In our “What Star Wars Can Learn From” series, we’ve been examining lessons the Star Wars franchise can take from other successful series. Cooper kicked off the series with a look at Avatar (the Airbender franchise, not the blue people and special effects franchise). Now I’d like to take a look at the Assassin’s Creed franchise. It is, like most things these days, a multimedia franchise, but I’ll be focusing on the triple-A video games, which are the heart of the series and the only part with which the vast majority of people are familiar.
For the benefit of those not familiar with Assassin’s Creed, it is a series of video games published by Ubisoft in which users play the role of a modern-day man (Desmond Miles in all the games up to now) experiencing the adventures of his various ancestors through advanced technology. The core of the games is in the stories of these ancestors, members of an order of Assassins who fight against Templars who wish to create a “better” and more orderly world without respect to the freedom and rights of ordinary people. These ancestors appear across a range of historical settings, interacting with real historical figures, while living out a sort of “secret history” that plays with the idea, essentially, “What if every conspiracy theory was actually true and all rolled into this one struggle?” There have been five releases up to now, following three Assassin ancestors, and a sixth coming out on current-gen consoles this very day with a new Assassin, plus the PlayStation Vita release Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, which followed an additional Assassin and will receive a full console port next year. Read More
The mystique of the buckethead brigade has only grown since Boba Fett’s first appearances in the Holiday Special and The Empire Strikes Back. Their backstory- and the historical cultures upon which it draws- have grown only more convoluted over time, as various authors have accented, overwritten, or ignored the works of previous writers. However, certain historical influences can be sussed out from the turmoil. The Mongols, the early medieval Vikings, and the ancient Celts of Gaul (with a dash of modern Celtic flavor) have all played a role in building Star Wars’ most well-known warrior culture.
The panel from Marvel Star Wars that spawned one of my favorite retcons in the history of EU continuity.
First, a bit of background. Out of universe, the Mandalorians originated with Boba Fett and the background notes established by George Lucas in The Empire Strikes Back– according to Lucas, Fett wore the armor of the Mandalorians, a group of evil warriors exterminated by the Jedi during the Clone Wars. Marvel’s “Star Wars” comic line expanded on the armored menaces, giving them a home planet (Mandalore, later rendered as ”Manda’yaim” in Mando’a) and establishing that their warrior culture still existed post-Clone Wars. The Clone Wars adventures of the Mandalorians were explained (and were later brilliantly retconned by Abel Peña in his “History of the Mandalorians” article, creating Spar a.k.a. Mand’alor Gayiyli, or Mandalore the Resurrector), with the Mandalorians eventually aiding the nascent Republic. While the Marvel era was left somewhat to the wayside in the Bantam-era EU, the Mandalorians continued to be utilized by various authors. In particular, Tom Veitch and Kevin J. Anderson laid much of the groundwork for Mandalorian culture in Tales of the Jedi, depicting the early Taung as nomadic warriors and raiders from the Outer Rim. The Knights of the Old Republic mini-franchise further expounded upon early Mandalorian warrior culture, positioning them as something of a cultural bogeyman to the Roman-inspired Galactic Republic. Later, Karen Traviss added her own substantial interpretations to Mandalorian culture, bringing in further Celtic motifs and developing the framework for a Mandalorian language.
Rohlan Dyre, of KOTOR comics fame, leading a diverse legion of troops into battle.
Generally speaking, the Mandalorians resemble various nomadic groups throughout history. They were driven from their original homeworld- Coruscant- and travelled from world to world, settling on planets such as Roon, Shogun, Basilisk, and Ordo before settling down in the Mandalore system circa 7000 BBY. One element in particular links them to the Mongols of the late Medieval period- their willingness and ability to effectively assimilate conquered groups and cultures into their ranks, whether using their technology, taking advantage of their knowledge of trade routes, or simply assimilating them into their ranks. The Mongols under Ghenghis Khan and his successors were able to utilize Chinese knowledge of gunpowder and siege equipment to conduct their military campaigns in Khwarizm, Mesopotamia, India, and the Russian steppes. They were further able to integrate far-flung regions into their (only briefly unified) empire, respecting freedom of religion, expanding trade routes, and providing military protection to the conquered (assuming one survived the initial military assault, naturally). Similarly, the Mandalorians were almost fanatical about incorporating groups who had survived their conquests. Upon settling in the Mandalore system, the ancient Taung (note: the name “Taung” comes from a young Australopithecus skull discovered in Taung, South Africa in 1924) immediately made war upon the native Mandallian Giants, who survived the buckethead onslaught and were subsequently incorporated into the Mandalorian war machine. Later in history, as the Taung themselves were gradually worn down by constant warfare, the Mandalorian culture became incredibly multiethnic, incorporating species as diverse as Rodians, Twi’leks, Herglics, and humans- humans would come to be the dominant species within the Mandalorian culture.
He’s climbing on your Capitoline Hill, snatching your Eternal City up.
Perhaps one of the most inspired elements of Karen Traviss’s interpretation of Mandalorian history and culture was her utilization of general Celtic elements to color her spec-ops warriors. The Gauls- a Celtic culture that inhabited parts of modern-day France (the Celts themselves settled as far afield as the British Isles, Northern Italy [Gallia Cisalpina], Modern Spain, parts of the Balkans, and even central Turkey [the region known as Galatia draws its name from its former Celtic inhabitants]) were something of a cultural bogeyman to the Roman Republic, similar to the role played by the Persians in Hellenic culture and the Mandalorians in the Galactic Republic. The La Tene culture- a Gallic subculture located in Northern Italy- even sacked the city of Rome itself in 390 BCE, the last time that the city would be breached by a foreign enemy until the Sack of Rome in 410 CE. Not ones to be upstaged by their real-world inspirations, the Mandalorians participated in several battles at Coruscant, such as Ulic Qel-Droma’s raid during the Great Sith War and the sack of Coruscant at the end of the Great Galactic War under the command of Darth Malgus. Interestingly, the Romans were not absolutely averse to friendly interactions with the Gauls, despite their various wars with them- the late Roman Republic and early Empire adopted Gallic-style helmets, and often preferred to hire Gallic mercenaries rather than utilize their own native cavalry. Similarly, the Mandalorians inspired the armor of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the GAR itself was partially trained by (and cloned from) Mandalorian commandos.
One last historical inspiration for Mandalorians can be found a bit farther north in Europe – the Vikings of Scandinavia. Much like the Mandalorians, the Vikings were perceived as a highly militaristic culture, the scourge of Western Europe. While recent archaeological evidence suggests that the Vikings also engaged in a great deal of long-distance trade, transmitting goods and ideas along the seas of Western Europe and the Volga and Dniepr Rivers, their reputation as successful raiders is nonetheless well-deserved. They were able to conduct long-distance raids through the use of their longships- vessels that could travel rivers, coastlines, and the open sea. The ancient Mandalorians were able to utilize their Basilisk War Droid to similar tactical effect, popping out of hyperspace astride fighter-sized technological terrors that could operate in deep space and in an atmosphere. While they at times menaced the Eastern Roman Empire, Viking mercenaries were eventually hired to form the Varangian Guard, an elite unit in the Eastern Roman military. By the 12th century, the makeup of the Varangian Guard had largely shifted from soldiers of Norse descent to men from the British Isles. While they were an almost existential menace in the Republic’s psyche, the Mandalorians were perfectly willing to work for Coruscant when it suited them. They were hired by both sides during the New Sith Wars, and as mentioned earlier trained the Republic’s army prior to the Clone Wars (which did not preclude the Mandalorians from fighting against those very clones- Mandalore the Resurrector’s 212 Supercommandos were almost entirely wiped out in an engagement with the Galactic Marines on Norval II). The aforementioned gradual shift in Mandalorian identity from a single species to a multi-species culture is also reminiscent in the make-up of the Varangian Guard.
While almost certainly unintentional, the way in which these historical cultures have been interpreted, reinterpreted, and rewritten mirrors the rather haphazard nature of Mandalorian continuity. The Vikings, who for years were seen as little more than raiders, have in recent decades been re-evaluated for their impact on trade throughout Europe and the Middle East. The Mongols have experienced a similar renaissance in Western historiography, in recognition of how their conquests aided in the exchange of scientific, social, economic, and military ideas between Europe and eastern Asia, as well as their ability to integrate a far-flung heterogeneous empire. The ancient Celts, of course, have been utilized as nationalistic symbols by their descendants in the British Isles and France- although the modern nation of France is more directly connected to the Franks than the Gauls. In a similar vein, the Mandalorians have gone from simple elite villains to a dynamic warrior culture who occasionally even get to play the hero.
Character deaths have been part of Star Wars from the very beginning. We, as fans, don’t always like that our favorite character is no longer present in universe, but we can learn to accept them and objectively look at what works and doesn’t work for character deaths. Today we’ll look at movies vs. the EU and I look forward to your comments afterwards!
The Movies:
Jinn: “Obi-Wan. Promise…Promise me you will train the boy.”
Kenobi: “Yes, Master.”
Jinn: “He…is the Chosen One. He…will bring balance. Train him…
Qui-Gon Jinn in the mentor role of the Prequel Trilogy is one of the first character deaths you’ll come across chronologically in the movies. To be honest I’m a little on the fence about his death. I hate to start off on the fence and I promise to not be on the fence on the others. Ultimately I feel like Jinn should’ve waited for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Why would you take on a Sith 1 on 1 when you could take him on 2 on 1? That’s not logical to me and is what puts me on the fence. I think his death did much to boost Kenobi’s character. We know that Kenobi is supposed to be special and it takes a special Jedi Master to train the chosen one, Anakin. Having Jinn die and Kenobi beat the Sith that took out his master 1 on 1 does quite a bit to help the viewer believe in Kenobi. So while I think Jinn’s death is necessary I don’t like how they made him quite stupid in the end and not wait for Kenobi.
“I don’t know you anymore. Anakin, you’re breaking my heart!
You’re going down a path I can’t follow!“
Padmé Amidala’s death isn’t even one I’d like to discuss. In the first two movies she is such an amazing and strong heroine that the gross misuse of her character in RotS makes me ill. It was so frustrating to watch her utter the quote above and know that it meant they were going to have her die in a silly way. I think I would have even accepted Anakin killing her when he choked her over having her give birth and hearing the medical droids saying that she is perfectly healthy but dying of a broken heart. It is an unbefitting death for your heroine to die from a broken heart.
“You can’t win Darth. If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi’s death is exactly how I imagine a hero’s death. He distracted the bad guy so that the future of the galaxy could escape from the Death Star. Kenobi achieves the ultimate victory over the Sith because he robbed Vader of actually killing him as well as figuring out how to remain behind as a force ghost and continue to influence the events of the galaxy. He also got to rub it in Vader’s face with the quote above. Kenobi’s death after a life lived to its fullest was the right way to kill off a hero.
“You already… have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me.
Tell your sister… you were right.”
Vader/Anakin Skywalker is arguable to be included here but I am going to include it since it is one of my favorites (along with Kenobi’s) from the movies. Despite not being able to show facial expressions, one can clearly tell how conflicted Vader has become over Luke and the Emperor killing Luke. He steps in to sacrifice himself and succeed at what every Sith aspires to do: kill their Master. But in the process he also saves Luke and ultimately the galaxy, so was he redeemed? Was he acting still as a Sith with their desire to take out their Master or was he rejecting the Sith and acting out of love to save his son? It is so deliciously ambiguous in the moment that I love it. Obviously we see Vader proclaim he was redeemed and he shows up as a force ghost with the other Jedi later in the movie, but in the moment it is completely up to the viewer to decide if Vader died as a hero or not.
The Expanded Universe:
“I love you, Chewie.”
“I should have told him that myself! He saved my children! He was always there for them, he died for them! And I never told him.” ~Han Solo
Chewbacca’s death is very unpopular in the EU. He was the first major movie character to be killed off and I loved it. I understand my opinion is not really on par with how others feel, but I can’t help it. Star Wars became exciting again with the thought that someone could die. There is also no better end for a hero than to sacrifice oneself for someone else. I will grant that it seems a little strange since we know Wookiees have a bit of jumping ability to think that Chewie couldn’t have tucked Anakin Solo under his arm like a running back and leapt aboard the Falcon. However, I appreciate what the authors were trying to do and how they gave Chewie a noble, hero’s death by having him complete his life debt to Han and making the ultimate sacrifice for Anakin Solo, who was supposed to be the future of the Jedi. A last stand that includes bellowing in defiance at a moon as it comes down upon you is the right way to kill off a hero.
“I witnessed the death of perhaps the greatest of them all, the one called Anakin Solo, who gave his life so that the ones he loved might live.” ~Nom Anor
Again the EU gets a hero death right. You can whine all you want about how Anakin Solo shouldn’t have been killed off and I’d probably agree with you, but I am looking at how it was done and it was done well. I love the concept of Anakin’s death: to sacrifice himself for not only the lives of his friends and the girl he loved but the Jedi around the galaxy. During the Mykr mission at least four of the Jedi members were killed and multiple Jedi were wounded, including Anakin. He stayed behind to delay the Vong so that the others could complete the mission to kill the Voxyn queen and escape. Anakin fully immersed with the force and truly became the light of the Force in order to defeat the Vong but was unable to recover from such an immersion of Force energy. What happens to the Jedi he sacrificed himself for cheapens that sacrifice but in the moment Anakin Solo was awarded a hero’s death.
“I am Ganner. This threshold is mine. I claim it for my own. Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don’t give a damn. None shall pass.“
Ganner Rhysode may have the most epic death in Star Wars. I challenge my readers to find a more epic last stand for a Star Wars character. The quote is a bit of a rip off from LotR and Gandalf, but I’m willing to forgive that because once again the Star Wars EU killed off a hero correctly and gave them a spectacular last stand. While reading Traitor I was actually frustrated that Ganner was given such an awesome death. I really felt like another Jedi who was more fully developed should’ve been given this death. I think it would’ve been close to perfect for it to have been Kyp Durron instead to finally atone for his wrong doings in the destruction of Cardia to sacrifice himself so Jacen could kill the world brain and the Jedi could finally start to retake the galaxy. Instead the EU once again kills off one of the younger generation characters. Ganner takes out thousands of Yuuzhan Vong warriors with Anakin’s lightsaber becoming a legend and nightmare the Vong tell stories about for some time. Definitely the right way to kill off a hero.
“You think…you’ve won, but Luke will crush you…and I refuse…to let you…
destroy the future…for my Ben.“
Legacy of the Force begins a terrible downturn for hero deaths in the EU. The death of Mara Jade is arguably one of the worst in the history of Star Wars. The “logic” of Jacen’s sacrifice was so far off that even the apologists have a hard time with her death. Just the fact that Jacen felt the need for a sacrifice to truly become a Sith didn’t work for me. At the time of LotF we’ve had over a hundred books as well as numerous comics. We also had the PT where we experienced Anakin Skywalker’s fall and his transformation into Vader. At no point do we see Sith dwell on the concept of a sacrifice in order to become a true Sith. Usually the Sith are so self-involved that there would be nothing to sacrifice. So to begin with, Jacen needing a sacrifice is flawed and then choosing Mara as his sacrifice makes no sense. I acknowledge the argument made that Ben’s admiration is the sacrifice but that could have been accomplished in a different way. There was no reason to kill off a hero for Jacen to be a Sith.
Her death was brought on by the elimination and underdevelopment of characters Jacen’s age along with an unwillingness to kill off Tenel Ka for some reason. Luke, Han and Leia were out of the question. Jaina as well since they can’t kill off all the Solo children. They made the right choice by not killing off the next generation of Allana and Ben. So again, why the need for a killing sacrifice? Jacen was already believable as a bad guy and one turning Sith. The authors had Jade make the mistake of feeling like she had to do this alone which also isn’t logical. She has a literal army of Jedi to use and she decides that she alone can take out Jacen. If you’re going to use her Hand of the Emperor’s training as an excuse then you can’t have her fail. She was too good at what she did for the Emperor to have her taken out by a poison dart, because Jade would’ve thought of that trick herself.
Mara’s death and attempt to save Ben’s life also almost cost Ben his life. After her death he plotted to kill Jacen himself and if he had continued down that path he would have taken Jacen’s place as a dark Jedi at the very least. Given what we’ve seen from the direction of Star Wars after LotF, Mara’s death seems like a horribly executed way to get Luke free from him wife in order for him to retire. Yup…that makes total sense…
I had originally intended to discuss Kenth Hamner as well, but the more I wrote and the more I thought about it this one question kept bugging me. Hamner is known as a Jedi who is bland but does his duty with honor, grace and strength yet in the end is written as almost traitorous to the Jedi order so much so that they decide to do something uncharacteristic of Jedi and kill him instead of capturing or disabling him. Hamner believed he was doing the right thing and trying to keep the Jedi from treason. So I’m going to instead pose that question to you. Can we consider Hamner’s death the death of a hero?
When we first laid eyes on the New Republic, it appeared to us as a child just emerged from infancy. We fed it from our wallets and watched it grow with each new entry. We saw it survive and thrive against all odds in a hostile galaxy. We continued to follow the course of its nearly two-and-a-half decade existence until its eventual demise at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong and its rebirth as the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Much has been said about its life and death, but the Expanded Universe has long remained unusually silent on the circumstances of the New Republic’s creation.
To say overthrowing an entity the size of the Galactic Empire is a difficult task would be a significant understatement, but the process of building a new state remains a far greater challenge. Stories such as the X-wing series, the Thrawn Trilogy, and The Courtship of Princess Leia have told tales of the fledgling government’s conflicts against Imperial holdouts such as Ysanne Isard, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the warlord Zsinj, but these are primarily military conflicts against external forces – a simple continuation of the Galactic Civil War with foes other than Palpatine and Vader. Read More
In an interview with BBC earlier this year, J.J. Abrams explained that his approach to the new Star Wars films centered more on what he thought was authentic to the characters and less on what he thought the fans might want to see. In doing so, he explicitly drew a contrast between having an authentic creative vision and trying to divine the preferences of fans. It’s not immediately clear that there is any such dichotomy between a well-crafted film and a film which caters to the whims and desires of the fan base. While a quality creative vision is paramount, is J.J. Abrams correct to draw a contrast between what fans want and what’s best for the films? Despite the sometimes pejorative usage of the terms fanboy and fangirl, aren’t they occasionally correct in their vision and isn’t supporting the fandom a sign of an attentive franchise? We say yes.
We often hear the term “fan service” used to describe a certain kind of pandering to the fans, usually involving the display of flesh. The archetypal example in Star Wars is Princess Leia’s metal bikini in Return of the Jedi, but fan service of that sort can be seen across various types of media: from comic books and character illustrations to racy writing.
Leia’s metal bikini has become almost a byword for fan service, parodied in movies and television and yet still easily exploited for sales.
It’s often used to describe women – usually fan favorites – in skimpy outfits, but it can also be used to describe men in similar conditions or even unnecessary plotlines featuring romance or violence. The defining characteristic of fan service is that it is gratuitous and it is geared towards pleasing fans, and therefore driving sales of a product.
We asked our friends and colleagues for a word that describes the opposite of fan service, which would be something along the lines of being attentive to the needs and concerns of fans: something more than dismissiveness and less than pandering. Nobody could come up with a handy term, and responses ranged from “good writing” to “being thoughtful and treating your fans like intelligent people.” It’s telling that this sort of thing is so uncommon that it doesn’t have a label, but we argue that it’s crucially important for successful franchise work. For lack of a better term and to avoid circumlocuitousness (spellcheck, if that isn’t a word, it ought to be!), we’ll stick with fan engagement.
What is fan service exactly?
Since we’re talking about a continuum between a good level of engagement with fans and fan service, we have to reject extremes at the outset. Our position is not that the display of any sort of flesh, that any romantic plotline, or that any use of a fan-favorite character is necessarily fan service. It’s a question of degree, and perhaps more importantly, a question of purpose. We state a proposition that we assume is not terribly original, yet it becomes all the more surprising that blatant fan service still exists in spite of it. We propose that the difference between fan service and fan engagement is that fan service involves pandering to the audience in a way that does not actually enhance the story or creative version – in other words, the paramount difference between the two is actually more about purpose than degree.
This is an important distinction, especially when it relates to sexuality or nudity. Franchises – especially those in the science fiction or fantasy genres – often feel the need to exploit sexuality in order to make their content more palatable to mainstream audiences. Not only is this assumption unwarranted with the success of science fiction and/or fantasy blockbusters such as the Star Wars films themselves, or the more recent Trek reboot and the Game of Thrones television adaptation, not only does it offend both casual and hardcore fans and followers of the same, but it is often thematically and narratively unnecessary. This is the key: while some would argue that all sexuality and/or nudity is obscene, unseemly, and unnecessary, we argue that it is only that which is pandering that is problematic. It is that pandering that creates a host of extra problems which have long plagued media properties: problems of sexism and the male gaze, issues of privilege and objectification, and – for some – even issues of moral decay. Why is pandering problematic? Because fan service is – by its nature – unnecessary. It is when creators and designers make a decision to make a thing “sexy” merely for the purpose of pleasing fans who drive sales, and for no other underlying goal. This underlines how cheap and instrumental such sexuality is, which is why so many of these problems (each of which could probably sustain its own article) get reinforced: because said sexuality and nudity is monetized, and that is its only value.
Dexter Jettster shows a lot of skin, and his service is known for being very profitable.
We do not advocate censorship or bowdlerization, however. Ours is not a moral point, and we do not wish to see a Victorian ethos in the Star Wars franchise (unless that involves a steampunk aesthetic, which is almost always cool – but it too, can be overdone). Sex, nudity, revealing costumes – all of them can serve vital narrative purposes, can establish a dramatic setting, and can be used creatively. In our modest opinion, the problem has never been with their presence in franchise work but that they were used for pretty exploitative purposes. Note well, creative types, that a narrative purpose does not simply mean that a character dresses in a skimpy outfit because it “empowers” him or her (but note also that such a thing is also not impossible: such people do exist, but make sure it is about the character and not about pleasing the fans who will buy your work!).
Not just sex
Some of the friends we surveyed used the term “fan service” to exclusively refer to the sexualization of characters and scenes, while other sorts of pandering were called just that – pandering. We subscribe to the broader view of fan service, which includes gratuitous violence, gratuitous romance, or even gratuitous character appearances. For us, it’s never just been about sex: but anything that is primarily geared at pleasing the fans to drive sales, at the expense of narrative concerns.
Fans often complain of unnecessary love triangles, and romance plotlines are often stretched out beyond all reason in order to drive sales from fans who favor relationships between differing couples (beware: few wars leave fewer casualties than shipper wars – appeal to fans by inserting relationships at your risk, creative types, as people have been known to leave franchises when their ship sinks!). This is a problem that has plagued more than just franchise work: network television soap operas and even a few sitcoms have long been known to use this method of fan service, and entire series have spawned out of romantic fan service.
Let’s get concrete. We’ll use Boba Fett as an example. His very existence as a character has to do with his popularity with the fans: he began as a random character in the Holiday Special, had a small role in The Empire Strikes Back, and drove such action figure sales that he had a sizeable role in the beginning part of Return of the Jedi. Then he died. But he was shortly revived by the Expanded Universe, and continued to play a role into the very post-ROTJ Legacy of the Force series as well as a role in the Star Wars prequels and associated comics and video games (to the point that the character Jango Fett was created to tap into his fan base while the actual character was too young to be fighting). Boba Fett is incredibly popular, and that has caused him to appear in settings where he might not properly belong. Some have protested his inclusion in the Legacy of the Force novels, while others have argued that his story arc in those novels is well-written and compelling enough to warrant his inclusion aside from his popularity. As we have not read that series ourself, we could not possibly comment. We will observe that sometimes the line is difficult to draw: the most excellent comic by the most excellent John Ostrander – Agent of the Empire – featured what at first struck us as an annoying bit of fan service: the introduction of Boba Fett for no reason than to justify his placement on the cover of the comic. Yet as the narrative unfolded, it turned out that Fett did have a role to play in the story. Did that mean the financial considerations of his placement were out of the creators’ minds? Of course not – but we acknowledge that business considerations are important and will inevitably play a role. We just ask for some restraint and discipline.
It’s a fine line to draw, and the very nature of franchise work is that inevitably someone, somewhere, will object to something as inappropriate, or as pandering. The key is to have honest motivations and intentions. Give fans some credit: they can tell when they’re being pandered to. Some fans are fine with that and would like to be pandered to, and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that (but as noted, there can be problems with objectification of people, trivialization of violence, misleading and unhealthy views of romance, et cetera) but plenty of fans will resent it.
What is fan engagement?
So how is fan engagement done right? This is a harder question. Giving fans what they want is sometimes exactly what is called for: Marvel’s The Avengers succeeded largely in part because it was what everyone wanted and expected from a superhero film of its nature – but did not pander, because its entire premise was that it was a fun superhero film that did not take itself terribly seriously. If it had attempted to cash in on Nolan Batman films’ narrative weight, it would have probably struck viewers as artificial and not have succeeded as well as it did.
The best recent examples of fan engagement from Star Wars at our disposal come from recent Expanded Universe offerings. From novels to reference materials, the Star Wars EU has been getting it right lately. A few years ago, Matthew Stover penned Luke Skywalker And the Shadows of Mindor – its campy title foretold what the story would end up being, which was essentially a love letter to the fans of the old and sometimes maligned Bantam-published EU of the 90s. It was retro in a way that appealed to nostalgic fans, but in a way that strongly enhanced rather than undermined the nature of the story: hammy and over the top was exactly what the story and its villain called for, and Stover delivered in spades. The fans that enjoy Star Wars reference materials inhabit a bit of a niche in the Star Wars fandom, but that hasn’t stopped EU writers from delivering. Writers such as Dan Wallace (writer of The Jedi Path and The Book of Sith) and Jason Fry (The Essential Atlas, alongside Dan Wallace, and The Essential Guide to Warfare, alongside Paul Urquhart) have written reference books that had glitzy and glamorous designs, and the Jedi/Sith books even featured little inserts and toys to drive their appeal. They were well-publicized books which aimed at a mainstream audience (as far as Star Wars fans go), but the authors of those works also regularly conversed with the niche fans of EU arcana on messageboards and social media sites in order to capture the pulse of that segment of the fandom: they were consequently able to both create works geared at selling well but showed by their conduct and writing that the views of the fans were very important to them. Even the StarWars.com blogs have joined in on positive fan engagement – a series of articles written by individuals such as Abel Peña, Rich Handley, Pablo Hidalgo, James McFadden, and many others have added both new lore and shed light on previously unknown facets of the Star Wars mythos and moviemaking process in ways that have fascinated and delighted fans of such: and they’re doing so on a completely free website feature.
Fan engagement is good. We want to see creators more responsive to fans, but in a way that showcases their appreciation of both the franchise they work in as well as the fans of that franchise. Fans can be pretty harsh critics and some people have said some pretty awful things about people who work in the Star Wars franchise, but ultimately we’re all seeking the same thing: the best Star Wars franchise we can have. We hope, looking forward, that J.J. Abrams realizes that it is perfectly ok to approach his work as a Star Wars fan – as we know he is – without undermining his creative integrity or that of the franchise. After all, many of the individuals we have praised in this article are fans themselves: this is how we know the franchise is in safe hands with them. That’s not to say that fans always make the right decisions or what fans want is always the best, but creators who are fans themselves and who think of the fans as actual people are probably in a better position to make those decisions. Mr. Abrams just needs to set the right course between too much pandering and too little: but that’s what astromech droids are for. You can never have too much Artoo Detoo.
