{"id":2271169,"date":"2024-06-19T03:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T07:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-blame-disney-star-wars-has-always-been-terrible\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T03:37:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T07:37:01","slug":"dont-blame-disney-star-wars-has-always-been-terrible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-blame-disney-star-wars-has-always-been-terrible\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Blaming Disney: Star Wars Was Never Great to Begin With"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdont-blame-disney-star-wars-has-always-been-terrible%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2271169&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article provides a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oxford-university-might-scrap-colonialist-musical-notation-from-curriculum-report\/\" title=\"Oxford University Might Scrap \u2018Colonialist\u2019 Musical Notation From Curriculum: Report\">critical analysis<\/a> of the \u200binfluence of the\u2063 Star Wars movies,\u2062 particularly focusing on the plot and \u2063character development, or lack thereof, within the series. The author \u200brevisits the original\u2063 Star Wars films and concludes that they\u2064 are riddled with what is described as an \u200c&#8221;Idiot Plot,&#8221; where the storyline only progresses \u200ddue to unreasonable decisions made by characters, which could be easily resolved if done sensibly. The \u200dcritique \u2062extends to\u2064 a broader commentary \u2062on the negative impact of such movies \u200con intellectual engagement\u2062 and moral development, warning that poorly\u2063 constructed\u200b stories \u200ccontribute to a superficial understanding of complex real-world issues. This point is further illustrated through references to political \u200dfigures \u200clike Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, suggesting that \u200bsimplistic narratives influence public perception \u200dof such individuals, turning serious political discourse into caricatured good-verses-evil battles akin to those \u2062seen in Star Wars. The text builds on these themes\u200c by \u200dinvoking cultural critics and philosophical arguments to underscore \u200bthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arkansas-social-media-parental-consent-law-is-blocked-at-the-last-minute\/\" title=\"Arkansas Parental Consent Law for Social Media Blocked Last Minute\">potentially harmful\u2063 effects<\/a> of entertainment that prioritizes spectacle over substance.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Just in time for so-called \u201cPride Month,\u201d Disney\u2019s new Star Wars installment, \u201cThe Acolyte,\u201d is \u201cthe gayest ever,\u201d according to its creators. As predictable as a Star Wars plot, many conservatives complained,<em> Disney has ruined muh Star Wars.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A long, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ben-franklins-name-scrubbed-from-tacoma-city-park\/\" title=\"Ben Franklin\u2019s Name Scrubbed From Tacoma City Park\">long time ago<\/a>, I would have agreed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-771167963\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-68dfb84d08f03524ae036e861ed3a984 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-68dfb84d08f03524ae036e861ed3a984\"><\/div>\n<p>But now, after rewatching \u201cEpisode 4\u201d with my children this weekend, I don\u2019t believe Disney ruined Star Wars. It has always been terrible.<\/p>\n<p>Behind the layers of nostalgia, I saw nothing of the enchanting space epic of my childhood memories but a dumb plot dependent on dumb characters in a dumb universe. I felt shame that for most of my life, I had been duped by the duplicitous Hollywood hype machine. The movie\u2019s financial success has always depended on the campaign to make die-hard dweebs out of otherwise healthy young adult males.<\/p>\n<p>One early critic of the film, science-fiction mastermind Harlan Ellison, recounts having his car keyed by teenagers after publicly expressing his dislike for the film. In his hilariously brutal 1977 review, Ellison excoriates the movie as a \u201ccriminal act of artistic prostitution\u201d being nothing but \u201cmindless shoot-em-up and hardware\u201d whose \u201ccharacters are comic strip stereotypes,\u201d so much so that the \u201cBad Guy [wears] not merely a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nbc-show-depicts-religious-jews-as-dumb-bigots-the-most-anti-semitic-thing-ive-ever-seen-on-tv\/\" title=\"NBC Show Depicts Religious Jews As Dumb Bigots: \u2018The Most Anti-Semitic Thing I\u2019ve Ever Seen On TV\u2019\">black hat<\/a> but black body-armor and a black death-mask.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellison explains that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/not-parody-pentagon-researchers-are-focusing-on-an-under-the-skin-microchip-as-an-end-to-the-pandemic\/\" title=\"Not Parody: Pentagon Researchers Are Focusing On An Under-The-Skin Microchip As An End To The Pandemic\">science fiction<\/a> is meant for exploring the human condition in the face of new technology and discoveries. He resents how Star Wars made the genre synonymous with mindless special effects. We have Star Wars to thank for our world of entertainment without intelligence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e78775b78f227a33fd173e66f351bb5a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e78775b78f227a33fd173e66f351bb5a\"><\/div>\n<p>From my latest viewing of \u201cEpisode 4,\u201d I must admit Ellison is right. The aliens, blasters, mythology, and music all obscure what is really nothing more than what Roger Ebert <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/narrow-margin-1990\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">calls <\/a>an Idiot Plot, which is \u201cany plot that would be resolved in five minutes if everyone in the story were not an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, a good plot develops naturally from characters making reasonable choices given their context. Even a character who makes unreasonable choices will make them in a context that renders his choice reasonable to him, even if we the audience see the limits of his context and the ultimate unreasonableness of his choices. Because we see characters making choices that we, reasonable creatures ourselves, could very well make in the same situation, we find them relatable, making the drama real. The conclusion of the drama is uncertain because, like life, it depends on the complexities and ambiguities of the human condition.<\/p>\n<p>Now consider the Idiot Plot of Star Wars. Seven minutes into the movie, C3P0 and R2D2, equipped with the secrets of the Death Star, evade Darth Vader\u2019s invasion of the Rebel\u2019s starship in an escape pod. Two imperial stooges see the pod flying away, laser cannons ready to blast it to smithereens. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHold your fire,\u201d one tells the other. \u201cThere\u2019s no life forms \u2014 It must have short circuited,\u201d he explains. What\u2019s the cost-benefit analysis governing his choice? Do laser blasts cost so much that the Empire can only afford to destroy Rebel escape pods that contain life forms? No bother. The plot must go on.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ad6b67695de388cf0720433567ccfbaa fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ad6b67695de388cf0720433567ccfbaa\"><\/div>\n<p>Other examples abound, but the most egregious might be the heroes\u2019 escape from the Death Star, which is made possible not by their cunning and courage but by the idiocy of Imperial Stormtroopers. While standing guard at the Millennium Falcon, they conveniently leave their post to watch the saber duel between Vader and Kenobi just in time for Luke and company to sneak aboard. When Kenobi is struck down, Luke plays his role in the Idiot Plot by screaming, which alerts the idiot Stormtroopers to his presence. He then stands motionless while all five Stormtroopers wildly miss a stationary target. It takes the disembodied voice of Kenobi to break Luke from his Idiot Plot stupor by telling him the most obvious course of action: \u201cRun!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Worse still, the movie takes the audience for idiots. The Stormtroopers\u2019 bad aim is undeniable. No one is even grazed by a stray shot. Yet earlier in the movie, when analyzing the massacre of the Jawas, Ben Kenobi concludes that the \u201cblast points are too accurate for sandpeople. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s tempting to shrug and say, \u201cSo what? Let the people have their entertainment.\u201d Ellison, too, was blasted with this banality. He responds by asserting that stupid movies make people stupid. Similarly, in Plato\u2019s <em>Republic<\/em>, Socrates argues that our souls are shaped by the poems we hear. The influence poetry has on the souls of the young is so great, Socrates advocates banishing all poets from the ideal city, lest the young be led astray from virtue. Without endorsing total censorship, we can agree with the general sentiment. The stories we experience influence the way we interpret our world. In other words, what we see influences how we see.<\/p>\n<p>While the original Star Wars does not openly celebrate vice like more current movies such as \u201cTrolls\u201d or \u201cThe Shape of Water,\u201d the results of a generation saturated with Idiot Plot movies (not just Star Wars, of course) and one-dimensional characters are all around us. <\/p>\n<p>The left is incapable of grasping that Trump is a serious political leader addressing the real economic and cultural concerns of the working class. In their worldview, he is nothing more than some vulgar version of an on-screen supervillain, whether it be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/emperor-palpatine-is-running-for-president_b_57962bd6e4b0e339c23f4b01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emperor Palpatine<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/tv\/the-late-show-donald-trump-thanos-america-endgame\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thanos<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/culture\/2016\/11\/heres-why-trump-is-a-lot-like-lord-voldemort.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Voldemort<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Vladimir Putin is not a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/best-countries\/articles\/2024-01-09\/poll-russians-still-like-putin-and-back-the-ukraine-war\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">well-respected leader<\/a> overseeing a time of relative peace and stability in Russia, but he is also Palpatine with his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/giacomotognini\/2022\/05\/02\/how-rich-is-putins-right-hand-man-inside-the-murky-fortune-of-igor-sechin-the-darth-vader-of-the-kremlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">own Vader<\/a> to boot. Likewise, Zelensky is not a morally dubious president facing the consequences of the U.S.\u2019s and NATO\u2019s foolish provocations of Russia, but part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/mark-hamill-joins-forces-zelensky-compares-russia-evil-empire-1747710\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rebel Alliance battling the Evil Empire.<\/a> Fighting off Russia\u2019s invasion is harder than expected. Russians have better aim than Stormtroopers.<\/p>\n<p>Entertainment can never just be entertainment. Bad stories corrupt our view of reality and our souls. Good stories ennoble and edify them. From the start, Star Wars had no intention of ennobling or edifying anything. Its intention was laid bare in the satirical \u201cSpaceballs,\u201d when Lone Star asks Yogurt (sparkly green Mel Brooks spoofing Yoda) what he\u2019s up to, besides guarding the secret of \u201cthe schwartz\u201d (\u201cthe force\u201d). Yogurt exclaims, \u201cMerchandising! We put the picture\u2019s name on everything! This is where the real money from the movie is made!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, from the lazy Idiot Plot screenplay, Star Wars is not a serious movie. Lucas\u2019 vision was always more economic than artistic. Ellison recounts how Alan Dean Foster, who had written the sequel to the <em>Star Wars<\/em> novelization, had seen a rough cut of the film and explained to George Lucas that in space there is no sound, so the constant noise and explosions in the space fights perpetuate scientific illiteracy. Foster even suggested two \u201cworkable alternatives.\u201d What was Lucas\u2019 response? In paraphrase: \u201cPeople expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I\u2019ll give them the boom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The customer is always right, even if the customer is scientifically illiterate. If the audience wants BOOM, it will get BOOM. If it wants a <ins><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Asmongold\/comments\/1d9b06x\/star_wars_acolyte_fire_in_outer_space_in_vacuum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fire in space<\/a><\/ins>, it will get a fire in space. Similarly, if the audience wants gay, it will get gay. And evidently, the audience wants gay. During its first five days of streaming \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d received 11.1 million views, the most <a href=\"https:\/\/sg.news.yahoo.com\/star-wars-acolyte-breaks-record-201700154.html#:~:text=TVLine%20reported%20that%20the%20first,and%20X%2DMen%20'97.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">successful<\/a> Disney Plus launch this year.<\/p>\n<p>Disney did not destroy Star Wars. It is carrying the original torch with pride.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-20e0254c02b1ab3649934c28f67cea2e fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-20e0254c02b1ab3649934c28f67cea2e\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just in time for &#8220;Pride Month,&#8221; Disney&#8217;s latest Star Wars series, &#8220;The Acolyte,&#8221; is dubbed &#8220;the gayest ever&#8221; by its creators. Predictably, many conservatives lamented that Disney has spoiled Star Wars. Years ago, I might have concurred. However, after rewatching &#8220;Episode 4,&#8221; my perspective shifted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3236,"featured_media":2271170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Star-Wars-gay.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Star-Wars-gay.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}