Star Wars for kids misleading?

[CTTT]

I think it was George Lucas who said that he made SW for kids and another producer said that when making the shows imagine a kid watching it...and I'm like...what? I love SW. I've seen all of the shows/movies on Disney+. Plus Lucas when he made the first movie drew on inspiration from a lot of sources both historical and fantasy. Plus Akira Kurosawa. SW has deep themes like death betrayal, coming of age and others. Plenty of adults like me enjoy it, so how can kids understand those themes at a young age? And why can't it be made for adults too? Watching Obi-Wan Kenobi and just because it has a 6 year old Leia and a black kid thief that Obi asks for help shouldn't mean that it's geared towards the lowest common denominator. I've taught kindergarten and high school and if my experience there and movie theaters has taught me anything kids like three things bright shiny lights, pew pew noises from space guns and the sound of the light sabers and whoopie cushion fart noises. Teen viewers are the same way. They don't care and appreciate the plot like adults can. Saying SW is only for kids is an attempt to cheapen the brand and viewing experience.

[thwhtGuardian]

I think it was George Lucas who said that he made SW for kids and another producer said that when making the shows imagine a kid watching it...and I'm like...what? I love SW. I've seen all of the shows/movies on Disney+. Plus Lucas when he made the first movie drew on inspiration from a lot of sources both historical and fantasy. Plus Akira Kurosawa. SW has deep themes like death betrayal, coming of age and others. Plenty of adults like me enjoy it, so how can kids understand those themes at a young age? And why can't it be made for adults too? Watching Obi-Wan Kenobi and just because it has a 6 year old Leia and a black kid thief that Obi asks for help shouldn't mean that it's geared towards the lowest common denominator. I've taught kindergarten and high school and if my experience there and movie theaters has taught me anything kids like three things bright shiny lights, pew pew noises from space guns and the sound of the light sabers and whoopie cushion fart noises. Teen viewers are the same way. They don't care and appreciate the plot like adults can. Saying SW is only for kids is an attempt to cheapen the brand and viewing experience.

It doesn't cheapen the brand at all, and it is true, you just have to be okay with the fact that you're young at heart and still enjoy kids stuff.

[jcl100]

I don't recall George Lucas ever insisting that Star Wars was only for children. Just that he created the franchise with kids and pre-teens in mind as the target audience. There are plenty of examples of media that's primarily geared towards a younger audience that still explore more complex themes. It's certainly not always the case, but it's not really that unusual either.

[j9ac9k]

Lucas made a movie for kids where people's arms get lopped off and die by the millions. I guess it depends on what one's notion of "kid appropriate" is.

[jcl100]

Lucas made a movie for kids where people's arms get lopped off and die by the millions. I guess it depends on what one's notion of "kid appropriate" is.

There's certainly something to be said about how the violence is depicted on screen, but villains in Disney animated movies have died in some fairly brutal ways over the decades. There have been hangings, impalement, and even being devoured while still alive.

[Tofali]

Disney consistently kills parents in their movies (violently or otherwise) and their movies are still considered family friendly.

[ChrisIII]

Some of the more recent YA novels have actually been better than those aimed at an older audience. Claudia Gray's stuff especially.

[godisawesome]

Star Wars, like Indiana Jones, reflects George Lucas’s opinion about what interests kids - succinctly, the exact same things that interest adults, but louder and a bit more clear.

He grew up watching old serials and reading pulp novels that were ostensibly “for kids” but still gobbled up by adults… and serials and pulp novels have a direct connection to “higher art” like operas and Shakespeare… which were the original mass media that even kids were expected to watch with everyone else way back when.

This idea that kids wants dumb, soft, shallow art to entertain themselves is a misinterpretation of how kids have a hungrier mind capable of being interested in something for longer than adults… and that sometimes they have parallel “higher standards” to what adults have. Like, yeah, many adults have higher standards regarding subtlety, but kids can have higher standards for why they should pay attention to protagonists - “rich ******* doing selfish **** in a serious manner” doesn’t intrigue them as. Often as it does adults because it’s actually not inherently more interesting.

Lucas totally expects little kids to not be turned off by blood, violence, romance, politics, and lore… and given how many Millenials were happy with the PT while Gen Xers whined about it just goes to show that a “kids show” can be intricate and involved.

See also: Avatar -The Last Airbender.

[Lukmendes]

Lucas made a movie for kids where people's arms get lopped off and die by the millions. I guess it depends on what one's notion of "kid appropriate" is.

There's certainly something to be said about how the violence is depicted on screen, but villains in Disney animated movies have died in some fairly brutal ways over the decades. There have been hangings, impalement, and even being devoured while still alive.

To be fair, kids' stuff got softer over the years lol.

But yeah, kid stuff can have more depth than you'd expect, and while they may not get everything, adults aren't guaranteed to do so either, and while kids can be rather dumb since they're still learning, they can notice stuff you wouldn't expect.

And really, why not let a kid watch something that is a bit deeper than it "should" for kids? Kids are less likely to learn if they're not challenged in some way.

[Jackalope89]

Can't forget the original fairy tales. Not the Disney ones, but the ones Disney based their films off of. Cinderella, for instance, the step-sisters mutilate their feet to try and fit into the glass slipper, and some versions even have Cinderella's bird friends peck their eyes out. Little Mermaid, she never actually gets the prince and turns into seafoam. The Snow Queen... Well, both had very powerful winter related powers, and that's about the only similarity.

Needless to say, the Star Wars films may have intense and violent scenes, but Lucas is far from the first to make such family content. It goes back literally centuries.

[MajorHoy]

I don't recall George Lucas ever insisting that Star Wars was only for children. Just that he created the franchise with kids and pre-teens in mind as the target audience. There are plenty of examples of media that's primarily geared towards a younger audience that still explore more complex themes. It's certainly not always the case, but it's not really that unusual either.

The Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1940s are a perfect example of how something can be made to appeal to various generations on multiple levels. Some of them had very high brow, topical humor that might have gone over younger kids' heads but were still amusing to them.

[Timothy Hunter]

What made Star Wars so popular was that there's something there for everybody of all ages. You have shows like the Clone Wars that obviously is geared more towards kids and you have things like Knights of the Old Republic which might have a more adult audience.

[godisawesome]

What made Star Wars so popular was that there's something there for everybody of all ages. You have shows like the Clone Wars that obviously is geared more towards kids and you have things like Knights of the Old Republic which might have a more adult audience.

Still, most kids could play, watch or read Knights of the Old Republic material and still enjoy it, and TCW vacillated between “Cute Widdle Padawans Looking for Cwystals!” To “Star Wars does Nam!” in the same season.

Lucas and LFL simply have a more realistic understating of what kids can watch and enjoy than most toy companies can tolerate.

[Timothy Hunter]

Still, most kids could play, watch or read Knights of the Old Republic material and still enjoy it, and TCW vacillated between “Cute Widdle Padawans Looking for Cwystals!” To “Star Wars does Nam!” in the same season.

Lucas and LFL simply have a more realistic understating of what kids can watch and enjoy than most toy companies can tolerate.

Sure kids could play the Kotor games if they wanted to, and I'm sure a lot did, but did the Old Republic era really have a lot of little kid fans? I never got that impression.

I would imagine if that were the case you would have. A lot more Old Republic young reader's novels or more child friendly comics akin to Clone Wars Adventures.

[ChrisIII]

KOTOR, when it came out, generally had the reaction from a lot of fans as "Now this is what the prequels should have been!", at least at first.


The DH comic series was a lot of fun, and somewhat had more of the general fun "Original trilogy" feel compared to the somewhat darker games, of which it was kind of a fun side-story (Malek, Revan, Carth etc were just supporting characters) rather than a true prequel.