Why?

[avevale_intelligencer]

greygirlbeast likes the new Star Wars film, Rogue One, because it's "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark."

I'm glad she likes it...but really, does *EVERYTHING* have to be "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark"? Does one even go to Star Wars for "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark"? Are there not hundreds, thousands of other story 'verses out there that are "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark"? Are people still making good, well-told films for grown-ups that are not trying to be "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark," that are trying to be positive and bright and hopeful and visible to the partially sighted?

There is a place for all kinds of stories, beyond the promptings of passing fashion. In these coming days I predict that we are going to rather go off "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark." There'll be too much of that all around us. We'll be looking for a Frank Capra de nos jours, to tell us that in spite of everything there is goodness and light in the worlds.

In the meantime, I don't think I'll be making a point of seeing Rogue One. I go to Star Wars for a very specific kind of experience, and that...if Aunt Beast is right...is not it.

Comments

[legoline.livejournal.com]

I loved Rogue One because it was different in tone from the "proper" Star Wars movies. It's a war movie that I felt expanded the fictional universe the saga is set in, enriched it because it didn't have to be a family movie. And while it *is* very dark and the ending isn't a happy one, in some way, it is ... because it is set directly before Episode IV.

That being said, I agree with you overall, though. I was very, very pleased to find that for example both tv adaptations for The Flash and Supergirl are overall very optimistic and far from being dark and gritty. (I am still very bitter about Man of Steel. I get why you would make Batman into a gritty movie, but Supes? WHY?)

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I adored Rogue One. I went in pretty much unspoiled and felt that the darkness and sadness was in no way out of character with the rest of the Star Wars world, it was just more detailed. I mean, when Alderaan was destroyed in A New Hope (a pretty freaking dark thing) , we didn't see extended scenes of Alderaanians going about their business, or any of the denizens/leaders resisting the Empire on their homeworld. In Rogue One, we saw those things. In Star Wars, we never saw the inevitable fissures between factions that would arise in a motley Rebel Alliance because everybody that advocated different strategies was no longer part of the Alliance, and in Rogue One, we saw how it got to that point. I think what made Rogue One an ultimately hopeful movie for me that we actually saw the characters struggle with figuring out the right thing to do and whether or not they felt it was their job to do it. I felt it was like the very best fanfiction: it took what we knew about the Star Wars world and interpolated an absolutely cracking story with interesting characters from what was already there, but unexplored. And the best part? Rogue One made me laugh while it tugged on my heartstrings, and for me, that's what makes the difference between a movie that's showing you the dark side of what's already there and a movie that's being dark for darkness's sake.

Plus... heroes of color! A blind gay (or so says the actor playing him) Force ninja! Alan Tudyk's hilarious turn voicing a droid! Darth Vader being effing terrifying! Definitely plenty there to make it Star Wars, IMHO.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

You put that so much better than I did :D

[weebleflip.livejournal.com]

I'll second mundungus on all of the above!

Sad and dark at times, but focusing on the heroism, friendship, trust, hope, and willingness to make sacrifices for the freedom of others, in spite of the darkness.

Also really good to see a relatively diverse cast - gender, colour, accent...

[howeird]

To me it didn't feel like a Star Wars movie. I'm not a fan of "raw and gritty and dirty and very dark" but I really don't think it was all that either. Just another episode using much of the same excellent John Williams score, with very few of the iconic characters.