Published: May 27, 2025.
Hi there! It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who has seen my Letterboxd (probably everyone reading this) that I rewatched the 9 mainline star wars movies this month. It was outside the scope of individual movie reviews to do a sort of “Franchise Retrospective”, so I’ll be doing a bit of that here. Unlike many with Star Wars Hot Takes, I don’t want to complain about kids movies for profit and popularity online. I just want to make some observations, point at them, and say “Yep, that’s media. Crazy, right?”
As is legally required by people of my demographic, I grew up with Star Wars - watching the first 6 films on DVD as a kid, and watching the sequel trilogy in theatres as it came out. Despite having seen all of the films at least 4 or 5 times, it wasn’t until this month’s marathon that I really sunk my teeth into unpacking Star Wars as a franchise/IP/cultural phenomenon (and writing proper reviews for them on Letterboxd). I used the phrase “Star Wars Baggage” a few times in my reviews, and what I meant is that the sheer cultural weight and success of Star Wars colors the expectations of both fans and creators in interesting ways.
I’m somewhat addicted to preamble so let me get to the point: nearly 50 years of Star Wars movies, books, toys, fanfiction, games and television, told in a variety of tones by a variety of artists, make the “identity of Star Wars” as nebulous as trying to take the same drop of water out of the ocean twice. Disney has made an attempt to rectify the “official canon”, but once the art is out there, people are going to engage with it however they want. “Star Wars canon” is whatever you want it to be. I know it sounds pedantic, but I don’t think I can count myself as a “Star Wars Fan”, as I haven’t seen everything that falls under that label, and I don’t think anyone ever has. Even if I did, there isn’t a consistent story to be told. It’s truer to state that I’m a fan of Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, plus the prequel trilogy for some sillier reasons. Even that last sentence is a bit misleading, as I can really only call myself a fan of the Special Edition versions of the original trilogy; I’ve never seen the theatrical release (i.e. without CGI) of those three films. Not only does the media released in this shared universe recontextualize and shape past works, the past works themselves aren’t safe from entropy either. Scary stuff.
It’s time I explain why this matters, sorry for taking so long to get to this part. Light spoilers for “what Star Wars is about conceptually”, I guess. So, here’s one example in which the differences of themes/tone in “canonical” Star Wars stories can lead to new meaning, applied retroactively, when considering multiple pieces under the “Star Wars” umbrella as part of the same continuous story*:
When taking the original trilogy in isolation (or if you’re a moviegoer in the ’80s) Luke’s story is one of absolute good vs absolute evil as he topples the galactic empire and saves the galaxy by becoming a heroic Jedi. The inspiration from samurai stories and soft worldbuilding help to heighten the drama: this is the most important story in the galaxy, everyone’s hopes rest on just Luke; if his strength or virtue fail, so will the entire rebellion.
The prequel trilogy introduces more nuanced politics and bureaucracy, and morally complex situations. More backstory is given to the once-mysterious Jedi order, and the audience learns that their adherence to religious dogma and suppression of all emotion is what allowed the Empire to take form. When this context is applied to the original trilogy, Luke’s arc is one of tragedy. He abandons his feelings, follows blindly in the footsteps of his father, and helps to reinstate the same authority that led to the regime he was fighting against.
Lastly, the TV shows/expanded universe. I have not kept up with/watched The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, Bad Batch, Asokha, Kenobi, Rebels, Andor, etc (etc etc..), so I’ll speak generally and just state the simple fact that many of the shows introduce Jedi that survived the rise of the Empire. Wookiepedia currently has 172 pages for characters who survived Order 66. I’m sure many of those characters are exclusive to books and games not considered canon by Disney, but the general fact remains. When considering this alongside the original trilogy, Luke’s story is no longer one of heroism or tragedy, as it ceases to matter (or at least it matters much less). If Luke fails to take down the Empire, if a random stormtrooper got a lucky shot and ended Luke’s adventures day 1, hope would not be over for the rebellion. Hundreds of Jedi could take his place, ones who are likely working on resistance movements of their own, and have decades more experience than Luke. There’s no longer the magic of the final knight of an ancient order fighting the world’s greatest struggle. If the good guys win, the bad guys will make a new death star; if the bad guys win, the good guys will start a new rebellion; either way, the show goes on.
To recap that example, the identity of Star Wars is what you decide it is, and what you decide is heavily dependent on what subset of media you’ve ingested. The Dark Side (hehe) of a universe that is always growing is that it can grow into something you don’t like as much as before. If you’ve convinced yourself you’re a fan of the Intellectual Property as a whole, you’ll have a hard time being happy with the bits you like, and not being bothered with other bits that you don’t like or that change something about your favorites. Go show The Empire Strikes Back to a friend who has never seen a Star Wars movie and when Yoda shows up, explain to them that he’s actually a war criminal. Shoot me an email afterwards and let me know how it went.
My last thought before my brain combusts is about the sequel trilogy and Iconography. The identity of Star Wars, like most franchises, has always been defined by its Iconography. There are so many unique stories told in the universe, the throughline between it all is the stuff on T-shirts people buy, i.e. lightsabers and stuff.
I don’t believe my issue with the sequel trilogy is that it “sold out” (though in a sense it literally did sell out to Disney). Rather, I think the sequel trilogy is representative of a tipping point in which the Iconography of the Star Wars brand is enough to continue propelling the machine forward regardless of all other factors.
Perhaps this is just my way of expressing displeasure with “fanservice”, but I feel like its more; the Iconography is now an End as well as a Means. My particular gripe with the sequels is that it is so focused on reminding the audience that it is Star Wars and that Star Wars is something the audience likes, that it forgets to include anything people liked about previous Star Wars media that couldn’t be packaged as a toy.
This is why I think it can be useful to make the distinction between being a Star Wars fan, and being a fan of particular discrete works of art (I don’t pretend this is how I usually think about things, but at least today that’s the case). The Empire Strikes Back is a movie I like and think is cool. Revenge of the Sith is another movie I like and also think is cool, for some similar reasons and some different ones. I don’t feel obligated to enjoy some other movie solely on the basis of having the same things in common as the other two.
Yep, that’s media. Crazy, right?
*Wow that’s an insane sentence I didn’t know I had one like that in me!
Fun Facts, aka I have a very predictable writing style!
Times I said “Star Wars”: 23
Sets of Parentheses: 10
Phrases in Quotes: 12