Talking About 'Star Wars': Is there any way that Star Wars Episode IX will make all Star Wars fans happy?


On the questions-and-answers site Quora, somebody asks: 
Is there any way that Star Wars Episode IX will make all Star Wars fans happy?
My reply is:
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding.
The question you ask reflects either the inexperience or naivete of someone who hasn’t been around to experience the Star Wars phenomenon since it began in 1977.
Well, I was 14 when Star Wars (as the original film was originally titled) premiered on May 25, 1977. And I can tell you right now that if there is one truth about the franchise’s fans, it is this:
There is no such thing as a Star Wars movie that will make all fans happy.
It wasn’t possible to please all of the fans in 1977 when some fans thought the tone of Star Wars was too kid-friendly, mainly because of the Laurel-and-Hardy relationship between Artoo Detoo and See Threepio.

It wasn’t possible to please all of the fans in 1980 after The Empire Strikes Back was released; there was a lot of arguing about how inconclusive the ending of the movie felt, whether or not Vader was Luke’s father, or how on Tatooine’s burning sands would Leia ever decide between Luke and Han?

It definitely wasn’t possible to please all fans in 1983 when Return of the Jedi hit theaters. Some fans hated the revelation that Leia was Luke’s twin sister; others hated the fact that Luke didn’t go bad-ass and kill both Darth Vader and the Emperor. And don’t get me started about the Great Ewok Schism of 1983, whereupon many of the older fans (15 and up) hated the Ewoks with a passion, while younger viewers did not.

And this, of course, pales in comparison to the current Internet Fan Outrage Era, which began in earnest when George Lucas (who was testing digital tools to make the Prequel Trilogy) re-released the Star Wars Trilogy in a Special Edition that some fans hate with a passion. This Dark Age for Star Wars fans simply became more polarized with two further schisms: one over the 1999–2005 Prequel Trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith), then another that began when George Lucas retired as President and CEO of Lucasfilm and sold the company and its intellectual property to The Walt Disney Company in 2012.

In short, Star Wars movies - like any other mass entertainment product - are bound to please large segments of a global audience, while at the same time alienating other segments of that audience.
Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker will not break that paradigm. And, mark my words: It will not please all of the fans. That’s an impossible goalpost to set - so don’t set it.

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