I really don't know how to put this across properly, on the one hand I really like this show, and like what it has to offer for Star Wars fans like me, and I still believe this is a good show, what I am confused about is what is upper management at Star Wars doing?
Well I am and I am not, because it is pretty obvious why this is happening, the AAA gaming industry is facing the same problem, but I will get to that later don't you worry.
I do not think I need to point out the current state of Star Wars to anyone reading this, in fact I wrote an entire article on this very topic when the second season of the Bad Batch was airing.
But if you read that article you will also see that it is my belief that the state of Star Wars isn't as bad as one would come to believe.
My conclusion in that article was that there is a certain tendency for our culture to make sensationalized headlines and "sharable stories" out of things that might otherwise be benign.,,j,
And while yes, the discourse surrounding these shows is a big reason that Star Wars is pretty bad, the reason behind it all is, ultimately Lucas Films terrible decisions.
But, I think the problem goes deeper.
And it is probably emblematic of a larger problem with all larger entertainment industries.
That's right my friends, big money, oh that and a lack of plan.
But Big Money.
So when questioned about the extremely low viewership of this show, most people online are just like... what? This show exists?
Oh yeah the one with a New York suburbs yeah... why is this Star Wars again. And that is kind of the point, the marketing for this show has been extremely forgettable, intensely killing its chances at any success, I mean after the dumpster fire with the Acolyte who really is going to be excited when you say "that star wars show".
And We will get to what failed in the Acolyte, don't you worry.
And it is not, what the internet is telling you.
I have been having this epiphany of sorts ever since watching The War for Rohirrim(The Lord of the Rings animated movie.) I do not think movies have a woke problem, or an anti-woke problem or a contrivance problem or a propaganda problem, these are buzzwords that people online use to make their content more palatable, which is a goal I get, but then sometimes it becomes more Nefarious, but that's besides the point.
No what is actually happening is somewhere along the lines work culture at studios became fucked, how can I be so confident?
Well!
I do not think it will be unfair of me to say that competition in the industry is much much higher than it used to be, as many people have realized how much money and opportunity lies in entertainment both as an investor and as an interested employee or anywhere else.
And as a result there is a need to be successful and to avoid risk, many larger companies try to solve this problem by throwing money at it, because god knows that's the only thing executives have ever heard of, and many of the smaller companies deal with it with the power of hope.
I mean literally no one will argue that indie media has been giving us so many Gems in all forms of mediums, movies, games etc. etc.
But what we do not see are the infinitely more number of projects that fall off the wayside.
In my War of Rohirrim Article I made a claim, that the problem with that movie is not that Helm Hammerhand is not the main character, I mean yes, that would have lead to a potentially better movie that would have been far less likely to fail(so it would seem.) but the main thing about this movie is, it can't justify it's existence.
What does that mean? It means the story wasn't impactful enough(It's an oversimplification I know.) and there is basically only one reason this happened in this case, the movie didn't go far enough with it's themes.
But every other critic or 'critic' will tell you the solution should have been either make Helm's deep the main character or don't keep the elements they have selectively deemed problematic.
Yes we get it, some very popular media has been contrived recently, and you saw a political parallel, get over it.
It is important to make it clear tho, I do not blame people for making these assumptions, am I frustrated by them, damn straight, but I get where they are coming from, the Helm's Deep thing is the easiest solution, and when you notice signs of bad writing related to one thing, your brain immediately makes a correlation even if a wrong one.
But okay, if the people behind media are not going far enough, why so?
Well! Big Money! High Stakes due to high competition, makes you want to play safe no?
For the very same reason, the makers of War of Rohirrim didn't choose Helm Hammerhand as a main character, what if they fuck it up?
And here is the thing many people are asking why this is the one that Star Wars didn't Fuck up, like the one they were planning to give no marketing to, and as a result would get very little exposure, Word of mouth carried this thing honestly, and that was very difficult because no one wanted to believe in it, it looks like a kids show they said.
And I mean yeah, same, if I wasn't a Cinephile, I don't know if I would have watched it, but I'm glad I did.
But I think it is because of the less attention it received that lead to it being so good, I mean Discussions surrounding Star Wars is Toxic, that leads to a Toxic environment for creatives to work in, regardless of whether or not Leadership is good, and Leadership at Lucasfilm... it could do with some tweaks lets say.
I actually went a step further last time and defended a particular content creator who was called out by someone from Lucasfilm who was very active on social media, I do not think that was a good move, but when it comes to the content creator himself, I have diverged somewhat from him in views.
Yes, it's Star Wars theory.
And I will leave it at that, I do not like to start fights, not that a small blogger like me can do anything. Rather I think I would be the one at risk. Still I would like to think I wouldn't change regardless of size.
But I think it because of the reduced attention that discussions surrounding it was so positive, and simultaneously, because Lucasfilm didn't put so much pressure on the Skeleton Crew... Crew, they had more creative freedom.
So it turned out... great!
And yes, the lower viewership is also due to the image that Star Wars has, partly because of the discourse surrounding it, and partly because of Lucasfilm responding poorly to it, I mean my personal problem with that show was, that it just didn't justify why the Jedi felt so terrible about what they had done, like... the blows felt softened and the narrative was wishy washy.
What happened there I think is the creatives got cold feet, once they realized what they were getting into.
So What is the solution, well unfortunately there isn't an easy solution, And I think the problem itself is rising from the people behind media trying to find an easy solution.
The environment has become too failure avoidant, which is not great for creativity, and I think there are lot of factors that go behind it, some of which I have pointed out here(poorly I might say) and some which I haven't but that might require a separate article.
But think about it right, the Character of Jod is someone everyone who has seen the show will love, but why? Cause he really went there, my bro went all out, even though, deep deep down, he cared for the kids and understood their pain.
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