SPECULATION Prequel Elements

I see what you mean. Honestly, I don't even know why they didn't label Mustafar in RO. It was the only planet in the movie that was visited that they didn't label. Maybe it was because they expected us to recognize it? Even then, my cousin didn't even know that it was Mustafar, because it looked different from how it appeared in ROTS.

I agree that politics should not be a central part of Star Wars (the films at least), but I feel that the sequel trilogy definetly could benefit from some. Not necessarily taxation or anything like that, but without reading books or comics, the average movie-goer wouldn't understand the Resistance isn't part of the New Republic, how the New Republic doesn't view the First Order as a threat, or anything like that.

 

I don't advocate that the affairs of the Republic have no place, I am just saying that the story so far has not needed it and that it is disingenuous to claim that it is being ignored.

 

Well, I guess I've seen enough.

 

I see what you mean. I also agree when you say the prequels have not been ignored: we're still getting various comics/novels/references/character appearances to this day.

I could also see Luke giving Rey a brief history lesson on the history of the Jedi or Snoke giving Kylo a similar lesson about the Sith/Empire.

 

The antagonistic force of the story is a fanatical government institution, bent on galactic conquest, eliminating and replacing the reigning legislative administration. That’s politics.

 

Right and this story is about that man finding and eliminating The Last Jedi so that the new Jedi will not rise. Nowhere does he directly mention gaining control of the government.

 

I think you’re missing the bigger picture here. Snoke only cares about new Jedi because they’d be a threat to him and his plans for galactic domination. Those are the stakes here. Not just finding a map to a guy - the tyrannical First Order conquering and subjugating whole civilizations. Imposing a fascist autocracy and eliminating liberty in the galaxy.

ALL Star Wars movies are political commentaries. That was George Lucas’s whole point. They’re meant to serve as cautionary tales warning of the corruption of power within society and how its people have to stand up against it.

 

They can't make a 2+ hour movie that gives us the "big picture". In the OT, we got to see how Imperial rule affected the galaxy but outside of a few lines, saw nothing of government. In the PT, we got to see the focus shift to galactic government, but did not see how The Clone Wars affected the galaxy until we got that TV series. In this trilogy, we are seeing an evil dude trying to snuff out what can stop him while also weaving a main story about the rise of a new generation of heroes. There is no time for "the big picture". It's also why they say that all of our questions about Snoke likely won't be addressed. We will only get to see what the story that they can tell us in 2+ hours needs us to see.

 

Perhaps too detailed and too controlled, though.
The PT sought to answer too many mysteries that didn't need unfolded.

Leaning too hard into political Star Wars takes away too much of what people love about Star Wars...the fantasy escapism. Which is what the PT did.

We can look back at this now, and say all these things about politics in the GFFA but they weren't always there. And perhaps they do not belong on the big screen but the small screen where more time can be taken to unfold and explain them in detail.

 

ANH deftly gave us with Obi-Wan’s exposition dump all we needed to know about the political climate and underline conflict of the film. A dictatorial Empire overthrew a democratic Republic, exterminated its peace keepers, and now a band of insurgence are rebelling against them. That only took a couple minutes of screen time and we then knew who was who, what they wanted and why the two sides are in opposition. Simple.

Who are the First Order? What exactly is the scope of their influence in the galaxy? How does that affect the New Republic? What IS the New Republic? Who is the Resistance? Hux’s diatribe drops some clues but it’s still left pretty vague. That’s half way through the movie, and then, the New Republic is gone now? Or is it? If they were a nonfactor before, then why are they even in the movie?

There’s enough time for whatever they want. It doesn't take a half hour for one character to tell another what the hell is happening.

 

No thanks on the politics. ZZZzzzzz...A planet, maybe, sure. Btw, Rian likes the PT, so he may have a few easter eggs possibly.

 

Right, the OT knew how to do this. For instance, we see Tagge, Vader, Tarkin and friends when they learn of the dissolution of the Senate. These are characters we care about, and this scene accomplishes far more than simply letting the audience know about the Senate- it also gives us a view of the Dark Side, Imperial Hierarchy, and the Death Star.

Fast forward to TPM, and we have entire scenes in the Senate discussing the Chancellor's leadership and Naboo trade regulations. I know that the typical advice for writers is "Show, don't tell", but when your subject is kind of dry it's okay to have it happen offscreen and we learn about it later. Seeing Padme simply leave for the Senate, then come back later and say "The Senate will not help us" could've been just as good, even if we'd also have to vicariously learn about Palpatine's ascension too. Or really, almost any Senate scene could've been done this way in the PT. Same goes for Jedi Council stuff, too. We didn't actually have to be at every meeting.

 

The political framing for the OT was ‘CIVIL WAR’. That’s a pretty sexy topic. The PT’s big lead in was ‘TAXATION OF TRADE ROUTES’. An important issue, from a practical perspective sure, but GOD - not for an action/adventure/fantasy. Of course that version of politics is boring. Aaron Sorkin couldn’t have made that crap compelling. Ultimately it's irrelevant anyway since the whole thing was a smoke screen for Palpatine. Lucas could have picked any real world issue to hold a mirror up to and 'predatory trade practices' is what he landed on? Boggles my mind.

 

Exactly. And it's not like Star Wars is based on real events. Lucas didn't have to choose an incredibly boring political topic to cover, and he certainly didn't have to micromanage it so much.

Poor choices all around.

 

Pretty big indictment of the Prequels and their politics that I began dozing off while reading this thread.

Therefore, I strongly suggest [/CLOSE-THREAD]