Clearing a garden killed its natural beauty

I read an article about how this new Star Wars Film “cleansed the garden” a lot of people like this idea, of a new clean space for Star Wars to move forward in, how it "doesn't care what you think about Star Wars and that’s a good thing". But for me, it felt like they stripped away all the mess that I love. This is going to be hard to explain. Maybe this is a me thing and no one else agrees with it. That’s okay, I won’t be offended. Just, let me know!

This is hard to explain and I don't have a lot of time to do it, but I’m going to give it a shot. One of the things I loved most about Star Wars was that the extended universe had so much to offer, yet the core cannon was, well simple and dry. I could dive into a lot of these, I feel most will just spark fights. So I'll just move on. (Okay that might have been simpler than I thought.)

This film had a lot of concepts I actually like. Questioning the place of the Jedi, the idea that the Jedi or the Sith don’t “own the force” it brought good ideas to the table. And I wanted to watch them explored, but they weren't. Just mentioned. It didn’t feel like Star Wars. Not the new concepts, the execution. In a series dedicated to finding hope when all else fails, this film feels so Nihilistic.

I was saving this for image for, well a lot of things, but I don't feel like I need it for this post, but I still want to show it off. So you may see it again.

And yes, a Star Wars film should feel like Star Wars. Not everything in the cannon should, but every film in the Skywalker Saga, should. If you want more, go to the now 'irrelevant' legends, that had so many new ideas it brought to the Star Wars table. Everything 'new' this movie brought already existed, just not in the films.

^^^See a later rant on why Shadow of Mordor is a good game, yet its theming ruins what J.R.R. Tolkien set up in LotR's.

One of my favorite Star Wars stories is that of ‘Star Killer’ Darth Vader’s secret apprentice that he hid from the emperor. This entire story is filled with betrayal, death, and destruction. It’s quite dark for a Star Wars Story, yet it ends with hope for the Republic, several characters get a new chance at life. Heck, even though he dies, his death brings life. (Major themes in Star Wars) Even though it’s no longer Star Wars Cannon, it still feels more Star Wars than anything.

I feel the garden was a mess, but it was our mess. Made by and made for us. Lucas gave us a massive sandpit, it was ugly full of random things and was open for many things to come and go as they please. Sure there were Stupid rules, but there were such open areas, we could explore all we wanted too. It feels like these new films are making very pretty walls, but these walls also block so much content and remove such beautiful works. It just feels wasted.

So, the garden is cleaner, but what did we lose when we trimmed back the hedges? What is lost from adding a greenhouse over it? Sure somethings will survive, but because we forced it to, but because we let it happen naturally. I miss my messy Star Wars because that’s where my imagination started. Sitting with my cousins, picking lightsabers and getting ready for the battle at hand.