Wow! Trying to get caught up on a day's worth of this thread is a pretty intense task.
Lots of entertainment, though.
And I find it funny that anyone can be surprised to discover that a bulk of a discussion about the latest Star Wars movie has nothing to do with Star Wars. We can all thank LFL/Disney for that.
If film-makers/studios are making it an objective of theirs to inject social/political messaging into their movies, then it's absurd to expect the subjects being brought up in the films to be avoided by the audience in discussing those films. I don't see how it can be an expectation that people engaged in a conversation about a new Star Wars movie would avoid discussing the inclusion of elements that were never present in previous Star Wars movies.
I think I'm safe in saying that no one in these Star Wars movie threads wanted to end up discussing social/political issues. They wanted to discuss Star Wars. But if Star Wars films are going to be making it a point to start introducing social/political narratives and messaging, then of course there will be discussion of that. And, a strong objection to any change in the Star Wars formula should be expected amongst a group of fans who loved the traditional formula.
Lots of passionate discussion existed when all we had was the OT. Most of that discussion was about positive reflections of the movies, and conjecture about off-screen stuff. The prequels generated plenty of discussion too; not so positive, but still about Star Wars. Many of the same fans were part of both discussions. Now these fans are talking about social/political messaging instead of just sticking to Star Wars. Why? Because film-makers decided that Star Wars needed to start being about more than just Star Wars.
Discussions about Star Wars movies will go back to being exclusively about Star Wars when Star Wars movies go back to being exclusively about Star Wars.
