So I just finished watching the original Star Wars film and it

>>15436882

Grief is a path to the Dark Side, so most characters instinctively avoid it. Leia watches her whole planet explode and barely acknowledges it past the initial scene. When she's rescued she's more concerned with comforting Luke because Obi-Wan died.

>>15436882
>Now I'm guessing that it's popularity was just a product of its time period right?
Haven't seen too many movies from the time period, I assume? Movies were pretty slow then and only just starting to turn around and become more exiting. Just like the James Bond franchise nudged movie trends away from super boring kitchen sink movies in the 60's Star Wars one upped it with constant bombastic music and crazy special effects like nothing else.

Basically yes, it was super popular because it did what other movies at the time didn't dare to.

>>15436882
The merchandise, presentation, and special effects at the time.

In regards to Luke's reaction to his foster parents and home getting destroyed, I think he was just at a loss for words and in shock at this sudden upheaval in his otherwise boring and uneventful farmboy life. Just the day before he was going about business as usual on a nowhere moisture farm in the ass crack of the galaxy and now he's flung into a galactic war just because two particular droids showed up at his door stop. When he figured out how the Empire was systematically following the two droids' trail he was pretty frazzled at the realization, enough to ignore Ben's warnings and zoom off to home. By that point I think he already knew what happened to his family even before he saw the disintegrated bodies. The reaction on his face, as I interpret it, was him trying to process the reality of losing just about everything he had so quickly, and the fact that there was no turning back from there on out. Losing Ben later on was just another kick in the teeth as yet another aspect of his old life was taken away, but more than that it was a death that Luke saw in person. With Owen and Berue, Luke only saw the remains of an assault, not the assault itself. I think the distinction of seeing something as it happens and seeing the aftermath of something that has already happened can make a difference in how a character reacts.

>>15436882
After watching the force awakens on big screen, I can now understand what made Star Wars big- the cinematic experience that captures one's imagination. Otherwise one can't see why it had such an impact on the psyche of it's audience.

Millenials like the OP and most other people in /m/ have had 40 years of sci-fi and fantasy movies and video games that took the stuff that Star Wars did and tried to do it better. Plus they have better technology to do it with.

It's true of any artform; music, painting, animation.... the Beatles are not going to have the impact today on a Millenial because there has been so much music made since then, that the Beatles would seem boring to them.

It's disappointment, everytime. The people raised on original Star Wars, or original Beatles, have that mindblowing experice etched in their mind, and as time goes on, those people talk about that memory and how fantastic it is, so that someone 40 years later, who can experience an ocean of sci-fi and fantasy that has come out during those 40 years, is going to be dissapointed by this thing that has been held up high by the people who experienced it 40 years ago.

>>15439192
Buddy I watch old as fuck anime and can still enjoy it.
0079 is my favorite Gundam series, and I'm not talking about the movies. Hell one of my favorite movies is "It's a wonderful life".
To be clear I thought all of the work put into the sets, the props, and the sound effects is fantastic; however the poor acting and pacing brought it down several notches.

>Why the fuck was so Luke so torn up about Ben while it looked like he didn't give a shit about the family that raised him? He just looked down, and then got over it. He didn't even seem angry.
Because his aunt and uncle were obviously not very supportive of Luke's dreams and the monotony of working on the farm just made Luke resentful of his environment. I'm sure he liked his aunt and uncle, but they were also consciously holding him back from his aspirations. Ben, on the other hand, represents those dreams and gives them life. Obi-Wan was Luke's ticket to something bigger than a moisture farm, and he got swiped down before he could even begin to properly train Luke in the ways of the force.

>>15436882
I think the original Star Wars had one of the absolute tightest scripts in any film. There is no point in that movie I think time is wasted.

>>15441455
The grappling hook/bridge scene in the Death Star escape dragged a little to be honest.

"Star Wars was a mistake" - George Lucas

>>15436882
>So what is it that keeps Star Wars popular?

Star Wars by the end of the eighties wasn't popular at all. Most people had moved on. There were a few good novels, some comics and some lucasarts videogames during the nineties. That was it. It took the Phantom Menace (whatever you may think of the film), and a new generation of fans (6-10 year olds in 1999) to reignite the flame.

As for the original Star Wars, well unless you were a little kid in 1977 and saw a huge star festroyer looming over your head on a gigantic movie screen you'll never understand the effect it had on people especially the youngsters. There was nothing, nothing like it. No other science fiction was like Star Wars. Most were "serious" like 2001 A Space Odyseey, even tv shows like Space 1999 were serious (lets forget about the abysmal second season ever existed). Star Wars was for all intents and purposes something unseen and unheard until that time. And it rightfully captured the imagination of little and not so little kids.

>>15441551
>said while he cried into his property-sized pile of disney money, as he donates the GDP of Liechtenstein to charity for virtue points

>>15441571

> implying his charity doesn't count because it's publicly known
> the people that money helps don't count it as help because they know he did it

>>15436882
>So what is it that keeps Star Wars popular?

The initial cultural impact is why people remember it. It didn't really look or feel like anything else at that was released before and certainly not at that scale. By the end of the '70s, the franchise has been solidified within American popular culture. All through the '80s TV shows and even other movies were making references to SW. Not to mention that even during the '90s, the movies still held up pretty well.

This is to say nothing about the expansive novels, comics, feature-length films, TV shows, and video games that have been released providing new content for fans to be occupied with most notably the "Shadows of the Empire" multimedia project in mid-'90s. There is simply no ignoring the fact that the SW EU is what held the fanbase together after 1983 despite there not being anymore big mainstream releases. You see the same phenomenon with comic books in that certain characters and stories would not have a mainstream release for decades (or ever), yet still remain quite popular thanks to a sizable devoted fanbase.

>>15441805
nobody gave a fuck about EU until Heir to the Empire

>>15436882
It's an authentic peak into modern mythology. It's like a child's fantasy. It's the peak of its art form in that regard.

If you're looking for something complex, well-acted, believable, or strikingly "unique" then you're doing it wrong.

It isn't a movie that speaks to rationality, it speaks to feeling (and without being manipulative about it).

>>15441434
Wait I just realized Star Wars is why I have a fetish for older men

>>15439192
>It's true of any artform; music, painting, animation..
I guess that's why nobody gives a shit about Rembrandt and classical music is dead? Loads of people watch Fritz Lang, Hitchcock or Chaplin for the first time as adults in this day and age, yet they love it.

>>15441566
>Star Wars by the end of the eighties wasn't popular at all. Most people had moved on. There were a few good novels, some comics and some lucasarts videogames during the nineties. That was it. It took the Phantom Menace (whatever you may think of the film), and a new generation of fans (6-10 year olds in 1999) to reignite the flame.
Star Wars toys still sold like hotcakes in the 90's because people, kids included, love Star Wars. Not sure where you're getting your delusions from.

I recall it being kinda dead from around Droids to Heir to the Empire.

>>15442066
>nobody gave a fuck about EU
Enough people did which is what allowed the Thrawn trilogy to happen in the first place.

>>15441571
>as he donates the GDP of Liechtenstein to charity for tax writeoffs
ftfy

>>15438980
>By that point I think he already knew what happened to his family even before he saw the disintegrated bodies. The reaction on his face, as I interpret it, was him trying to process the reality of losing just about everything he had so quickly, and the fact that there was no turning back from there on out. Losing Ben later on was just another kick in the teeth as yet another aspect of his old life was taken away, but more than that it was a death that Luke saw in person. With Owen and Berue, Luke only saw the remains of an assault, not the assault itself. I think the distinction of seeing something as it happens and seeing the aftermath of something that has already happened can make a difference in how a character reacts.

This. And plus his more emotional reaction to Ben's death was likely due to an accumulation of unfortunate events. As far as he knew his parents were dead, his foster parents were confirmed dead, and now his mentor died before his very eyes. Ben was the last link to his old world. All that was left was a couple of gay droids, a sassy princess, and a smug errand boy.

>>15436882
The only way you would just now be watching Star Wars is either because you are underage or a filthy 3rd worlder. Regardless I don't care about your opinion so fuck off.

>>15439192
This.

>>15436882
Yea your an idiot....sorry to be insulting, but your view is colored by the naiveté of our times.....there has been nothing like it before or since. Even Lucas cannot re-create the magic that was Star wars in 1977. The only thing the re-edits did was make it worse.

I guess you would say the Avengers or X-men are great stories & the acting is great?

Ugh......