Disney’s Star Wars: Writing Takeaways
Star Wars was a pop culture phenomena that revolutionized the film industry. It was a trilogy that told a cohesive story in a time when sequel movies seldom continued a story and just rehashed the same old jokes and plot points, serving the singular purpose of giving audiences just more of the same of what they loved in the first film. There were film soundtracks, toys, and a merchandising machine that dwarfed all previous films. Even the divisive prequel trilogy managed to make Lucasfilm money hand over fist! It was the story of a democracy that grew weak and ineffective; the rise of a fascist regime that slowly worked its way to dominance through the inside; a young, idealistic young man who goes on a journey of self-discovery and triumphs over the Empire; how hope thrives even when the world is bleak; and, at the heart of it all, the story of one who goes from slave to Jedi apprentice, from apprentice to Master, and from Jedi Master to Sith Lord, only fulfilling what the Jedi of the Old Republic believed to be his destiny (destroying the Sith) after being forced to choose between his son and his master.
There were video games, spin-offs, an awful Christmas special, and more. All of them fed into the franchise that was Star Wars, and I don’t think a single franchise, not even Marvel, has ever captured that. There have been better-written stories, sure, but none of them have been able to take down the juggernaut of George Lucas’ space opera.
And then Disney acquired the property, and the franchise has seen a downward spiral ever since. Even the prequels, with their clunky dialog, bizarre direction, and some heavy-handed storytelling, couldn’t divide the fan base in the way the Disney Trilogy has. The prequels, for all their faults, laid the groundwork for a rich and massive world in which series such as The Clone Wars could take place, and authors and video game creators could look to them to see exactly what the galaxy looked like before the Galactic Empire. Why couldn’t the Jedi stop them? How could an entire government just collapse? The prequels answered these questions and many other creators ran with this rich world.
Why hasn’t Disney managed to recapture that? What about their trilogy (my head refuses to believe they’re canon, so I don’t call them sequels) makes fans so divided, and how do we, as authors and creators, learn from those failures? In other words, whereas many people use previous Star Wars movies to demonstrate how to plot and write a good story, we’re going to look at the failings of the Disney Trilogy to talk about how to write a compelling narrative. Why? Because everyone and their brother slams these movies, but they never get any lessons out of it.
Now, I’m not planning on nitpicking every little aspect of the two films that have been released so far. The idea is to look at their more broad story, character, themes, world-building, and dialog choices to determine exactly where things went wrong and how to keep your own writing from doing the same, especially if you’re writing a series.
So, let’s have at it!
Here’s the entries to this series so far:
Part 1: The Setup Should Make Sense
Part 2: Your Characters Should Make Consistent Choices
Part 4: Your New Characters Should Be Compelling and Consistent
Part 5: Subverting Expectations Without Dishonoring Your Legacy