Well, it’s more accurate to say ANH was changed in later stages/editing to more closely fit the hero’s journey (and GL retroactively trumped up his allegiance to Campbell’s hero journey). Anytime Lucas himself has tried to intentionally replicate it, he’s failed, indicating he’s too literal and simple to understand the story he’s telling (but that’s not breaking news). Marcia Lucas was the brains of the operations as GL proved every single time he opened his mouth after Empire (which he didn’t write or direct, thankfully). As for Mr. Campbell, well, let’s just say he’s a bit of a one-trick pony and his “insight” into myth, legend, and folk narratives is overstated. Coincidentally, Rian Johnson has also apparently read the wikipedia entry for Campbell because he’s said in interviews that Luke’s story in TLJ is the back-end of the Hero cycle, as analogous to King Arthur. This is my point about Star Wars, though: it’s not a revolutionary narrative. If fans thought Obi-Wan was the main character they would be in an outrage about how he does nothing in ANH and just disappears for some reason instead of having a totally epic badass swordfight bro with Vader. Same with Yoda, who goes from doing backflips in the prequels to self-imposed and fatal exile on Dagobah. But yeah, let’s all freak out because Luke ran away instead of confront his problems, just like every single other Jedi Master we like/know. Unlike his predecessors though, Luke learns from his mistakes and his false beliefs and ends up saving the day, realizing the Legend of Luke Skywalker once again. Like the hero he is.
Calling Star Wars fans infantile is only a slight if you make it a slight. I like playing with toys, too. I bought a whole crapton of Star Wars toys just the other day (gotta love those MG-100 bombers). The infantilization does have a negative side-effect though, and that’s when something doesn’t go their/our way, they/we freak out and whine and cry and throw things. They/we did it for Phantom Menace. They/we did it for Attack of the Clones. They did it — weirdly after the fact — for Force Awakens (not “we” because y’all crazy, that’s a brilliant movie). Now they’re doing it for The Last Jedi. So yeah, what’s wrong with calling a spade a spade? Star Wars fans are intentionally infantilized by Star Wars itself. Selling toys is more important to the franchise than negative reviews. It’s that simple.
As for the “middle school level insults” to be honest, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. If people said something incorrect, I corrected them. If people insulted me, I sarcastically responded to them. Only when one guy kept going and going did I break face. If you’re a writer (you might be, I have no idea) you understand that there’s no such thing as a bad response. My words made a bunch of people happy and a bunch of people mad. That’s a win-win! Add on top of that the fact that a handful of people were so influenced that they chose to comment and tell me how mad they were? That’s a cherry on top. I suppose that’s somewhat perverse if you think writing as some noble endeavor, but it’s just a reframing of the “there’s no bad press” axiom. So sure, a few jackasses made some stupid comments and I pointed out their stupidity. That’s hardly some indictment on my maturity level or condescending attitude. Maybe don’t make stupid comments on a random guy you don’t know’s medium post. Which brings us back to the toxicity of the internet. For some reason, people feel entitled to comment their opinions on everything. I never asked for their opinions. I never asked if Will Rand likes or dislikes me or if Timmy Smith thinks it’s appropriate to call me a “gaslighting little bitch.” I just wrote my take on The Last Jedi and hit “publish.” Everyone has the right to do the same. But this notion that somehow comments should be what — left alone? These people chose to comment on my piece. Should I ignore them? Should I be persuaded by Harold Pretzel’s nuanced response that “The Last Jedi sucked”? C’mon. By responding to me, these people wanted to make sure I saw their brilliant rejoinder. So, I responded to their response, which presumably is what they wanted? Then new people get mad that I responded to the responses. Ok. Should I ignore them? Should I pretend they don’t exist? Or should I take screenshots and send it to all my friends so we can laugh at the stupidity of Sean Haile for telling an academic folklorist that he should read Joseph Campbell? Maybe I chose the petty route. Maybe two petty’s don’t make a right. Who knows. Unlike the script for The Last Jedi, I’m not perfect.
