Freudian slip: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson reveals what he really thinks about the Star Wars universe
The director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, may have just admitted to the last thing that someone inheriting the massive franchise should admit to. That he didn’t even think about the universe to begin with.
Despite the underwhelming reception of The Last Jedi, Johnson seems to have rebounded with the critically acclaimed ‘Knives Out.’ In a recent interview with Vanity Fair in which he was discussing the film, the creator said this in regards to working on a universe:
I don’t really think in terms of universes or in terms of creating worlds or whatever. That’s not that interesting to me. The only thing that is interesting to me is [the] story.
In Johnson’s opinion, “The story specific to, like whether you are writing a Star Wars film that’s part of a three-movie trilogy or an original thing like Knives Out, you are still telling a story that is new to the thing that you are doing, that it has to work within the context of that movie.”
The problem with that statement is that in a franchise like Star Wars, the universe and worlds are part of the context. You can’t in one breath dismiss the universe that your story is set in and then say that your story has to make sense in the context of the film. I don’t know if there exist enough confused John Travolta reaction gifs to show how nonsensical the comment is. Then again, this shows exactly what Star Wars fans have been saying about Johnson since the release of The Last Jedi. He had no business making a Star Wars film.
Some franchises are admittedly daunting. Star Wars is one of the biggest science fiction universes of all time, if not the biggest. The original trilogy is legendary, and many people across the world could probably tell you exactly where they were when they saw their first Star Wars film. Its cultural impact cannot be understated. That is the exact reason why Rian Johnson’s approach to storytelling is the exact opposite of what you should have when tackling this sort of subject matter. You want a person who cares about the world-building, the universe, and the impact on fans everywhere.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to tell your own stories, and all but one of Rian Johnson’s films have been his own. However, when you’re writing a franchise like Star Wars you aren’t writing for yourself any more. You’re writing for an audience that is already there, and you’re being gifted an opportunity to give something cool to that pre-built audience. It’s like getting the chance to do a fill-in show for Metallica. The last thing that you want to do is fill in for bassist Rob Trujillo if he’s sick and then show up on stage with an accordion and dressed like Steve Urkel.
The best way to summarize handling a pre-established franchise is that you’re a contractor. You’re going to be given a bit of leeway with what you can do, but you always have to be aware of who your audience is. On a panel with both Mark Hammill and Rian Johnson, you can see that Hammill understood that and Johnson didn’t. Fictional worlds have had many people who screw too much with the source material and end up turning people off. In the world of comics, Nick Spencer’s Secret Empire showed us a Nazi Captain America and people tuned out. In television, you can always call back to the moment that coined the term “jumping the shark” when Fonzie did just that on a pair of waterskis.
I suppose in Johnson’s case you could call it jumping the Sarlacc, but at least one thing can be said about the director’s contribution to the Star Wars universe. It retroactively made Jar Jar Binks seem tolerable.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
