The Fall of the Star Wars Franchise
How One of the Greatest Film Franchises of all Time Was Ruined
Han solo. Hates the government, smuggler, free trade advocate, always carries a gun, and he's a charming bastard. What's not to love about him. The quintessential dissenter in times of Marxist oppression. A renegade, a rogue, and a man of principle. He's a symbol of the franchise and a symbol of what good men are forced to become in times of tyranny. They find new ways to navigate and resist the new world, or in this case galaxy, order.
In fact, the whole lore of the Star Wars franchise is that of a battle between freedom based on traditionalism and mercantilism versus oppression in the form of censorious socialist types. Surely, you cannot break such a timeless franchise. I mean it's literally predicated on the idea of resistance to government overreach and belief in a higher power than yourself (the force). Well, you'd be remiss to find out, that's exactly what's happened. Ever since Episodes I-III came out, it's all been going downhill from there. You may ask yourself, why Lazarus, why are you writing about something so silly and something based in a fantasy world? Something related to pop culture. I'm writing about it because pop culture is culture. What is consumed by the masses will inevitably steer the ship of civilization. It's incredibly important to realize that franchises like Star Wars, Lord of the rings, or even Harry Potter have serious societal implications with what is injected into them. Not only because the masses will watch them, but also because young children are shaped and defined by such franchises in many ways. I know for myself, Lord of the rings had a huge impact on my life and on my love of all things historical, cultural, calligraphic, linguistic and it propelled me to become a writer. There's a huge reason keeping tabs on what's being put into the sphere of pop culture, is vital to preserving a civilization.
As a child, I never cared too much about the franchise. I was way more into lord of the rings. But as I grew older and re-watched the series, I was captured by the sheer quality and depth of the story and the canon behind it. The lore was deep and full of intricacies and there were fantastic lessons to be gleaned from every movie. I remember one of my favourite quotes was when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are underwater in episode I in a tiny craft and they see a monstrous fish. Astonished and terrified, they are then caught off guard by an even larger creature ascending from the depths, only to eat the initial amphibian. Qui-Gon turns to Obi-Wan and says “there's always a bigger fish”. It's not the most profound statement but it's stayed with me for years. Accentuating the need to pick your battles and be prepared that there will always be someone out there working harder than you. Anywho, the point is, it's an absolutely fantastic series and the lore is rich with many different cultures, a moral code, a higher power and defined masculine and feminine roles. It's a piece of pop culture history that would go down in legend. Until of course, the woke alphabet mafia got a hold of it. The reason this topic is worth writing about is because it highlights a bigger trend in culture. The shifting tide from reality to the postmodernist utopia of contemporary thinkers. And the reason it's so dangerous is because Star Wars touches millions if not billions of people worldwide, especially in North America. It's the perfect channel for the message of wokeness to be spread.
In 2012 when Lucas sold his company to Disney, Kathleen Kennedy was promoted to president. She took over the franchise and absolutely destroyed it. It's now a steaming pile of woke dogshit. A shell of its former self would be too kind of a descriptor. It is nothing like the former Star Wars we grew up watching. It's now just the classic woke programming made to kill some time. Nothing to write home about. You know, bumbling idiot men who bend over to tyrannical feminist broads in positions of power. In the hand of the wrong people, even the once mighty world of Star Wars has fallen low.
Kathleen Kennedy has taken down what was the most lucrative franchise of all time. Far eclipsing Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter simply due to the vastness of the lore and backstory that came with the territory. So many offshoots were possible with the franchise. This was a cash cow waiting to explode. But with the power of woke, they managed to kill that cow. They completely eradicated LucasArts. They even killed off some of the main characters in the story like Han, Luke and Leia. Why? Most likely so they can make way for a more woke vision of Star Wars, as exhibited by the completely new cast in the series Ahsoka. Similar to what Amazon Prime video did to the Lord of the rings franchise, with their abomination “the rings of power". Disney's takeover of the franchise has brought nothing but grief and controversy. They've lost billions of dollars and turned the beloved series into something you play in the background while doing house chores instead of a cinematic experience for the whole family. One that people used to cue up in lines to go see.
The shit really started to hit the fan when Gina Carano was fired from the Mandalorian for voicing her opinions of the the plandemic and vaccination mandates. This move by the franchise signified a line in the sand. It showed who they were run by and signified their final transition to… the dark side.
Anyone who called out Disney's destruction of the franchise, was labeled all the classic isms of the day. Racist, misogynist, bigot, homophobe etc. Even the folks at Fortune Magazine (not known for unbiased reporting) came out with the following:
There's a lot of speculation amongst the media that covers the comings and goings of Hollywood Hollywood, saying that Bob Iger’s 4 billion dollar investment was still worth it. This to me sounds a lot like coping and justification of what was simply a terrible move on Disney's part. The worst part is that it could have been a good move had they not allowed woke zealots the opportunity to take over the franchise and absolutely destroy their relationship with the fans who, if you know anything about Star Wars, are some of the most ardent and fanatic of all fanbases. The centre of this entire mess, fortune magazine goes on to say, is Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy… “Yet even being George Lucas's handpicked successor has not shielded her from hefty criticism. A number of fans begrudge her along with Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson for deconstructing Luke Skywalker in the third trilogy.”
The last 3 star wars films that Disney produced made less and less money. People simply were not having it. And I perceive that the only reason the first installment can be considered a moderate success was because of the nearly 2 decades since the release of the last set of 3 star wars movies and the suspense and hype that was built around it having been so long since the last film. Fortune magazine continues with “fewer and fewer fans showed up from one movie to the next. The third and final installment, Rise of Skywalker, took in only half of the $2 billion that premiere film The Force Awakens made for Disney”.
It's not only the infection of the series with wokeness that has ruined it. It's not just the lack of the quintessential stoic male role model in the form of Jedi masters. It's also the blatant lack of care for coordinating effective fight sequences that make any sense. They rely way too heavily on movie magic and CGI. One of the most cringe-worthy scenes were when, in the last installment, Rey somehow magically makes the saber disappear behind her head and re-appear in Kylo’s hand, in another location entirely. They rely way too much on whimsical nonsense and expect the audience to just understand how it happened with no explanation. The audience's reaction ends up being “okay yeah this is now a thing”. It's a terrible precedent to set and make fans see right through the lazy and sloppy writing. Another example of this sloppy writing is the empty, long, and drawn out dialogues that have nothing to offer as far as storytelling and explaining the situation the characters find themselves in or furthering the plot. They're just filler to meet episode length quotas.
A stark reminder of the level of indoctrination rinsing that the show has gone through shows up so evidently in the new series Ahsoka. Disney pulled the classic woke move of making all the men weak, vindictive, manipulative, evil or useless. Several scenes come to mind such as when General Syndulla (A woman) is looking for Ahsoka with Captain Teva (A man). He attempts to tell Syndulla that the Senate demands they return. She sneers and makes a demeaning hand gesture at him as if he is a trained dog. There's plenty of scenes like this where the men a feeble and behave like they are scared of these women. Not to mention all the women are tall, in shape and easy on the eye. Meanwhile almost all the men are out of shape, balding, and short. And if they aren't, the they're playing the role of a villain. The franchise project this idea that all of a sudden only woman are strong, moralistic and overall good. Meanwhile men are useless idiots or evil villains. No seriously, all of the villains in Ahsoka were men. And all of the hero's were women. It's so ridiculously out of touch with the reality of the world. In the show, the senate is led by a woman called Mon Mothma, who of course is a shining beacon of reason and good will. Meanwhile the only person in the senate, who is a traitor and evil, is a man. He opposes general Syndulla’s mission to save Ahsoka, and of course the guardian angel in Mon Mothma allows Syndulla to go forth on her brave quest of compassion, showing that evil man that women are the best. It's the same trick we've seen with many franchises and it's made the franchise absolutely unwatchable. It's no longer believable and doesn't inspire anything in us.
Star Wars has just become a breeding ground for identity, politics and intersectional feminism. Scenes of lesbians kissing and weak men being berated by vindictive women who are considered boss babes by today's standards, are all too plenty in every single one of the new endeavors.
The pattern of “Star Wars is saved” has repeated so many times it's nauseating. It was saved when Disney bought it, then it wasn't. Or when Obi-Wan was released, then it wasn't because it was a flop. Or when Mandalorian was released, then they fired Gina Carano. How about the Ahsoka series? Nope, absolute feminist trash. Or when they released episodes 7 through 9? Absolutely not. Everything from crappy writing lacking continuity, to tired male bashing tropes being flaunted for not reason at all. The franchise has been run into the ground. But do not fret. Disney has a solution. The franchise is now going to be saved by a woman. And not just any woman, a female activist documentarian who spends time at, you'll never believe this, the World Economic Forum! But wait hasn't a woman already participated in attempting to save this series? Yes she has. Wasn't she also an activist? Yes she was. Ah but she wasn't a female of color and an activist. Who is this new activist director you may ask. It's Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Just looking at her you know exactly how these movies are going to turn out. Possibly even more woke and even more mindless drivel then her awfully white Karen predecessor was able to produce. The film that she is poised to commandeer is based on the return of Rey Palpatine in the new Jedi Order. This woman has literally said in an interview with WEF press, “When you can play the woman card you play the woman card”. I mean come on, you know this is going to be a dumpster fire of feminist ideologues. She's directed two short animated films and two episodes of the Marvel's that no body watched. George sold his soul when he gave up on the franchise and its demise is sad but at this point welcome. In an interview with CNN Sharmeen goes on to say “It's 2024 now and it's about time we've had a woman come forward to shape the story”. So completely disregarding the previous female who had spearheaded the franchise, all the female executives that work there. Bryce Dallas Howard and Deborah Chow who directed episodes of the Mandalorian and the entire series of Obi-Wan. All these women were in power an absolutely butchered the franchise. This is somehow going to be better? Let's be frank, anything that feminists touch, turns to shit.
Just like with all modern franchises the problem is that they are chock full of activism and it's shoved down people's throats. The whole point of Star Wars was a battle between good and evil, a fantastic storyline and great humor to boot. And this was all going well until the most recent trilogy began coming out in 2015. Sharmeen said in an interview with John Stewart “I enjoy making men feel uncomfortable”. I wasn't aware of this but apparently there's an event every year called star wars celebration. And in last year's event, Kathleen Kennedy, the woman who ruined the franchise, brought back the female lead of the trilogy that destroyed Star Wars, Daisey Ridley. Kathleen also introduced the woman who is going to further drive the franchise into the ground, Sharmeen. As YouTuber Nerdrotic stated so perfectly “she was not hired to be a director, she cast to be a director”.
Alas, the franchise is absolutely dead. The Charming Han Solo we grew up with is also dead (literally killed off by the feminists in the story line to make way for their new vision of the world). The male bravery and heroism has faded and the future of the franchise is bleak. Not only for the fans but also for the studio. They lose money each time they try to create a new movie or show. Under the watchful eye of activist producer Kathleen Kennedy, Disney's 2023 release, the all female “The Marvels” hit rock bottom having hit 47$ million in box office sales meanwhile the movie costed 300$ million to produce. It almost like people are sick of the identity politics and feminism being jammed down everyone's throats. Well, you know the saying, go woke go broke.
The silver lining here is that even political pundits are beginning to pick up on this trend. They have realized that pop culture is culture and is key to shifting the tide in the culture war. The new Rey movie is bound to be an absolute flop,. And by all means, I think they should release it just to prove how hard it will fail.
Welcome weary traveller. The road I take it, was long and fraught with peril. Here you may rest your head. - Project Lazarus
'Star Trek' was better that Stars Wars (even before it got woke) - more sincere, beautifully seeking diplomacy and discovery together. The real tragedy is that 'Firefly' never got a second season. If it had, intergalactic prostitution would've gotten the respect it deserves. Oh, well, at least we got closure in 'Serenity' and its mass slaughter ending.