That’s why those Shakespearean adapatations of Star Wars don’t exist....oh...hang on they do exist. It’s also why no-one shows Star Wars in scho....oh hang on, I watched in school (RE of all places...) and it is taught on film studies courses, and there’s a ton of academic literature on Star Wars going back decades. Damn. Looks like OPs assertation stands, especially in the way it’s clearly meant, in that it’s used as a yardstick and a ‘best in class’ with many many devotees and invested critics. It’s been the gold standard for successful SF and franchises since about 1978. I personally expect to hate the last Jedi, and am not exactly over fond of TFA (for the record, I love Rey, like all the New Characters, but think they are in bad stories that treat the old heroes like shit just for the sake of it....Kylo Ren was better when he was called Darth Caedus.) but yes...populist entertainment, aimed at ‘low’ culture, suddenly becomes ‘high’ culture and inspires an industry around itself....sure sounds like Shakespeare to me.
Star Wars might not be Shakespeare but it's SO much more entertaining. Sorry, but when I'm in the mood for a good, entertaining movie, Romeo and Juliet don't enter the picture
As much as I find enjoyment in just about anything with the name "Star Wars," when it comes right down to it, I have to agree with this. The 1977 movie stands strongly on its own as a self-contained movie, and all the rest just weren't needed. Kor
I've watched plenty of matinee movie serials from the '30s and '40s, and I quite enjoy their charming simplicity. While Star Wars and Indiana Jones both took inspiration from such serials, I find SW and IJ (at least in the early iterations) to have a more advanced level of storytelling sophistication and characterization than those Saturday afternoon movie serials. Kor