#like yeah Abrams' storytelling priorities are adrenaline-focused and why MI3 fucking rules but he's not a bad artist

[james-stark-the-writer]

listening to people's opinions on the Rise of Skywalker because i was feeling masochistic and i'm seeing this sort of revisionism that The Force Awakens is a bad movie and that JJ Abrams is a terrible storyteller and director who can't do anything and that Rise of Skywalker was entirely his fault and like? i really hate this revisionism because like there are a lot of things about The Force Awakens that don't work (the "comedy" for one) but you cannot distance The Force Awakens from its context to say that it's a bad movie because The Force Awakens exists entirely in the context of and is a response to the original Star Wars. like The Force Awakens is fucking weaponizing nostalgia, it actually utilizes that nostalgia for a greater thematic and storytelling purpose, it is not just empty nostalgia bait, because you need that nostalgia for the story to work and hit home hard. like The Force Awakens exists in the context of the rest of the franchise. it is literally in response to how the older generation has failed the new ones and the scene of JJ showing you people on the planets that are being destroyed literally exists in the context of the original one where Alderaan gets destroyed off screen and you don't get any sense of the real toll because Lucas chooses to focus that moment on what that means for Leia, but JJ shows you that there are people on the planets that are getting destroyed and it makes you realize how many stories are being lost and how many lives are being lost permanently and lets you breathe in it for just long enough to realize just a fraction of the cost of war, but Lucas did that off screen in the original and that scene is literally responding to and is in conversation with the original so if you watch The Force Awakens without seeing the original you are missing the context that the scene is responding to. and like i can understand why people might not like that to an extent but it's like watching a sequel without the prior parts and complaining something doesn't make sense. that's on you, not on the movie. The Force Awakens is weaponized nostalgia because you require the rest of the context of the franchise and a love for it to understand this part of the story and what it is doing specifically and how it utilizes all of that to build to that moment with Han and how it utilizes all that nostalgia you have to show you how little it actually matters and how cyclical the nature of this story is. and i hate the last scene in The Force Awakens, i think it borderline ruins the fucking movie and its entire message about nostalgia, especially with the choice of score, but the rest of The Force Awakens is so fucking good and i really hate the revisionism that The Force Awakens is a bad movie because it's just repeating the beats of the original when it's repeating the beats of the original with a purpose and responding to those beats and utilizing them for a greater purpose to show how stories repeat themselves in new and different ways and how different contexts and different people can change the meaning of the story and what it's saying like The Force Awakens may repeat the beats of the original but it is for a larger narrative and thematic purpose and you guys don't fucking get it and it pisses me off and i really dislike stupid revisionism like this, like you could entirely not like The Force Awakens for whatever reason but to say it is a bad movie or that it doesn't work or that it's empty nostalgia bait is flat out incorrect.

also, i say all that to say: that is not the case for the Rise of Skywalker because THAT movie is just empty nostalgia bait, Rise of Skywalker is literally a studio's reaction to another artist trying to make something and say something with their art, Rise of Skywalker is not J J Abrams' fault like his storytelling signifiers are there but so much of that movie is clearly Disney and not Abrams and it frustrates me that you people don't get that.