There is no denying this truth: we love to raise hype for any movie that is construed by pop culture as significant. People are almost always generally excited for a new superhero movie or TV show (unless it's something like Fantastic 4). Popular franchises such as Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Insidious, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter always have a high degree of excitement attached to them. So, it's no surprise that Star Wars is victim to the same fate as these other franchises. Star Wars stands relatively high on the ladder of popular franchises- it's popular for being incredibly amazing and incredibly terrible. People label episodes 4,5, and 6 of the trilogy (which are confusingly the originals) as the best of the series, while there seems to be a general consensus that the three prequels are much worse, with the possible exception of episode 3.
If one were to look back at the hype built around these prequels, however, they would see it was massive. Product placement for "The Phantom Menace" appeared everywhere, toys were being sold, and there was a general buzz about the genius of George Lucas. And then the movie was released. And people were at first in absolute denial. They refused to believe this movie was bad, and some critics even said the movie was excellently made. However, as time sank in, people did realize the flaws of the movie and how bad a storyteller Lucas could be when no people were giving him suggestions (to me, "Empire Strikes Back" is the best Star Wars, and it's the one that Lucas hates the most, so that could tell you something). When "Attack of the Clones" was released, people simply started giving up on the Star Wars prequels, with a general consensus being this one was worse than "The Phantom Menace". By the time "Revenge of the Sith" was released, people had almost completely given up on the prequels, but were given a pleasant surprise with a movie that at least offered some of the great things the originals had- however the cheesy lines, bad acting, and cringe-worthy moments still happened. People thought Star Wars movies were basically over with and that a good Star Wars movie would never be made again.
And then "The Force Awakens" rolled around. Once again, hype was built up, and this time it felt like it was reaching a breaking point. I had been too young to express much excitement for the prequels, but with "The Force Awakens" I was giving in to the hype as well (though maybe not to the extent of other people). This movie might have built excitement because of a clever marketing technique J.J. Abrams has, which is both a blessing and a curse- he reveals as little as possible information about his movie. There was originally for a long time an only one-minute teaser that revealed nothing about the plot of the movie, but excitement was still present. When a full trailer was released- which still gave little information about the plot, but showed off Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, Darth Vader's mask, and a slew of new characters with potential, the hype reached a fever pitch.
And then, the movie released and the effect it had was unbelievable. It had a gigantic opening, earning $150 million just in the U.S. It didn't take it long to be the number one movie of all time, surpassing movies like "Avatar" and "Titanic". That's how much the hype played into this movie. It was much higher than "The Phantom Menace", by a very long shot. And at first, this movie was releasing immense praise from both critics and fans. There was actually a consensus between the two, which rarely happens: both sides saw "The Force Awakens" as a return to form for Star Wars, bringing the feel of the originals while injecting some new energy into it for the new generation as well. But, in an even shorter time span than "The Phantom Menace", the hate began to roll in, and it rolled in droves. People complained the movie was over-hyped, and it didn't equate to the originals at all. Some even said all the prequels were better and they wanted George Lucas back.
I'll admit, I was a little surprised at the hate at first. I guess it was because I didn't try to engage into the hype culture surrounding this movie as much, but I found myself able to form a balanced opinion of it without giving being overly critical or praising. The movie did have flaws, like not very compelling villains and a disappointing ending, but still overall I really liked the movie, even though I did think it was not as good as the prequels (although it and "Return of the Jedi" can be switched around, depending on my mood). However, as I thought more, I began to understand the hate. There were some pretty obnoxious reviews on IMDB that simply gushed over the movie and called it the best thing ever, not leaving any room for possibility of improvement. Not only that, these reviews were written with seemingly not much thought attached to them. I read negative reviews because as a critic I am much more fascinated on reading negative reviews for a movie I like and positive reviews for a movie I don't like to see the opposing side. And some of these negative reviews admittedly felt very rational. I could see why some thought "The Force Awakens" drew too much from "A New Hope", or that a major character getting killed off detracted from their enjoyment.
But then the hate got downright unreasonable and contradictory. People started saying Star Wars was simply a nostalgia trip- how could this be when the movie introduced new characters and even killed off an old one to make the new ones the centerpiece? Others said that the movie was way too mysterious and didn't explain enough- Oh, so am I to understand you want to see what the prequels did again? Political discussions that verged on the point of tedium, and every plot line given in boring dialogue to the point of absurdity, is that what these people wanted? Abrams obviously wanted to give a mystery to this new time period, so that it could be explained in sequels. I had a hard time understanding why people couldn't see it. And then, the most insane argument- people wanted George Lucas back. George Lucas, of course, did great on "A New Hope", but on the later two movies he had people who had a degree of control in his movie as well. In the prequels, he did the same thing Shamalyan did- he made the movies solely on his ideas, and they were trash (once again, with the exception of "Revenge of the Sith"). He didn't know how to make an effective story or good characters on his own, and people acknowledged that. So why on earth were people saying they wanted Lucas back?
But then I understood- with the extreme hype culture comes the extreme hate culture. Both clash against each other, with the level-headed people unfortunately thrown to the background, labelled negatively by both of the extremes. As I've said, neither extreme is really all that good. Hype culture can give too much credit to a movie based on only two minutes of footage. Hate culture can give too much hate to a movie based on only two minutes of footage. Let's take a look at the Rogue One trailer as an example, a Star Wars movie coming out at the end of this year. The reactions to this ranged from reasonable to ridiculous. The people who simply said "I'm excited for this movie" or "This movie could be good" or "I'm not sure how I feel based on this trailer" or "I don't care for this trailer" have perfectly logical reactions. Those are simple statements which are fitting based on a small sample of a movie. But there were some who made some very brave statements. Hype culture gushed, "This is going to be the best movie ever!" or "I know this will beat Star Wars VII" while hate culture made insipid comments like "Great, another female lead- looks like Star Wars is going dystopian" or "The milking of the cow begins" (probably one of the worst comments I've ever read in my life). All of these extremes are ridiculous. How can one already know this will be the best movie ever, and what is the point in saying a female lead will create a weak movie?
Personally, I will say that I am leaning more positively to "Rogue One" based on the trailer, but I am keeping the possibility open the movie could be disappointing or downright horrible. If you build too much hype or too much hate for a movie based on a trailer, chances are you're going to keep staying in that mindset without considering changing it or acknowledging others' opinions. This hype/hate culture festers negative ignorance of others instead of promoted positive conversation. It's our nature to do this, giving in to either the hype or hate (depending on which is more popular). I hope that we can change this attitude, as it would be far more beneficial to have a more level-headed mindset.
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