#2 - No sense of humor - The prequels seemed like they were written by someone with autism or something. No sense of humor at all. In the original, they were able to improvise slightly. Han had swagger. It was light hearted and fun.
I don't have a problem with ideas of yours that others perceive to be obnoxious at times and it's perfectly fine if you don't like a movie, but to be so inconceivably insulting and offensive towards people with autism is not only unacceptable, but is also, as a move, lower than Sam Hinkie's win total, I'm sorry.
Maybe you find it offensive if you don't know much about the autism spectrum (or are familiar with other famous celebrities, artists, directors who are autistic). I have spent a lot of time with folks with high functioning autism. Some of them are very smart, but have difficulty comprehending certain emotions... and humor is often a difficult thing for them to grasp. An autistic girl I worked with simply didn't understand jokes unless they were puns. She loved puns. I also know someone who knows George Lucas personally and he insists he shows all the signs of high functioning autism. There's been a lot of speculation in the autism community for a while that Lucas has Asperger’s Syndrome based on elements of his personality and how his writing lacks emotion (fwiw, Helena Bonham Carter claimed that Tim Burton also had all the signs of asperger's). Sorry if the comment comes across flippant or if my use of the word "autism" was a trigger (I think some people confuse autism with down's syndrome), but I was more commenting on the way those prequels were written, what the focus of the movies was on, how stunted/flat the dialogue was... and generally how the characters interacted with each other. They seemed to lack a basic understanding of how real people interact with each other. The reviewer in the video I linked says it felt like it was written by an 8 year old. Maybe instead I should have said the prequels seem like they were written by someone with social problems... and I've heard from someone who knows him directly that George Lucas has social problems... and have seen many interviews in which people described him as an anti-social introvert with an obsessive personality. He apparently had never been easy to get along with on sets... and I suspect that if Harrison Ford had not been clashing with Lucas and making up his own lines in the original movie, it probably wouldn't have worked as well.
Anyways... a lot of the best parts of the original trilogy didn't actually come from Lucas. Lots of improvisation, both Empire and Jedi (and Episode 7) were written by Lawrence Kasden. There were elements that were added in spite of him. Lucas also wasn't the director on either "Empire Strikes Back" or "Return of the Jedi". There was a lot more collaboration in the original trilogy. With the prequels, Lucas took over the entire thing (all writing and directing responsibilities) and ultimately failed. I think Lucas strength is world-building and ideas... I'm not sure he was ever a great director. He should consult, create plot elements, give input on the world... and then step back and let people with a sense of humor and understanding of storytelling principles write the screenplay and direct the film.
No, I know far too much about mental health problems and disabilities, thank you very much. I find it offensive and insulting because it is so, despite your 'well I have black friends so I can't be racist' kind of argument as it pertains to people with such disabilities. I just can't believe that you're actually trying to defend what you said. Wow. Has D.O.S. taken over your account, lol, because he's great at offending any number of people at any time on here which has been well documented, unfortunately.
I never got the sense that you were that type of guy, though, and perhaps this is all just a big misunderstanding over a poor choice of words, but here's how it sounded to me, "No sense of humor - The prequels seemed like they were written by some retard/someone with autism down syndrome or something. No sense of humor at all." It may not have been your intent, but that's how it came across to me. It wasn't like there was any attempt at humor by you there, either, from where I sit, not even like target's ocd stands for obsessive christmas disorder shirts, which, while at least being somewhat cute and funny, are still in poor taste, imo, even if that is not the intent of the company or the people who bought the product. Sorry, your choice of words just really bothered me.
As far as the movie, I do like Star Wars, but I'm not a fanatic about the films, so you'll have to fill me in on why so many people hated the prequels. I was a kid at the time when they came out, and, not being an avid Star wars fan, thought that it was at least cool to see more films come out, even though the ensuing years have showed that Hollywood is clearly out of ideas and is intent on turning every goo-to-great movie into a Land Before Time Format, lol. They just don't know to quit when they're ahead. From the ads from this movie, all I saw was Star Wars 7 - We're All Old Now
. That doesn't mean that I might not still want to see it at some point, but yeah, from what Eja/Mace Windu
has said, it sounds like this film is to Star Wars what The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was to the Indiana Jones series, which I love, as in they waited far too long. Idk who the directors are that you've mentioned, although I know Lucas, obviously, and J.J. Abrams does sound familiar, lol, but I don't remember any of his films right now. Feel free to expand or not on this, because I'm not even a novice in this department. I'm sorry for coming down so hard on you, btw, it's just that that really irked me, intentional or not.
It's not impossible for folks with aspergers to have a sense of humor. Like I said, my co-worker with high functioning autism really enjoys Puns. Clearly George Lucas thought Jar Jar Binx was hilarious. But folks with aspergers often struggle with humor.
Hans Asperger, in 1944, theorised that people with Asperger’s Syndrome do not have the propensity for humour, and that attempts at humour would turn out, at best, awkward, and at worst, hostile. In recent years, this musing has been proved to be only true in minority. While people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome can have difficulties with the subtleties of humour, this does not mean to say that having an ASD and having a sense of humour cannot mesh.
The key thing in your response was:
Here's how it sounded to me, "No sense of humor - The prequels seemed like they were written by some retard/someone with autism down syndrome or something. "
This confirms what I believed... you don't know the difference between autism and down syndrome. If that's how my comment sounded to you, I don't blame you for being offended... but if that's how it sounded to you, it's clearly a topic you aren't familiar with.
It's not the same thing...
Down Syndrome:
(Lauren Potter of "Glee" fame)
(Chris Burke of "Life Goes On" fame)
(Edward Barbanell from "Workaholics")
Aspergers:
(Daryl Hannah from "Splash")
(Craig Nichollis of the rock band "the Vines")
(James Taylor - 5-time Grammy Award Winner)
... As well as a host of other folks who have either been partially diagnosed, have pubically stated they exhibit signs, or have had experts speculate that they likely had Aspergers... including: David Byrne, Marilyn Monroe, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Andy Warhol, Al Gore, Tim Burton, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, Crispin Glover, Bobby Fischer, Sheldon Cooper, Abed Nadir, Sherlock Holmes,
GEORGE LUCAS, and many others.
But yeah, maybe I should have said "the prequels seem like they were written by a socially awkward introvert with no sense of humor and tendency to obsess/fixate over unimportant details"... which if you know anything about George Lucas or have watched a single documentary on the making of Star Wars, would have been pretty difficult to dispute. Sorry about my choice of words. I do regret making that comment... mostly because I had to spend time explaining them... but also because you think less of me now... The last thing I want is for Beat LA to think I'm a retard-hating racist. But if we're being straight with one another... I'd guess Lucas is on the autism spectrum and I believe it reflects in his writing (And by the way just to reiterate... this isn't some crazy rambling Drunk uncle thing I made up on my own... I've been hearing these things about Lucas for years, there's speculation all over the internet if you want to Google it, I've heard it from someone who has spent time with him first hand, and it's even referenced by those in the autism community itself) Lucas seems like a very intelligent guy, wonderful at world building, great at creating stories and obsessing over tiny details... He's the architect of the Star Wars world and deserves praise for it... but he seemingly struggled with writing believable dialogue or multi-dimensional relatable characters. He was a good Producer. He should have let others write and direct the prequels based on his own concepts.
Anyways, before the Star Wars convo was railroaded by PC Principal, the point I was attempting to make was that there was a significant amount of backlash to the prequels... and I think "Episode 7" was a direct response to that. What was lacking from the prequels was on full display in the new movie... and you can blame the botched prequels on poor writing, poor storytelling and poor directing. It's clear that the new movies have a focus on character, a focus on humor, a simplified story, wonderful action sequences and "moments of delight" that brought back the Magic of the original trilogy. What's funny to me is that the main criticism the movie is getting (though from a minority of fans) which is on full display in this thread is that the story was too simplified and too similar to the original. I guess they couldn't please everyone, but in my opinion... they totally nailed it.