{"id":7206,"date":"2016-01-22T01:10:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T05:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=7206"},"modified":"2016-04-06T22:10:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T02:10:01","slug":"star-wars-nostalgia-and-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2016\/01\/22\/star-wars-nostalgia-and-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars, Nostalgia, and Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, okay, let\u2019s be real for a hot second: I <\/span>loved<\/span><\/i> the new Star Wars movie. Even though I will forever be mad that I didn\u2019t see it at midnight, I loved this movie with a passion. I can prove it to you too. I saw it the weekend it came out with some friends while I was still in Ann Arbor…then I saw it a week and a half later, with my best friend back in Houston. And then when my mom wanted to go see it, I told her we should go again. I saw this movie <\/span>three times<\/span><\/i>. And if you asked me to go this weekend I\u2019d just ask what time?<\/span><\/p>\n

I know this isn\u2019t a minority opinion. I was honestly glad that I saw it opening weekend because that meant that I didn\u2019t have to wait until Monday, when I was back in Houston, to read\/watch\/listen to\/breathe any spoilers. I didn\u2019t even rewatch the trailer before going to see it – the last time I\u2019d seen the trailer was back in November, when it first came out, and a lot of finals had happened between then and the time I\u2019d seen it. I wanted to come in with a fresh experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even though I loved it, I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s what I got. When we walked out of the theatre my friend pointed out how the plot was the same as the plot for <\/span>A New Hope<\/span><\/i>: they blew up a big gun. This sentiment was echoed in other posts I read, including a podcast<\/a>\u00a0(with major spoilers)\u00a0by some of my favorite YouTubers, Funhaus, where James said he was reserving judgement on the new franchise as a whole for that very reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nostalgia, ironically, isn\u2019t an abstract concept anymore, but a business, and a booming one at that. People are shelling out money for reboots and sequels of their favorite shows and movies. And they do well, too, and the public goes crazy for them. One recent example that\u2019s been all over the entertainment news sphere is the new <\/span>Full House <\/span><\/i>reboot on Netflix, duly named <\/span>Fuller House<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a blog post a couple of years ago, I wrote an open letter to Pixar<\/a> about how excited I was for the second <\/span>The Incredibles<\/span><\/i> movie because, of course, I freaking love that movie, but also a wariness – Pixar has been devoting a lot of its time and resources to sequels that I don\u2019t think merit the work put in. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted with this summer\u2019s <\/span>Inside Out<\/span><\/i>, but they still have sequels slated for release in the coming years (<\/span>Finding Dory, Toy Story 4, The Incredibles 2<\/span><\/i>). Let\u2019s just hope <\/span>Inside Out <\/span><\/i>doesn\u2019t turn into <\/span>Inside Out 2 <\/span><\/i>\u00a0in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

I definitely think that J.J. Abrams made the right decision when it came to the plot. The original trilogy, as well as parts of the newer trilogy, are about archetypes, time, and the endless circle. It is, of course, a family story, and Abrams kept it that way, if only because he borrowed a lot from the original trilogy. I\u2019m so excited to see where our new characters go – especially Finn and Rey – and I think the first movie did its job in setting them up for the next two movies. <\/span><\/p>\n

But as a writer, and one that values creativity over her own fangirl instincts, I have to ask at what cost did he do it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take this the wrong way – I saw the movie three times for crying out loud – and every time I love discovering something new that I didn\u2019t notice before. But I also want to be openly, honestly critical of an already fantastic movie so that it can become an even better one that will go down forever in the pages of film history. <\/span><\/p>\n

So while we not-so-patiently wait for the next movie, may the force be with you (or does the force not really work that way?).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, okay, let\u2019s be real for a hot second: I loved the new Star Wars movie. Even though I will forever be mad that I didn\u2019t see it at midnight, I loved this movie with a passion. I can prove it to you too. I saw it the weekend it came out with some friends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,577,930,931],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7539,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7206\/revisions\/7539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}