Star Wars Made For Children Or General Audience?

Star Wars is definitely an exciting enough trilogy to be engaging for children - that's proven in practise. But it also has the amazing score, incredible pacing, deep mythological and thematic relevance, gripping story, thrilling romance, and strong, lovable characters to be a thoroughly enjoyable and emotional film for adults. The Empire Strikes Back in particular is often considered among one of the best films of all time, and I completely agree. There's a reason the trilogy is ingrained into modern pop culture.

 

The original Star Wars from 1977 was aimed at 12-14 year-olds (this according to Lucas' own statements at the time) but was designed to appeal to fans of all ages. And that's exactly what it did. Those lines around entire city blocks weren't just made up of junior high students, they were made up of EVERYONE - more adults than anyone.

I was nine in 1977, and Star Wars was the third movie that I ever saw in the theater, the other two having been Benji and Charlotte's Web. One thing I immediately loved about Star Wars was that it WASN'T a kiddie movie. It was something much more than that, with cool characters who were considerably older than I was, but who at the time I wanted to grow up and be like (especially Han Solo.)

As Lucas said at the time, though, Star Wars also wasn't Serpico or The Godfather. While it wasn't specifically a children's film, it was something that we kids loved, and that our parents loved too.

Empire Strikes Back doubled down on this. It was even further away from a kiddie film than the first movie was, and yet it had a Muppet in it that really wasn't a Muppet, and that gave some of the most adult-oriented dialogue in the whole movie.

It was only when Lucas brought out the teddy bears with pointed sticks in ROTJ that it became obvious that he was trying to appeal specifically to small children, younger than the intended demographic for the original film. And then the PT had that bizarre mismatched focus where the overall story was dark and not a children's story at all, while the films were just full of nonsense aimed at grade school kids that really didn't fit what was happening at all. Lucas tried to make Star Wars into children's movies in the PT, but the stories themselves just never lent themselves to that, and the two sensibilities never really blended all that well.

I really hope that the ST production crew understands the demographic that these stories have always aimed at, regardless of the stuffed animals that Lucas ended up trying to wedge into his later movies.

 

I'm reminded of the almost non-stop cracking of jokes by 3P0 when he's in distress. Not to mention Jar-Jar in almost his entirety. They certainly do detract from the mood on many occasions, though not specifically ruining it.

*and a bit of clarification: Sometimes 3P0 was indeed funny in the PT. But he lacked the same type of funny he had in stressful situations that made us enjoy him and, yes, even care for him in the OT.

 

I think people react way too harshly to the Ewoks - would you have preferred the aliens that helped the Rebel Alliance to be like scary lizard men or something? I think they fitted the look they were going for with the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, and were cute and charming, but not like too cute and charming, and were really funny, like when they were going to cook and eat the main characters and thought See-Threepio was a god! The part where one gets on the bike might of been a little too far though, it was a little bit Jar Jar-ish. But the point was to show that just because the Galactic Empire had technological might on its side, they got beat by the ferocious barbarism of these animals, because their lasers weren't built (and their troops weren't trained) to fight this kind of enemy, they were built and trained to fight similar fighting forces (like the Rebel Alliance). And I thought that was super cool, and it tied into the look-passed-the-outward-appearance theme of the whole Trilogy.

 

I appreciated the underdog concept that he was going for with the Ewoks. The problem was, they were teddy bears. Literally teddy bears.

To me, that's just lazy, unimaginative creature design. No, they didn't need to be scary lizard men. But they also didn't need to be modeled so closely on the most popular stuffed animal in the world either.

The original concept that Lucas had was for it to be a planet of Wookiees. Now, I realize that he thought that he'd made Chewie too sophisticated for that to work with the underdog thing, but the answer was right there in front of him and he apparently never saw it.

What if the Empire had had the Wookiees on that planet so beaten down and oppressed for so long that they were afraid of their own shadows?

Think about that. The Bothans get word to the Rebels that the Death Star is being completed over the Endor moon, and Han is practically doing backflips at the idea of a whole army of Chewie's people just flattening the Imperials. Then they get there and the Wookiees are all timid and cringing at loud noises and all... can you imagine Han's reaction alone? And then, of course, they have to figure out a way to get these Wooks to grow their collective spine again - which they eventually do at the very last second.

It'd have solved two of the movie's biggest problems. First off, no more teddy bears with pointed sticks. Secondly, an actual reason for Han to be there! Because it'd be Han and Chewie who would be the key to convincing the Wookiees to pull it together and overthrow their oppressors. Plus, it'd have given Harrison Ford some great comedic moments that he just didn't have in ROTJ.

 

I don't know about a whole planet of Chewies, it sounds a little bit like fan-pandering/letting-the-outside-world-get-into-your-writing, like showing us every character's backstory like they did in the Prequels (Not to mention they already had Chewie's planet in...the you know...Star Wars Holiday Special. Eww!), although being all terrified of the Galactic Empire is definitely original, and don't get me wrong, I totes appreciate the attempt at giving Han Solo something to do in the movie. I'm not entirely sure that could thematically tie into the trilogy, but good writers, directors, and producers could definitely make it happen, and Return of the Jedi and the other two definitely had some good writers, directors, and producers. Its definitely something to think about, but the Ewoks were - at the very least - good enough in the movie, and that "underdog" concept (not really underdog, cause the movie was saying the Ewok fighters really bested the Galactic Empire, not out of luck, but because the Empire didn't know how to fight them because they didn't care) really ties the (nessecary to the plot) battle on the Forest Moon of Endor neatly together with the rest of the film. And I don't know about you, but I appreciate how cute they are!

 

That's exactly the problem I have with the Ewoks, Max... they are teddy bears. Not "like" teddy bears, but exactly, spot-on, sure 'nuff teddy bears, right down to their plush fur and cute round little teddy bear ears.

If Lucas felt he needed to change his original plan to have it be a planet full of Wookiees (which I don't think he really did, for the reasons I mention above) then he needed to come up with an original creature design that wasn't already sitting there on the bed of 3/4 of the kids in the western world. As a 14 year-old when ROTJ first came out (the basic demographic toward which Lucas himself said he originally aimed Star Wars) it was painfully obvious that Lucas was just looking to sell stuffed Ewoks to the kiddies, and I've never thought that that was anywhere near good enough a reason to turn the latter half of the movie into Star Wars: Episode VI - Teddy Bears' Picnic.

There are so many more ways to create an underdog than just to make them look like a little stuffed animal, and I have always wished that George had explored a few more of those avenues.

 

I think the reason he decided not to go with Wookiee's was the Star Wars holiday special. I know that Lucas hated it a lot. I remember reading somewhere that it was going to be Kashyyyk not Endor. I think it was cleaver to switch it so easily from one race to another similar one.


As for the topic I must have missed this one because it is something I have thought about a lot. While I think Lucas was trying to target a young audience, I think it became a much bigger then that faster then anyone expected. And because of that fame it changed into a cultural phenomenon. So the original trilogy was something that could not be confined to a specific category. But I happen to believe that Lucas then tried to make another kids movie with TPM. This time though he had no one around to help him merge it into an over all good movie. Lucas was out of the directing fold to long to return so he didn't understand the older audiences tastes and dislikes. After that I think he had to try and mold the prequels back into slightly more mature themes. Sadly he should have been worrying more about the movie itself and not who it was appealing to. So a lot of back and forth thematic changes for the prequels. Very confusing it is , anyways then Lucas made the Clone wars which once again starts off very kid oriented and then changes over time.


Now my thoughts personally are that SW ends up being made for everyone. While there have been SW cartoons since I was a kid I also got to play KOTOR and read some pretty good books. But I do think they are leaning more on making it for everyone nowadays.

 

Star Wars is a modern myth appealing mostly to those with a sense of wonder, a mind open to new possibilities and a sense of humour. It also is free to experiment with all manner of genres - after all, it chronicles an entire galaxy over many years, and so elements a little more adult or childish must be encouraged and tolerated even if they don't find universal appeal among fans. The minute SW plays to the crowd and puts the creative blinkers on*, its potential is sapped and it becomes less accessible to a wider audience.

*For example, outlawing the inclusion of cute or funny alien characters, making villains the heroes in spin-off movies, or fetishing Mandalorians and Sith Lords and missing one of the core elements of Star Wars: battle-suits, big guns and lightsabres do not make good stories, only impressive set-pieces and pin-ups

It's fundamentally a homage to action-adventure fantasy matinee of the 20th century, with an icing of timeless morality tale slapped atop. Characters who do wrong must eventually meet a sticky end, and it's never too late to atone for evil deeds. It's the triumph positive human values over selfishness, apathy, insecurity, greed, corrupt authority and rampant technological belligerence. No matter how young or old we are, we are never immune to these conflicts, which is the undying central appeal of Star Wars.

 

Star Wars & TFA will always have a 4Q appeal. It will be made to entertain the "4 Quarters" of the general audience. Young, old, male, female etc.
The Disney Star Wars films won't be graphically violent or have horror/demon themes.
I think Chewbacca having to rip a character's arm off(reportedly Simon Pegg in a bit part, ) & maybe a quick decaptation(like how Mace Windu gets whacked) will be the worst.

 

All ages surely, though I have to admit that Episode 1 seems to favor the younger demographic more then the other films. It appeals to audiences like westerns of the 60's and 70's, there's plenty of action and story for all age groups to enjoy.

I personally never minded the Ewoks all that much, their fight with the stormtroopers is a classic example of the rock beats laser trope.

 

Thinking on this topic, it now appears in hindsight and with knowledge of the plans Lucas drew up for the 'mature' live-action TV series, that 'Star Wars' is meant to be an umbrella title for many genres for many age groups, akin to 'NBC' being a TV channel featuring all sorts of programming. Very early on in the development of Star Wars, around the time he was working on Empire Strikes Back, Lucas did state a few times that he was interested in having future films go off on all kinds of tangents and could have entirely different characters. Over the decades, with the first generations of fans growing older but still wanting to find elements in Star Wars to enjoy, the concept of creating more adult programming to cater to their tastes evolved. So, Star Wars if allowed to develop in this direction by Disney (then again, the Disney sale was not on the cards when the mature live-action scripts were being written), we'd see the most expensive projects targeted at an all-ages audience, cartoons for the kids, and some of the live-action TV for adults.

 

Star Wars speaks to people of all ages. It doesn't matter how old or young you are, there is something for everyone to enjoy!

 

It's for all ages.

 

I would argue Star Wars is aimed at anyone who has a sense of adventure and who treats all people as equal.

Ewoks are meant to look vulnerable because although we may not be happy with the results of Vietnam, we kind of respect and wonder how the hell they did it, regardless of who may have been wrong or right. How could a force outnumbered and with far inferior technology and machinery prevail?

It's all about fun really, trust me there are allot of us old Luke Skywalkers who stop and think when did I become My Father, but then realize the fact that we look at it that way means we can still have a laugh at ourselves and aren't taking life too serious.

That's what Star Wars is, an excuse not to turn to the Dark Side and become all serious and mental, lets face it, the whole story is really quite funny when you reflect on it.

Anything that makes grown men and women dress up as Stormtroopers and give their time for any cause you can imagine has to be a good thing and sets an example for all ages.

 

The beauty of Star Wars is that it's a universe for anyone and everyone to love.