Sometimes, You Just Love Things
While there are many valid criticisms of The Rise of Skywalker, I’m not here for any of them. This is why.
So here’s a thing. I’m capable of being critical of media that I love. See anything that I have liked about the coding of Entrapta as Neurodivergent and ALSO able to be swayed into the clutches of evil because SHINY TECH. I still think #SheRa is awesome.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
I enjoyed the first 2 rebooted Trek films, but have Hella Opinions on them.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
But there are certain franchises that, unless they foul up terribly, will get much more of a pass from me than others.
Perceptive followers may deduce that I am referring to #StarWars #RiseOfTheSkywalker. They would be correct.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t love Star Wars. Leia was critical in teaching a wee girl that she too had a place in the big world of SFF.
I read nearly every book in the entire Expanded Universe that I could get my teenage hands on, once I discovered that they existed. I recently replaced a poster I got from the traveling #StarWars exhibition that I saw when it visited @airandspace.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
That poster had endured a number of moves and was tattered. I was so afraid that I would have to spend so much money scanning and restoring it that I extolled the praises of @GeekCalligraphy when she found it on eBay for $10.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
I was so excited for The Phantom Menace. We saw it as a family in theaters. And it was awful. But when Attack of the Clones came out, we saw that too. And I was so wounded by the disappointment that I still haven’t seen Revenge of the Sith.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
As I got older, I poked relentless fun at the prequels. I still maintain that Lucas should never be allowed both the director’s chair AND screenwriting credits.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
But I also discovered that Carrie Fisher was mentally ill. And so am I.
This made the original films all the more precious to me. She was like me! She swore in public and wore too much glitter and I got to see her in Wishful Drinking, her one woman show and got my playbill signed. I told her how much Star Wars had meant to me.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
And then they said that my beloved EU was no longer canon. Which was awful, since that meant my other favorite didn’t exist anymore.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
Hey Disney+, I would pay good money for a Mara Jade series and I am not alone.
But why was it not canon? BECAUSE MORE MOVIES WERE COMING!!! And more books! Some of which were bound to be the sort of gems that Zahn had managed to mine out of a sparse canon.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
And I went to see #TheForceAwakens.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
I walked out of the theater with a smile on my face.
General Leia! A girl as the focus of the franchise! Awkward AF Poe/Finn!
And the books were pretty good too!
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
People have just critical notes on all three of the new films. In different ways, all of them have made me so joyous. And while I can see what they’re pointing at, I’m honestly not interested.
Sure JJA did things I didn’t love. Rian Johnson also tried to shoehorn too many movies into one. But they’ve all felt like #StarWars movies and at the end of the day, that’s what matters to me.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019
So keep thinking critically and writing reviews! I’m going to sit this one out though. It’s totally me, not you.
— T Ash (@crewgrrl) December 22, 2019