+1 Hot P0rg

I can almost smell the popcorn.

I don't mean to be a prick but I am sure this will come across that way I actually mean it as a serious question. Why would anyone over say 12 years old be interested in Star Wars? Is it nostalgia?

Lightsabers.

I think some stories don't neatly fit into 'children' or 'adult' - or that the line between them is going to be different for each person. Both children and adults enjoy escapism. Both children and adults enjoy coming of age stories. The bildungsroman is a cornerstone of art.

People like to trot out the "Its made for children!" as if a movie can't have more than one audience. I don't think anyone finds Predator, or Terminator, or Alien to be 'children-oriented' but I sure as shit had all the toys growing up because Flying Alien Queen is cooler than any fucking Barbie doll. George Lucas will retreat to "Its for children!" as a defense against criticism but I don't know if we can look at the 18 hours of bland political speeches in Episode 1 or the charred corpses and torture of Episodes 3, 4, and 5, or the Leia bikini, and go "Yes, this was entirely and explicitly geared towards small children." Star Wars, just like any other big blockbuster franchise nowadays, is being built around appealing to as many audiences as possible. Of course they are going to try to exploit nostalgia, but that's just one arrow in the quiver.

Came to say this ^. The Hero's Journey is a classic story framework for a reason. At some level I imagine it is nostalgia - we were all kids/fools/innocents once so the bildungsroman archetype is easily relatable, we get exposed to it at a young age and it makes an impression. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of The Rings, etc.

Why would anyone over 12 be interesting in any fiction at all? It's called storytelling, it's been a part of the human social existence for millennia. Your question says more about you than anything about people who enjoy Star Wars.

I didn't say anything about people who enjoy Star Wars. I am simply asking why what are essentially children's stories have such a grip on so many adults. I am seeking enlightenment.

I guess you first have to explain what makes them 'children's stories' in particular rather than simply 'stories' that happen to be enjoyed by all ages.

"The movies are for children but they don't want to admit that. In the first film they absolutely hated R2 and C3-PO. In the second film they didn't like Yoda and in the third one they hated the Ewoks... and now Jar Jar is getting accused of the same thing." - George Lukas. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/394542.stm)

I was just trusting the creator.

You want midichlorians? Because that's how you get midichlorians.

The first half of the theatrical cut of Star Wars has real menace. People die, things are genuinely scary. From the garbage chute scene onwards things take a strong turn towards a more goofy matinee adventure.

(Up modding this one since I failed to up mod your more complete answer below).

Good point. I dunno then, except that there are just some movies made for kids that adults enjoy too.

That makes perfect sense to me. I certainly remember loving the first trilogy as a child ( well up to the Ewoks anyway, but then I was a young teen), but that faded. When I tried to rewatch them as an adult, I found them to be not nearly as good as I had once thought they were but certainly watchable . I assume that I am not some strange outlier and that many must have had a similar experience. I suppose then what I don't understand is not how adults can enjoy it, but rather how it creates such passionate adult fans. Most films for the young that adults enjoy do not lead to adults dressing up and attending conventions. Do they love the films for themselves ( if so is there a characteristic of them that is a particular draw?) Is it an in-group thing ( or an extended in group thing, fantasy in general Team Star Wars?) Nostalgia? Etc.


( also, I quit half way though the Phantom Menace. I did think that one was unwatchable. Did they get better again after that? )

I have never understood what the issue is with ewoks.

Because they disrupt immersion for the purpose of selling toys? It’s meant for kids. And that’s fine. That’s why people love bigs bunny- because there are adult and kid jokes mixed together. It’s family entertainment. That’s my take. Personally I’d pay good money to play a game where you’re a storm trooper hunting down Ewoks.

I think Ewoks work fine on paper: building a mission-critical installation on their moon witbout even bothering to enslave or exterminate them is a good demonstration of Imperial hubris, and the "little guy" striking back against faceless, mechanized oppression is a theme that resonates just as strongly today as it did in 1983.

But the execution is fucking terrible. They tried to make them too cute, which made their actions in combat seem more farcical than heroic, totally blunting the emotional impact when some of them died. And even the attempt at cuteness was a dismal failure, as their dead, soulless eyes and inarticulate faces conjure up nightmare-inducing images of dead family pets and Grandma after her stroke. Kids love that stuff!

That's the thing, they never disrupted immersion for me. You've got a Colonial British-esque Empire that set up a military installation ignoring the natives as nothing more than a nuisance, and this relationship gets exploited by the people fighting them. That happens all the time in movies and the history books.

I actually enjoyed the Ewoks movie as a kid. I wouldn’t watch it now, but I didn’t even know it was part of Star Wars then.

And Tommy Wiseau claimed that The Room was always intended as a dark comedy.

Lol.

It’s as believable as they didn’t want to do ep.1-3 because technology hasn’t caught up.

Don't trust the creator. The creator is a moron.

George Lucas has done a lot to prove he has no idea what the Star Wars movies are about.

I'll take a serious stab it it.

First you are asking slightly the wrong question, since these new SW movies are no less for adults than the rest of the Transformers/Marvel/Wonder Woman/Pirates of the Caribbean multiplex fare. Arguably the SW films have stronger characters and more compelling stories.

The better question is: why have these soft reboot, recycled SW films become the multibillion dollar cinema-event-of-the-year?

Answer, is: we want to go back to that SW world, we want a predictably good movie, and we want to renew that cultural touchstone to be able to share and enjoy communally.

And Disney invests hundred of millions of dollars to make sure we think that way.

(I say this as someone who hasn't seen anything SW related past the second prequel, outside of trailers and a few clips posted to Youtube. From what I can tell the latest films are trite and reductive corporate fare, taking the elements of the original trilogy and just rehashing them in remixed form, over and over. But its what people want, and I'm not here to argue against their enjoyment: South Park "'memberberries" already made my point.)

As a reformed Star Wars fan (the prequels killed it for me in my teens), The Force Awakens was... fine. It didn't screw the pooch, and depending on how the next two films play out, it could be an interesting inversion of the originals. But overall, it was A New Hope all over again.

Rogue One was good though, it was the prequel I'd been waiting for since I was 15, and it's the rare prequel that helped raise the stakes of the original.

The Force Awakens felt like Star Wars fanfic written by a clever teenager (or the notes from a pretty good D6 Star Wars RPG campaign) polished by a team of well-paid professionals and turned into a movie. It goes down the checklist and ticks all the boxes but never really has anything to say beyond "You like Star Wars? Here's more Star Wars!"

Rogue One, on the other hand, is a good movie that also happens to be set in a familiar and beloved universe. Much like A New Hope, you could strip out all the space fantasy elements and the core story would still make for a pretty good war movie or Western; the droids and aliens and blasters and stuff just add that extra touch of awesome.

One of the reasons Rogue One clicked so well for me is that one TV channel here shows a lot of war movies and I tune into it for background noise. So when I first saw the movie on a Passover evening with my family while baking, it fell right into the same niche and I could watch it in the same way.

I appreciate it. I was writing the refinement to my question posted under RobotRodekilss response while you were writing this, but you seem to have addressed it. Thanks.

It's timeless epic storytelling. That's like asking why anyone over 12 would be interested in Harry Potter.

Why would anyone over say 12 years old be interested in Harry Potter? Is it nostalgia?

There must be more to it that than as that is true of many children's films adults don't line up for.

This Tiny Last Jedi Trailer Detail Has Massive Ramifications Did you catch it?

am I supposed to be grokking something? I don't think I am...

I feel like this speaks to my soul.

I have no feelings one way or the other. With an infinite number of films, surely one will come along that I'll like.

I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed
but remember, if you kill him, then you'll be unemployed