller percentage of children saw the movie. And the current TV audience of Rebels is extremely small as a percentage of US kids. The vast majority of boys between the ages of 7 and 18 saw Star Wars in 1977. A tiny fraction of that segment watches Star Wars Rebels. Probably as many 40 year old men as kids watching that dumb show.

And things like the midnight Toys R Us Star Wars event. Why midnight? Because adults are buying all the merchandise.

Rebels is no phenomenon among kids. It has about as much significance as "Dog With A Blog."

 

No one agrees with you, I think you've noticed that surely?

 

I would seriously argue that yes, Star Wars is as foundational for pop culture as the Beatles. Both changed the media landscape in their own ways, and both are still points of reference for today's creatives. If you want to take the analogy further, McCartney solo is a bit like the PT--popular enough at the time, but mainly because of past glories. The next kid to get hooked on the Beatles, however, isn't going to start with "Coming Up"--it'll be Sgt. Pepper's or The White Album or Revolver. Similarly, it'll be the OT that forever keeps this franchise alive--that's why all these new movies are treating ANH as Ground Zero: because it transcends pure nostalgia.

The analogy is more apt than you realise.

 

Hey - here are some real stats we can talk about

http://www.statista.com/statistics/317658/appreciation-of-star-wars-by-demographic-great-britain/

 

I think the thing there is choice. Back in 77 the only way to see Star Wars was in the theatres. Nowadays we're not limited to that. We want to see it 20 times, we know it'll be on demand in 4 months. Up until the past few years cinema was dying a death.

 

I know we all want to believe that the object of our fandom is as beloved by everyone as it is by us, but it is simply not the case. Star Wars is an old man brand, like Barbasol or Saltines.

TFA is not going to resonate with children. Many parents, particularly older dads, will drag their kids out to Star Wars over Christmas, so the movie will make plenty of money. But it has as much chance of capturing the hearts and minds of children as Tom Cruise and his Mission Impossible franchise.

 

Laser swords, cool-looking villains, aliens and starships, knights and high adventure. All presented with cutting-edge VFX. Yep. Kids will want to have no part of this nonsense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/f...star-wars-endures-even-for-children.html?_r=0

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/02/162151736/how-star-wars-seduced-another-generation-of-kids

 

Can you explain how a reboot of the 1978 Lord of the Rings film made so much money?

 

I accept that it may be, in the same way that most people who listen to the Beatles are Boomers. But there will always be new fans getting hooked on what grabbed us all in '77, or '80, or '83, or '99. And unlike the Beatles, SW will soon be putting out new product designed to both capture the essence of the classics and modernise the brand. So I'd like to know from whence you get your certainty.

 

reboot of animated feature films, one of which was never completed. Literature follows its own path, and there were waves of Tolkien fans, including those out of the late 70s early 80s, the same wave of fans that Jackson himself was a part of. And Jackson#s production design was meant to serve that generation of fans. But apart from that. Fellowship of the Rings was just a fantastic movie, and it created its own momentum apart from the books.

TFA is just another sequel, and few sequels ever really aspire to greatness. Star Wars was a one in a million with the second most successful movie of all time, followed by the most successful sequel of all time.

Lightning will never strike again as far as Star Wars is concerned. It will make big money, but the smart money is on it being just another forgettable sequel. All the more reason to think it won't particularly resonate with anyone who didn't grow up with the OT.

 

You clearly don't know many kids.

Put it this way, would Disney spend 4 billion on something that is purely beloved by 50 year old men? It just wouldn't happen. Even as a 30 year old I realise we are not part of their longterm strategy here.

 

To be honest, that sounds like HS teenage clique garbage perpetuated by kids making differences of skin color. But yes, I admit that I will not be able to grasp it. When I grew up, my Jr High and High School was very diverse in it's racial makeup. We were all from mostly middle-lower middle class families so most of us knew what the rest of us went through despite color.

I will also admit that I think that there is a much bigger racial divide among kids now than there was when I grew up. I will even toss in my tinfoil hat and say that I fully believe that the media and even the government have been driving this wedge for over a decade.

To end, I was at no point trying to turn this into a debate about race. If it is going to be one, we should stop.

 

I've explained that in another thread. Disney spent the money on Lucasfilm as a strategic acquisition to keep Star Wars out of the way of its premier money earning film property MARVEL. If you don't want to compete with something, buy it. Star Wars has money making potential, and Disney didn't want it purchased by another company that would pit films head to head against the Marvel titles.

Now Disney can keep Star Wars safely out of the way of Avengers.

For the record, I agree completely with the (and do very well) part of the thread title. I just don't think it's going to be a huge hit with children and young adults. In part because it's unlikely to be a particularly good movie. It will probably be just ok. And you can't really build a new generation of young fans on a movie that's just ok. That's why the PT movies didn't really create a new generation of young Star Wars fans.