Club Jade

Oh, a question! A real question! Cool.

I don’t actually follow Gail Simone, but I went to take a look.. and while I mostly just read her replies, I’m not really all that surprised by anything she’s saying. Yeah, kids do like the prequels a lot more than adults do. They generally go or went into them a with a whole lot less of the baggage and expectations that those of us who grew up with the OT did, etc.

Also, one really can’t underestimate The Clone Wars. I grew up in the 80’s, and yet somehow Star Wars was just never a big thing among the kids I knew. You know what was? He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, all the stuff that was ON TV AT THE TIME. (I never even heard of the Ewoks and Droids cartoons until I was MUCH older and already in fandom. But then , I never knew My Little Pony was a cartoon either, and I loved My Little Ponies.) So Clone Wars is either another venue of getting kids into SW, or it’s a fantastic way to keep them into SW. They’re basically doing for kids now what the books were doing for me in the 90’s - keeping them well and hooked into the franchise.

Kids love what kids love. And chances are they will always carry some love for it, even if they grow into seeing the flaws. For instance, I watch Conan the Destroyer every time I see it on TV. I know and accept that it’s a horrifically bad movie, but I love it anyway. So that’s kind of the lens through which I see PT fandom.

I’ve discussed this elsewhere, but I have no problem with people - kids or otherwise - loving the prequels. I do kind of have a pet peeve about people who internalize all the hate and go all bitter about it - I don’t think that eye for an eye shit does fandom any favors - but other than those rare cases, I don’t see it as a huge deal. There are always going to be people who hate/dislike what you love (I’ve seen it with the EU, though not quite as much since there’s a higher barrier to entry) but you just have to learn to shrug it off. This is fandom: You’re not obligated to treat anyone else’s opinions as anything other than their opinions.

That said, I think the hate does get completely ridiculous. It’s been a while, guys. The movies aren’t going away. Disappointment with the PT is fine, I’m certainly not going to call someone less of a fan for it - and I’ve read stuff, pretty extensively, from fans on both sides. It’s fine to have an opinion. And of course, I always encourage snark - in CJ, that’s how we show our love. But, you know, don’t be a jerk.  - Dunc