Discussion Could "The Force Awakens" receive some backlash from fans after its release?

If you're following the other threads on this forum, especially the PT forums or spoiler allowed forums, you might have noticed that there are some fans who don't accept the marketing approach of The Force Awakens, which kind of reject the prequels for what they are, and others who don't accept the storyline made by Kasdan and Abrams after putting aside Lucas' script, and there are also some who do not like the pandering towards nostalgia.

It might be a very sensitive subject, but I won't be surprised if The Force Awakens, and the Sequel Trilogy in general, receives some blacklash or hate from fans after their release. After all we are talking about 3 generations who grew up with Star Wars: those who have experienced the Original Trilogy (OT fans), those who experienced the Prequel Trilogy (PT fans), and the very younger ones who grew up with The Clone Wars animated series.

There's an interesting article from Furious Fanboys published a couple of month ago suggesting that The Force Awakens could be as hated, maybe even more, than The Phantom Menace, since we are assisting to the same phenomenon with the upcoming release of the 7th movie as before the release of Episode I: people who are already making up the story in their heads and the movie not being what they were expecting.

There's also a movement in fandom, called "Save the Expanded Universe". Those EU fans were really upset when the Expanded Universe was rejected from the Star Wars canon a year ago, and a movement of negativity within this group has started by spreading hatred towards all new Star Wars content taking place in the post-Return of the Jedi era (see the example with what happened the latest book Aftermath: http://furiousfanboys.com/2015/09/a...algia-attacking-his-book/#oQr1YqfTQ5rbfrLK.99 )

Remember, there's no spoiler allowed here!


Mod edit: Removed fully copy/pasted article from Furious Fanboys. If people want to read it, they can go there. The article contained links and even hints that were a bit too close to the line for the No Spoilers Allowed forum.

 

The hype for the force awakens is not NEARLY the same amount of hype that the phantom menace had. Also EU fans are a minority infact most people don't even know what it even is. In other words I doubt that it will get the same backlash as the phantom menace got.

 

I do definitely agree that the force awakens will receive quite a bit of criticism; some for choices that Abrams has made for how the story progresses and how we see things, and also for the fact that The big three are not used perhaps in the film in the way that most people will have expected. I think there will be more accusations of ruining someone's childhood with this one, as opposed to the Phantom Menace, mainly because this one includes the very same actors/characters that those fans had grown up with – allowing for a more direct criticism when compared to how they remember Star Wars as a kid.

That being said, I think it's inevitable that it will receive criticism. It seems every type of Sequel that continues a story from some childhood classic or other is met with unrealistically heavy expectations. I mean heck, Jurassic world performed fantastically in the box office – and IMO it was a great movie. But it's still faced quite a bit of criticism for this and that. No one will ever be completely satisfied with any sequel.

I expect that TFA will likely be a great Star Wars movie, worthy of its place in the saga. and I'm sure it will perform phenomenally in the box office… but it will still be met with its fanboy hate I'm sure...

 

There's a 100% guarantee of some backlash, but nothing will come close to TPM's backlash. The idea of a bad Star Wars movie was far less apparent back then than it is now.

 

It won't be the unanimous number 1 pick for favorite movie for everyone and that is fine. Just give it a fair shake.

 

All these points have been predicted. It definitely will have its critics, and already has. There are those who don't like it being Disney, don't like it being directed by J.J. Abrams, etc., and will forever recycle the same gags about Mickey Mouse or lens flares. As for those stuck on the EU, and many of those people hated The Clone Wars series for the same reason, whining about Mandalorians and Nightsisters being used and that sort of thing, I don't know why they won't just ignore it. There are some movies with sequels I have avoided watching.
I've never understood where all this rigid canon adhering started and why fans seem to consider the books first and the movies as complimentary, whereas in the past no one cared about The Empire Strikes Back conflicting with Splinter in the Mind's Eye for example, and the movies were first and foremost what people wanted with STAR WARS.

 

Star wars movies will always suffer for being... you know a star wars movie. I am sure that if the phantom menace had been made but not the classic trilogy it would at worst be considered a forgettable boring fantasy flick like warriors of virtue instead of some horrid abomination on the level of Manos the hands of fate.

 

Whatever the case, I just hope this film is better than the last two Trek films. I liked them, but not enough to make me a Trekkie, though. Way too many last minute bs heroics, and not to mention limitless technologies, which I hated about the old tv shows and tired films.

 

But then that was followed with

Why do I keep coming here? Jeez that had to be the one thing I noticed when scrolling up. Everyone is just so compelled to say what they know. If you're already posting in the spoiler forum, to post this here can't be anything other than a sly way of posting details.

So why bring this up here, even though there is a topic basically about the same thing? It goes without saying. Of course the movie will get some backlash because that's what always happens, and additionally a lot of people are more focused on jumping on the bandwagon of popular opinion, no matter what that is, than actually having a genuine opinion about the movie. If there are stupid popular memes bashing the movie, low-personality people (aka, your average social networking user) won't be able to resist "sharing"/reposting that same thing.

 

Of course there will be! Even I might backlash (a lil ) if some things happen,, even if I love the movie.

 

You're right, and I just removed all of the copy/pasted article in the original post.

 

I'm going to steal this comment made on Collider Jedi Council: "I'd love to live in a world where fans can say, 'okay we may not agree on the prequels, but we can ALL agree TFA was amazing'."

 

I think most of the blacklash would be centered around the OT characters. No matter what happens to them, even if the majority of people consider them to have been given their due justice, there will still be some who say it should have gone this way or should have happened that way.

 

It always comes back to the age old say "You can't please everyone." I've never been displeased with any Star Wars story content to the point where I've felt the need to 'lash out' at any one for it. The stories are what they are and the outcomes are there. I for one feel that if the overseeing people who decide what gets published or put on screen have agreed with whatever the creative team behind each project had put forward that's good enough for me. If they had issues with developments in the storylines then the stuff wouldn't get put out. It's not for the fans to decide how stories develop and what the conclusions are, we are just here for the ride. If you want something to turn out a particular way then fanfic your heart out.


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I could not believe the thread you mention since they also said to only reply if you agree. WTF?

Anyway...criticizing the marketing for TFA for not being more PT centric is stupid because this is a story involving characters mainly from the CT. If it involved Darth Maul or Jar Jar Binks, then sure, you'd have more PT elements in the marketing.

How this came to be an "issue" though makes little sense to me. We have new SW films coming out..who cares how they are marketed? You will still see them anyway, right?

 

If there's anything we DON'T need to speculate about, it's that there WILL be backlash against TFA. People love to hate popular things.

 

But sometimes people have legitimate gripes. You can't fault people for having them, especially if the movie is very flawed. We Star Wars fans sometimes forget that. A lot of us think all of Lucas' work is fantastic, and that's just not true. But if the film is really well acted and has a lot of heart, then people would ignore its imperfections. A good story does not make a movie good...not if the acting and emotion is missing, anyway.

 

There will be a blacklash against this film. There's no way it won't. That's what happens with blockbusters, that's what generally happens in very popular blockbusters, and that's always what happens with Star Wars. The only thing is how much will there be / will it dominate the "DAHHH! STAR WARS IS AWESOME!" discussion. I'm guessing it won't.

But there's going to be some groups, somewhere, who will hate the movie. That's a given. Bitter EU fans, Lucas loyalists, Abrams haters, Jar-Jar fans, they all have their turf already staked out. And they will voice their opinions on that.

 

There's inevitably going to be some backlash based off of people disagreeing with the direction the OT characters and their world is taken, no matter what direction that may be. I think as long as it's actually a good, fun, entertaining, well-written, well-made film, that's as far as it's going to go. If it's not, then there will be a more widespread backlash as a result of failure to meet expectations.

 

I thought there was already backlash in these forums anyway, before the movie has been released.

 

And don't forget the backlash to the backlash!

 

Oh I'm totally into that.