Is Everyone Insane? Of Course ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Had To Essentially Be A Remake.

Since I don’t really know what to use Medium for and since my editor at Latest.com wants to move away from covering entertainment stories, I guess I might as well dump all my thoughts about Star Wars (and, eventually I’m sure) other entertainment stuff here.

So for this first effort, I thought I might respond to some of the most surprising criticism I’ve seen of the new film: that it too closely mirrors Star Wars: A New Hope. I am not sure if this is just typical internet contrarianism or if people are generally disappointed with a Star Wars film that shamelessly mirrors it’s 38-year-old predecessor. Yet, if you understand anything about the history of Star Wars trilogies, that this is what J.J. Abrams and company did is not only unsurprising but literally the only thing they could do, from both a professional standpoint and as fans of the universe.

In 1999, the hype for The Phantom Menace was arguably at a higher level than the current outbreak of Star-Wars-fever. Then there was nowhere near the kind of wide-spread internet and media connectivity, but people were just as (if not more) psyched for the next chapter (or previous, as it were) of Star Wars. We all know what followed.

In fairness, George Lucas has been vindicated by history, since there are kids who love it all now. For kids of a certain age, the prequel trilogy (and The Clone Wars cartoon) are as “Star Wars” to them as The Empire Strikes Back. As an unapologetic Star Wars apologist, I have softened on my dislike of prequel trilogy realizing that I was ignoring almost as many cool bits and moments as there were upsetting ones. Yet, I digress.

Star Wars is now a part of the Disney empire, so as much as the prequel trilogies were profitable, that was no longer enough. For Lucas, he made the movies he wanted to make absent any concern for the fans, because he knew that people would turn out to the theater and buy the swag. Yet, Disney doesn’t just want money (though, they got it) they want to be the best.

So, in order to get the legions of Star Wars fans disaffected with its creator for the prequels, the Special Editions, or whatever, they had to make the movie they did. It had to match A New Hope, almost beat for beat, because they wanted to send the message, that unlike George Lucas, they heard the fans and were prepared to give them everything they wanted.

It’s been said that part of the reason J.J. Abrams was hesitant to do this movie was because he didn’t want to be known as “the guy who does sequels.” This is perhaps because he was fresh off of another reboot of a beloved space-based franchise that was not so well-received.

Pretty much everyone agrees, including the director, that Star Trek: Into Darkness was something of a disaster. Of course that had more to do with how the film was marketed, and it’s unearned attempt to recapture the gravitas and drama of Wrath of Kahn. Yet, the original 2009 reboot of Star Trek was not as universally beloved as hindsight makes it seem. Die-hard fans of Star Trek found the film to be unrecognizable as the franchise they so loved.

So Abrams had to deliver something much different, lest he become “the guy who once did sequels well but now just kind of fucks them up.” He has often said that A New Hope is his favorite Star Wars film, which makes the similarities between it and The Force Awakens, at the very least, homage or, at best, the kind of filmmaking poetry that George Lucas is so often mocked for attempting.

I do think it is fair to say that this film is far more of a set-up film than any of the previous first-installments of Star Wars trilogies. Unlike A New Hope, The Force Awakens is the first of what Disney hopes to be dozens of films. This was not the first act of a three-act story, but rather an overture for an possibly unending space opera.

In that context, the message of this film is clear: Disney “gets” Star Wars and their fans. Even though the subsequent films will likely start to get very different then what we’re used to, they wanted this film to stand as a new hope for the potential the franchise and to recapture that original magic for fans old and new alike.

Whether or not this is the reason the film is (generally thought of as) so good is a question for another time.