What do you think is the reason why people hate the politics in the Star wars prequels but people like LOTGH despite a large part of it being about politics? (ignoring the fact that LOTGH politics is obviously more based, since normies generally don't care about that)
Edit: LOTGH=Legend of the Galactic Heroes for those who don't know
It's kind of obvious.
Star Wars became celebrated being sci-fi skinned fantasy. So when it became a political thing, that's not what the fans were there for.
LOGH was heavy into politics and diplomacy from the start. So that's the fanbase it had.
Cake is good. Steak is good. Biting into a cake and finding out it's steak with chocolate frosting is not good.
I would even go as far as most anime space operas are heavily political, it’s basically a subset of the genre.
You'd probably hate LOTGH's politics, too, if delivered in the accent of Jar Jar Binks. I used to be a real hater of the The Phantom Menace until I watched the Japanese dub. It was shocking how it turned into a decent film simply by dumping the negro accents and replacing the rest of the cast (minus Liam Neeson) with professional Japanese voice actors.
LOTGH presents its story neutrally. the characters all do things that make sense to them, and the world changes based on the character's actions. whether their actions are good or bad, justified or unjustified, is up to the reader/viewer.
Star Wars has clear lines drawn between good and evil. this in and of itself is not a bad thing, but it is a poor canvas for politics. it leaves little room for interpretation or exploration of the political themes, making star wars better suited for propaganda than political exploration.
also, DEI is not politics. it's just state-sanctioned racism.
Because almost everything in Star Wars is an epic opera scaled caricature. It's not a setting that people sat down and really thought about very much.
"Kid, it's not that kind of movie. If they notice your hair we're all in big trouble."
-Mark Hamill mimicking Harrison Ford
Tanaka's setting is a generalization, but only in the sense that it's the Napoleonic Wars in space. Once you understand that, you start to see parallels everywhere and you realize all he's really done is taken history, rearranged a few things, replaced some names and added spaceships.
I guess consider me out of the loop, I didn't realize politics was a big complaint in the prequels.
It's been a long time, and I probably wouldn't have been viewing it through a political lens, I don't really remember objecting on those grounds; the politics were subtle enough to be open to interpretation, and in fact it touched on a lot of important concepts like the fragility of the system and stupidity of the populace and their politicians. And led to some great memes, too, of course, which is the prequels' main claim to fame anyway.
Palpatine's love and respect for Our Democracy is great to see.
The prequels had problems (as someone else mentioned...fucking Jar Jar Binks), but I don't remember politics being near the top of the list.
Too much politics and talking was the main complaint i heard was leveled against the prequels when they had first come out.
I think the bigger issue with the prequels was that George Lucas cannot write decent dialogue if his life depended on it. Almost every single one of Anakin's lines, especially in episode 2 and 3, are just comically bad.
Yeah, the politics might not have helped (I don't remember minding at the time), but it was bad characters like Anakin (and his mom) and, of course, Jar Jar, that really soured a lot of people I think.
There's so much of that. Epic scenes like the lead up to Obi-Wan vs Anakin Vader duel ruined by dialogue that sounds like mediocre fan fiction.
There's other things that bother me that are relatively minor and I generally enjoy the prequels, but it's mostly Jar Jar and dialogue. Anyone expecting them to never talk needs to watch different movies. The original trilogy had a lot of talking too.
It starts with a trade embargo.
I'm aware there are politics, I just didn't remember that being one of the primary complaints.
Well-crafted in-world politics is different from hackneyed, patronizing, out-of-place references to the modern-day politics that basically amounts to preachy propaganda.
Also, they are 2 different types of works. You don't really watch Star Wars for the political intrigue.. The opposite is true for LotGH, you're definitely not watching for the high-octane action or cool fights.
minus when Walter Von Schonkopf breaks out the fucking axe and starts cleaving and beheading dudes.LotGH is actually incredibly balanced and nuanced with its political takes. It tries its best to be neutral towards almost everything, taking a historian's approach to the storytelling and focuses exhaustively on the small details of the world and respects the viewer's intelligence to an almost absurd degree.
What is LOTGH
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, an older space opera anime.
Thanks. I,not to long ago, confused High School of the Dead (HOTD) with House of the Dragon (HOTD).
And we'll never let you forget it!
Nah, just kidding, it happens.
The real question though: is HOTD any good?
Not sure if you're just making a joke, but I'll answer.
High School of the Dead is fun, if you don't mind ecchi. This scene is famous and absolutely ridiculous. And, no, it's not all that uhm...whatever that is. But, well, almost in places. It is a pretty ridiculous anime.
It's actually got some fun characters, too. Both for being good, and bad. It's got some really unlikable characters, but done in such a way that they're fun to hate. Saeko is great, Kohta is hilarious as the over the top nerd, and Rei is an utter bitch who is so bad it's fascinating. I think we're actually supposed to like her? But no one did? Kind of interesting dynamics for that alone.
Holy shit, that looks stupid.
Added to watch list.
The breasts pulling some matrix moves gets me every time.
SW politics were retarded. The issues were dumb and none of the characters we enjoyed had stakes or a known interest.
A better comparison is Star Trek. I do want to know if Picard can out maneuver the bizarre alien in negotiations or if he remembers the difficult pronunciation of the ritual opening greeting. I don't care if the space knights resolve the generic, faceless space embargo.
that makes sense actually. We didn't exactly care about the non important characters involved in the politics of Star wars.
Nuance. Quality of writing. Execution. Etc.
Pretty much, whereas their attempts at politicking is usually dumbed down, retarded and full of 'I'm right because I say I'm right!'
While in a lot of anime there's a whole lot of nuance, I mean just look at Gundam and Evangelion, we went in for giant robots, left having a philosophical debate!
I'm sure I'm saying what's already been said- they are not comparable, beyond sci-fi setting.
I challenge you to go outside and find a single person who has ever watched an episode of LOTGH. You'd probably have to go through a hundred people even at an anime convention.
Yes but everyone who HAS watched it calls it a masterpiece.
I'm assuming that LOTGH was made in the eighties, which means that the writers wanted to write for an adult-focused serious minded Japanese audience, while ostensibly marketing the product to Japanese teenagers and young adults. With Disney Femwars, the writing is breathtakingly cretinous and infantilizing towards both adult viewers and younger audiences.
The cretinous infantilization in Disney movies is meant to make the movies/shows appeal to every age and demographic, including the Han Chinese (mostly uneducated rural people). The lowest common denominator.
Lord of the Gundam Hentai? That has political intrigue!?