One of favorite examples of this is from Gilligan's Island, during the run of the series the Coast Guard kept getting calls wanting them to get the characters off the island. Some people just don't understand the difference between what we see onscreen and reality. I've always found it kind of interesting how our minds, or at least my mind, is able to process this kind of stuff. I can both know that what I'm watching is not real, and it's all actors and special effects, and at the same time it feels real and I enjoy the characters and the story.
Good God! Those people are literally the aliens from "Galaxy Quest." How does anyone get to that point. I understand maybe thinking a actor shares certain personality traits with a character. But not to the point where you don't know it's all make believe and pretend. I mean what do they think the camera's and scripts and all that stuff is for if not to create and capture a fake experience. Jason
There are other reasons people like the new movies besides just "Star Wars", right? I didn't fall for it with TPM and I don't now.
Of course, but I think that's definitely a factor. People go crazy defending these movies. I doubt that would happen without the increasingly tarnished Star Wars name.
Well the new "Star Wars" movies do have one problem in that they half to live up to the old movies which aren't just great but iconic. There is one scene in those old movies that isn''t a iconic scene. People know them inside and out by this point. They were part of just about everyone's childhood and young adulthood. The bar is set pretty high when it comes to "Star Wars" so I do try and consider that when I look at the modern movies including the prequels though I guess it's strange to still consider them "new." since "Phatom Menace" came out like 20 years ago. The passage of time seems to get blurry as you get older. Jason
I agree but I also think the pendulum swings the other way when it comes to tearing them apart. As the old saying goes "You can't get a fair trial in this town."
I suspect the prequels are pretty popular, as at least good even if with flaws, for those who first watched TPM at 13 and under, yes they have and benefit from nostalgia of their own.
Or William Atherton having busloads of schoolchildren calling him "dickless" after he was in Ghostbusters. If you think Jar Jar is bad, I have 8 words that will scar you for life-- "Droppo, you are the laziest man on Mars." Personally, while I can understand that Jar Jar would never be anyone's favorite character in the movie, I could never relate to the massive active dislike that people have for him. I watch him and I'm just kinda like, "Oh, that comic relief bit didn't work. Well, back to the story." I don't see how Jar Jar even warrants any more attention than that. And I do find the character's voice to be a lot of fun! Every once in a while, I'll go into a random Gungan voice, whether it's Jar Jar, Captain Tarples, or Boss Nass. It's less common than when I launch into my Obi-wan Kenobi & Emperor Palpatine impressions, but it does happen. Jar Jar never convinced me but I thought that Watto was very well lit. I think there's something to that, particularly given that so much of the movie is so stiff & stately, the over-the-top comic relief really stands out. I guess it's an annoying thing that people can immediately identify as bad, whereas much of the rest of the movie is more just an absence of goodness.
Droppo gets a pass because he was made funny by "Mystery Science Theater 3000. " I watch that every Christmas. Jason
Well schoolchildren is a little different, Kids are kids and I can see why they would not know the difference between fiction and reality or just be immature. Heck even teenagers are often immature jerks. At some point though as you get older your suppose to become more mature and stop being a asshole to people. Some 40 year old nerd sending hate tweets or whatever doesn't really have much of a excuse. Jason
Not all fandom and not all at the same time. But the underlying reality is still the same: Actors play fictional people. Fake people. Not real people. Some in the audience some make false attributions or conflating character and actor, which is worse than typecasting. Even Leonard Nimoy had to spell it out for audiences with an autobiography, 'I am not SPOCK". Can't imagine why... But ask Ed O'Neill and Jaleel White as well, since audiences, for a long time, saw them only as their best-known characters (Al Bundy and Steve Urkel respectively) even though both of them are fantastic character actors) and not the characters they were playing in later productions. Or the guy who killed John Lennon, possibly after realizing Lennon the real life guy was nothing like what he peddled as if it were a big shock that it caused him to go nuts. I wasn't there at the time, anyone can only guess as to why they imprint the image onto the entertainer when numerous sitcoms constantly remind us that the actor is rarely like the characters played. Even Carroll O'Connor got numerous threats because people thought he was the same as Archie when O'Connor himself was nothing of the sort... again, "acting".
My recollection of TPM was that it got criticized not just from old fandom, but also regular critics for the racial stereotypes in some of the characters