Does 'Star Wars' Benefit From Having A Single Creative Vision?
Star Wars fans tend to have strong opinions on what the best and worst Star Wars films are. There also appears to be a distaste for whatever the most recent Star Wars trilogy is. Everyone tends to agree the original trilogy are the best Star Wars films, but opinions on the following films seem to vary by generation. When I was younger, everyone seemed to hate the prequel trilogy, and now everyone seems to hate the sequel trilogy. People often blame George Lucas for the negative things about the prequel trilogy and Kathleen Kennedy gets a lot of hate for the sequel trilogy.
Kathleen Kennedy and studio involvement are thought to be the primary argument for the problems in the sequel trilogy. However, George had complete creative control of the prequel trilogy, and it was still met with several mediocre or negative reviews of the trilogy. This begs the question: does Star Wars benefit more from a singular vision, or is it better to have multiple people involved?
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It is no secret that several of the Disney-era Star Wars films had troubled productions. Solo: A Star Wars Story was completely reshot with a new director towards the end of production and there are dozens of stories about script rewrites for The Rise of Skywalker throughout the production. Sometimes having too many cooks in the kitchen can spoil the broth. The obvious fix to this problem is to let one director tell the story they want to tell without outside interference. However, that is exactly what George Lucas did with the prequel trilogy and it was met with a similar response to the sequel trilogy upon release.
On the opposite end of that argument, outside involvement does not necessarily kill a film. As I said above, Lucas created the prequel trilogy exactly how he wanted, and it was panned by many critics and fans upon release. The original trilogy, on the other hand, is held in high regard by fans and critics alike. George was not solely responsible for the original trilogy, however. Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand directed The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Marcia Lucas was also a major part of what made the original trilogy great. Even shows like The Mandalorian have several people involved in its creation, most notably Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, while Kathleen Kennedy is also a major part of those series both directly and indirectly. Sometimes having someone else involved in the creative process can help make the project better. It can bring new ideas, new perspectives, and new skills that wouldn’t be available without another person.
Is one side more correct than the other? Should Star Wars have one person in charge of all the stories being told? I don’t think so. It is definitely important to allow directors and creators to tell the story they want to tell in the way they want to tell it. However, too much control can lead to tunnel vision, causing the film to suffer. There is a balance that needs to be struck between director and studio for a film to be great and maintaining that balance is key. Sometimes it works out and great films are made, and sometimes it creates a broken product. Did the sequel trilogy have too much studio involvement? Perhaps. Was there a clear concise direction for the films to go in? Definitely not. That doesn’t mean all outside involvement is bad. Did George have too much control over the prequel trilogy? Maybe. Were there fans who were just upset that he didn’t take Star Wars in the direction they wanted? Most definitely.
Star Wars is a rich universe filled with diverse, unique, and fascinating stories and characters. There are millions of stories that can be told from millions of different angles in this world, and in an era where there is more Star Wars content coming out than ever before, there are plenty of opportunities for people to tell their own stories. Some of these stories will be the vision of one person and some will be a team effort from studios and creators alike. However, they will all be different, they will all be new, and they will all be, undoubtedly, Star Wars.
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