New previews released in the last month: Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
People are thrilled. People are eager. People are so obsessed with the tiny tastes these previews have provided, that there are now thousands of debates currently raging over just the laser hilt on J.J. Abrams’ new lightsaber. Character? Story? Plot? Tone? Length? All of these things have yet to be fully revealed.
The only thing I could think of when Disney released the new Star Wars preview was that halcyon period in late 1998, when the first preview for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was released in theaters. The Phantom Menace may currently be regarded as one of the worst sci-fi films of all time (or perhaps highly maligned at best), but when the preview was first released, the world lost its mind. Everyone was so happy to have more Star Wars after a 16-year theatrical hiatus.
Have We Learned Nothing?
Here’s the question I ask: Have we learned nothing? Did the universal letdown of The Phantom Menace escape our memories entirely? Surely, I pondered, surely fans would think to be more cautious about asking for more Star Wars at this point. Indeed, the last four theatrically released Star Wars movies, while all hits, are frequently cited as the biggest fan disappointments of all time. That’s four times in recent memory that this series has burned us.
And yet we welcome it back. Why are we so eager to see a new film in this franchise when the bulk of the franchise’s theatrical output is disappointing to horrible?
The same can be said of The Terminator. The 1984 film is pretty great, and the 1991 follow-up is one of my favorite action movies. But Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is hardly ever referred to (despite being a pretty damn exciting movie), and Terminator Salvation is often seen as the worst in the series, better known for Christian Bale’s infamous on-set blow-up than for anything that actually appeared in the flick. It is the worst in the series. This is what we call diminishing returns. It’s a classical Hollywood phenomenon. As a series progresses, the quality of the series contracts. It does not expand.
What’s Your Favorite Jurassic Park Movie?
Jurassic Park is also pretty terrific, and stands as one of the most popular films of the 1990s. I know few people who malign this film. By that same token, I know no one who loved The Lost World: Jurassic Park, or Jurassic Park III. We’re getting a fourth film, nonetheless, however. One good movie out of three is a pretty bad track record by any standards.
And yet, and yet that all-amorphous and all important quality of “buzz” on all three of these ever-growing series is overwhelming. No one has learned from the past, and no one seems to care that the previous films have all been disappointments. Their memories have been somehow insidiously erased. Pop culture skepticism is at an all-time low.
Is Legacy More Important Than Quality?
Which brings me to my thesis: Does legacy count more than quality? Star Wars is essentially the lynchpin of all current pop culture obsession. Love for Star Wars surpasses mere enthusiasm, stretching into a level of devotion that closely resembles religious fervor. No one would ever dare impugn the 1977 feature film Star Wars, and it is merely accepted as fact that it is great. Fan consensus has created an ersatz truth on the matter (as it does with all figureheads of pop obsession), effectively erasing any attempt actual critical analysis. If you dare to say Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back is anything less than 100% perfect, then you are either an idiot, or you are lying.
As such, Star Wars has a legacy of being great… even when it isn’t. The legacy of Star Wars persists beyond the films in its series. It is now something larger than the sum of its parts. It’s now a fan phenomenon more than it is a movie. As such, a new movie in the franchise is to be anticipated, not dreaded. Perhaps this time, people say, things will work out right. Because Star Wars will eventually work out right. It’s the series’ divine right.
The same could be could said of The Terminator and Jurassic Park, although to a less fervent degree on both. People recall the original with such striking clarity, that any blots on the series’ records – not matter how recent – are forgotten. This is an obvious statement, but it’s especially true here: Nostalgia is the prettiest color.
Who’s Making This?
I think the reason a lot of people are eager to see more of these movies is that none of them are being made by their original auteurs. The Terminator was the brainchild of James Cameron, Jurassic Park was very much a Spielberg joint, and George Lucas masterminded Star Wars. The new films are all being handled by new directors, and in some cases new studios.
When an auteur revisits old material – material they were probably totally done with – at the behest of the fans… well, it rarely works out. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull leaps immediately to mind. As do the new Hobbit movies (which are, yes, rather terrible). I seem to be the only person who is fond of Prometheus, and no one liked the sequels to The Matrix. And I don’t need to bring up The Phantom Menace again, do I?
But this is the age of the fanboy. Fans dictate content more than artists do. This is an age when Twilight, Marvel movies, and other hot properties get made because of the characters, and not because of the auteurs behind them. Creator-based movies, at least on the blockbuster level, are currently experiencing a lull. So we don’t want to see what Lucas, Spielberg, and Cameron have to say about this stuff. They have too much artistic integrity to pander to what the fans want. Or perhaps they already pandered, and weren’t happy with the reaction. Studios, however, have no such qualms, and have made the very savvy choice of keeping the series alive based on legacy, but expelling the original auteur. In the case of Star Wars, Lucas essentially ousted himself, washing his hands of the whole mess.
Is This Good or Bad?
I suppose if the resulting films end up being pleasant summer entertainments, then perhaps something was done right. But the more critical part of me does wince a little. That legacy has outpaced our memories. We’re too eager to forgive and forget, and we automatically assume a film is going to be great merely by its association.
As a critic, I can’t be held to such standards. I cannot love a film merely because it belongs in the same continuity to a film I loved in the past. I have heard people online say things like “The only thing I care about is: Is there a Terminator in it.” Merely having a Terminator in it will not make it good. We know this. We’ve seen that movie.
It’s fine to get excited about a movie, and speculation/gossip is what drives a lot of these films’ publicity cycles, building them into events rather than mere films. But we also need to – need to – remember that these series are not peerless for their persistence. Legacy is fine. Quality is better.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
