[Headline graphic: The Mandalorian (Graphic by Gambo7; used under the CCA-Share Alike 4.0 Int’l license]
By Kent R. Kroeger (Source: NuQum.com; December 27, 2020)
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“As in the case of many great films, maybe all of them, we don’t keep going back for the plot.” – Martin Scorsese
“I don’t care about the subject matter; I don’t care about the acting; but I do care about the pieces of film and the photography and the soundtrack and all of the technical ingredients that made the audience scream. I feel it’s tremendously satisfying for us to be able to use the cinematic art to achieve something of a mass emotion.” – Alfred Hitchcock
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After over 55-plus years, I can count on two hands and a couple of toes the number of times I’ve cried watching a movie or TV program.
I cried when Mary Tyler Moore turned off that lights at WJM-TV.
I cried when Radar O’Reilly announced Colonel Henry Blake’s death.
I cried when the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviets in 1980.
I cried when Howard Cosell told us that John Lennon had been killed.
I cried when ET said goodbye to Elliot.
I cried when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.
I cried when baby Jessica was pulled from a 22-foot well.
I cried when Mandy Moore’s character dies at the end of “A Walk to Remember.”
I cried when Harry Potter and his wife sent their son off to Hogwarts.
I cried when Barack Obama became our 44th president.
I cried when the 33 Chilean miners were rescued.
I cried when the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series.
But I can’t remember crying harder than while watching this season’s final episode of Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” when Luke Skywalker rescues Grogu (more popularly known as ‘Baby Yoda’) from the Empire’s indefatigable, post-Return of the Jedi remnants.
Since its December 18th release on Disney+, YouTube has been flooded with “reaction” videos of Star Wars fans as they watched a CGI-version of a young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) remove his hood before Grogu’s caretaker, Din Djarin (a.k.a., The Mandalorian), and offers to train Grogu in the ways of The Force.
The “reaction” videos range from the highly-staged to the very charming and personal — all are illustrative of the deep affection so many people have for the original Star Wars characters, particularly Luke Skywalker.
For me, however, it is hard to detach from this emotional, collective experience the knowledge that it never would have happened if Lucasfilm (i.e., Disney), under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, hadn’t completely botched the Disney sequel movies, starting with “The Force Awakens,” director J. J. Abrams’ visually stunning but soulless attempt at creating a new Star Wars myth, followed by “The Last Jedi,” director Rian Johnson’s inexplicable platform for pissing on the original Star Wars mythos, and ending with “The Rise of Skywalker,” J.J. Abrams’ failed attempt to undo Johnson’s irreparable damage (along with the desecration Abrams himself laid upon the Star Wars brand with “The Force Awakens”).
Though opinions vary among Star Wars fans as to the extent Disney has alienated its core Star Wars audience, almost all agree that Disney’s most unforgivable sin was disrespecting the character of Luke Skywalker, who had been defined during George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy as an incurable optimist with an unbreakable loyalty to his family and friends (Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo).
We cried at Season 2’s end of the “The Mandalorian,” not just for the beauty of the moment, but also because of the depth of Disney and Lucasfilm’s betrayal.
Actor Mark Hamill, himself, as he promoted (!) “The Last Jedi,” perfectly described the cultural vandalism perpetrated by Kennedy, Abrams and Johnson on Luke Skywalker:
Postscript: In recent days, Lucasfilm and Disney social media operatives have been posting messages reminding us that Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, is a “fan” of the Disney sequel movies, including Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi.”
Perhaps that is true. But I also believe Hamill has made it clear in the past couple of days where his heart resides — with the George Lucas’ Luke Skywalker:
Sometimes the greatest gifts are the most unexpected and something you never realized you wanted until it was given.#ThankYouJonAndDave 🙏 pic.twitter.com/4nNjSvbvIN
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 30, 2020