SHORT ESSAY: Is Star Wars for 12 year-olds?

The creators of bubble wrap were trying to make a new type of textured wallpaper. It ended up having a better use.

 

Also, something written for 12-year-olds in the early 70s is clarely something completely different from something written for 12-year-olds in the 90s, or even today. 12-year-olds can absolutely handle challenges and darkness and difficult subjects -- hellion, they face those things every day in their own lives -- just as they can thrive on stories of overcoming hardship and sacrificing for the greater good.

As for Lucas' idea of 12-year-olds: In '77, "for twelve-year-olds" was a story about an 18 year old hero whose foster parents getting murdered prompts him to go on a quest to save a princess from space faschists, using friendship, love, and a mysterious inner power to win the day. In '99, on the other hand, "for twelve-year-olds" was a story about a 10 year old who's bought out of slavery to randomly follow grown-up superheroes supporting a queen whose homeworld is occupied by lego-droids, occasionally stumbling into some cartoon slapstick and poop humor, and saving the day by chance (and possibly becasue he possesses magic blood which makes him destined for greatness). IMHO, TPM was clearly not made for 12-year-olds, but rather for 8-year-olds who might look up to a 10 year old boy coincidental hero. Just as ESB was more fitting the 15-year-olds who were twelve whan ANH came out.

Lucas likes to remind us that SW is for 12-year-olds, but that doesn't mean much as his understanding of what 12-year-olds are and what stories they enjoy changes dramatically from film to film. When in doubt, trust the 12-year-old to get it; they don't need things dumbed down and they tend to like protagonists older kids as protagonists who they can look up to and admire. Kids don't identify with younger protagonists that much.

(Wow, that was a rambling post... Well, I have had two glasses of red, so Just for the record, I like TPM and maintain that it is the strongest movie of the PT)

 

Yes, Star Wars is for twelve year olds. They films are morality tales and fables dressed up in modern space-age clothing. They were stylistically designed to be that way to teach 20th and 21st century kids the stories that their parents were too busy, or too lignorant to teach.

 

I think @Jaxxon and @Angelman that you take the words "12-years-old" too literally : a boy who was born 12 years before, no more, no less. Proof is @Angelman goes further and makes a distinction between 10 years old and 15 years old, as if all of that was very important...

IMHO, it is not as literal as that. IMHO, when George Lucas says it's for kids, he means, well it's just a movie! Let it take you apart the real world. Let the dream engulf you. Don't ask for solid science behind the curtain of the fable...

Here, you perfectly said it, @Jaxxon : a child sees the lightsaber, opens his eyes, and says "woooaw..... I want one for Christmas!"
An adult sees the lightsaber, frowns, and moans: "Grmpf. Two rays of light cannot chock themselves!"

Here @Angelman you behave as the perfect adult I was talking about just above : you're asking for seriousness. You want serious droids, and you're unable to simply tolerate two seconds of poop humor - that were not originally intended for you, as Star Wars is for everyone! - you cannot stand these 2 little seconds in a whole 2 hours movie.
Perfect adult is a sarcasm here in my mouth : in fact, you are sadly part of the ones who will enjoy the movie the less, because you do not take it as a "just a movie".


DISCLAIMER: PLEASE! PLEASE! I absolutely want to offense no-one. When I directly address you, Angelman and Jaxxon, it is only because I use the words you wrote, in order to tell what I do think. I have absolutely no anger against you personally.
I beg your pardon if you felt offended.

Yep, @SKB you're right. No less, no more : it's just a tale, a fable. Nothing is true.
Star Wars should have started with "Once upon a time..." instead of "A long time ago...".

 

Good point, @daRinze. I wanted to point out that GL's view of what constitutes "for twelve year olds" is highly inconsistent and therefore weak as an argument as for why people should not criticize GL's filmmaking. I am personally not bothered with the childish tone or TPM, I rather like that movie. My point was that GL's films targets very different age groups, and his 12yo argument therefore doesn't make that much sense.

My post came out rambly, and therefore whining-sounding, but it really was just an attempt to voice an observation

That said, good points.

 

My comments are made for 46 year olds.

 

Here is my short answer . . . no. I think Star Wars is for both kids and adults.

 

I think this thing of "SW is for kids" started with the pre-production and after the release of ROTJ. GL and Gary Kurtz had different ideas and GK decided to leave the project, if I'm not mistaked. With ewoks and later Jar Jar Binks GL started to support this idea that SW is for 12 years old.
For me SW is for all ages.

 

The fact that most of Star Wars merchandise is and always has been kids toys proves that Star Wars is for kids.

And the films have always carried the lowest "U" (Universal) rating in the UK, meaning they all suitable for kids without adult supervision - except for ROTS which got a "12A" (kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult)

 

Star Wars is for the 12 year old kid (my case 10 year old kid) in all of us. Star Wars has been incredibly important to me. I am 52 and was lucky enough to be a 10 year old when ANH came out. What makes it even better though is to pass on the love. I was lucky enough to be with my 3 boys as the PT came out and they immersed themselves in the PT, Clone Wars as well as the OT and now they are adults now and we revel in the ST, the stand alone films and soon the live action series.

 

Star Wars is for kids. That doesn't make it exclusively for kids. It's like saying something is "for boys" or "for girls" that doesn't make it exclusively for them and it doesn't devalue another's enjoyment of it. You won't be denied access to Star Wars if you are an adult. And that's what it's about. Star Wars has to remain accessible to kids. The themes and coding.

The use of the term "for kids" only holds as much a negative connotation as you let it have on you. If it bothers you if someone says Star Wars is for kids than it's more about how you are taking it rather than the truthiness of that statement.

It's the same when people try to diminish the talent of animated film creators because "animation is for kids" rather than judging it as a piece of art like it should be. Some animated movies are every bit as good and impressive as live action films and there's nothing wrong with the target audience being children. Some people see no difference between Emoji Movie and Coco. Because they are animated. One is a soulless 90 minutes of flickering images with bright colors with nothing more to say than "give us eight bucks to hold a six year olds attention" while the other is a deep loving film dedicated to an entire culture with retrospection on how we treat and appreciate our families.

Star Was is "for everyone" but it's made with kids in mind.

 

First, I think interpreting it as "Star Wars is only for 12 year olds" is where people misunderstand the meaning of this statement.

Star Wars is for 12 year olds, because it does not exclude them. But it's certainly not exclusively for them.

Second, I like your take on the prequels. When I was a kid, I totally had too simplistic of a view of them. Basically, I saw it as the Jedi being good and awesome, until Palpatine turns Anakin and ruins them.

Now, I see there is definitely more nuance there. The Jedi kinda suck, and the Republic itself is corrupt even outside of Palpatine's grasp. That is why Palpatine was able to succeed.

Now, obviously this is partly because as a kid I was more prone to seeing things simply, but the films do kinda have this weird way of showing the Jedi through those rose-tinted glasses. I guess this could've been an artistic decision, but it feels like Lucas leaned way too into the "Jedi are awesome" camp. Like, the "Male Gaze" is a term that you may have heard of, referring to how film often seems to view women from an objectifying lens, but I feel like Lucas had a "Jedi Gaze" in the prequels. It all just feels like he subconsciously wants them to be more right than they should have been.

I think I could've handled this story as a kid if it'd been told more clearly, and in fact having the Jedi being partly at fault for their downfall would've blown my mind as a kid, especially considering how the prequels were otherwise pretty predictable (as prequels tend to be).

Of course, I still loved them as a kid, and do appreciate them as an adult. Just musing along with where Lucas's thoughts may have been during that time.

 

What the hell? First of all, Lucas had included characters like Threepio, Artoo and the Ewoks for the kids. And this was BEFORE "Return of the Jedi" ended. He also included characters like Jar Jar Binks and a few other minor characters as well . . . for the kids. But his writing IN BOTH TRILOGIES were also for adults. It's so obvious that the saga can be for both KIDS AND ADULTS.

I really don't care about Gary Kurtz. And I became tired of his constant hints that he could have been the savior of Star Wars. I don't care about him, I didn't need him and I DIDN'T MISS him.

 

What I was trying to say was: after ROTJ and the ewoks SW started to focus more on kids than adults. Movies like Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor helped to solidify this. And Jar Jar Binks was completely created for kids.

 

I just got done re-reading The Making of Star Wars (the original in 77).....can someone point me to a Lucas quote where he says that specifically? I don’t remember ever reading that....

 

I think he's said it in multiple interviews, most recently at Celebration in 2017, if I remember correctly.

I love George Lucas, but I don't like everything he's ever done, nor do I agree with everything he's ever said. I don't even like everything my girlfriend says and does, and I certainly like her way more than I do George Lucas.

Not sure you can really tell large groups of people what is and is not "for" them. I think it was just a defense mechanism he came up with because of how much criticism he was taking on.

Life is too short. Like what you like, leave the rest. You don't ever need to justify it to anyone.

 

Are Pixar movies for adults or kids? What about Marvel movies? Come on you know the answer. As I said before they are for the kids in all of us. Stop denying yourself.

 

In other words, for adults and children.

 

I think Star Wars is for everyone. That may include the 12-year olds GL intended the films to be aimed at.

I agree with the stuff about good stories being able to be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and I don't like the insinuation that stories for children should somehow be considered ‘lesser’ per se.

But also consider the following:

We define a year as the 365 (365.25) days it takes our planet to orbit our Sun.
Other planets can orbit our/their suns/stars in a much shorter or much longer time and/or days.

So in a fictional universe set amongst the stars, across numerous planets in numerous systems... who is to say what a ‘12 year old’ is anyway?
Maybe Star Wars is for 12-year olds... from a certain point of view. Another way of saying it’s for the 12-year old in all of us... (or the 12-year old some of us will be if one is younger than 12 of our Earth years when watching it).