Masahiro Sakurai "realizes how George Lucas must feel"

Yes, the Smash creator just compared the criticisms he gets to what the Star Wars creator/Indiana Jones co-creator got (the revisions of the originals, quality of the prequels, Indy 4, you name it).

Source: Gamespot

Excerpt (more in links above)

In a Vanity Fair story last month, Lucas talked about the challenges he faced making the Star Wars movies. "You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized. It's not much fun. You can't experiment," he said.

The fact that Lucas feels this way after pouring so much hard work into the Star Wars franchise is "incredibly sad and frustrating," Sakurai said. But Sakurai explained that he understands how Lucas must be feeling.

"You could say my body is filled with these feelings. Making something, and completing it is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot of places where fans can't see," Sakurai said. "It's like building a house, but people focus on a single painting that's hung up on a wall in one room, and fixate on it, and keep listing off their complaints of that painting. These situations are very common."

The veteran developer said a familiar, recent example would be the recent introduction of Cloud as a playable character in the new Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. People "strongly criticized" this character, claiming Nintendo should focus more on characters from Nintendo franchises. But Sakurai points out that numerous Nintendo characters have been added to the game.

"Looking at the big picture, I am on the receiving end of countless amounts of truly trivial statements," he said.

It's okay--and important--to think differently, Sakurai went on to say. But there are downsides, too.

"When people yell loudly, it also invites mob mentality and conformity," he explained. "It's easy for negative opinions to be amplified, while positive opinions are quieted. People don't understand the circumstances and state of affairs behind development, and it's not allowed for creators to make excuses. There are even people who feel emotionally battered and quit working."

Well... thoughts on this?

That's not fair. Sakurai's games are all good, they're just not quite as good as some of their predecessors.

The Star Wars prequels and Indiana Jones 4 are completely garbage in every way. They're not "disappointing," they're complete shit.

I'd imagine that George Lucas must feel pretty good, with his billions of dollars and the knowledge that he's created something which is so well-loved and important to pop culture.

1. I love George Lucas, and I love his shit. i think he gets railed on unfairly a lot. Is the prequel trilogy a misstep? Sure it is. Is it the crime against humanity so many would have you believe? It is not. I actually really like the story the trilogy tries to tell as a whole, and I like Revenge of the Sith by any standard. Lucas faltered with some directing and dialog decisions, but on the whole, he got more criticism than he deserved. Simple.
2. Sakurai shouldn't be comparing himself to Lucas, since the last game he worked on in his beloved franchise was extremely well received, like a return to form- in terms of player reception, if Brawl is the prequel trilogy, Smash 4 was The Force Awakens, except this time, Lucas made it. So there isn't much of an analogy here.

You can't work in the creation of media if you're not ready to deal with critique, soft and hard and even unfair and brutal/insulting one. That's part of the job and there is little people could do against it. Sometimes or even often it has to be enough that the creator itself is satisfied with his creation. In the end, it's the wrong approach anyway to expect only fame for what you do. Reputation comes and goes. In the end it's a job that feeds one. Other people have difficult and harsh jobs as well, a lot of them being a lot more difficult and more brutal actually. So while I understand that fan criticism can be hard it's something game devs shouldn't cry too much about.

Sakurai certainly isn't wrong about mob mentality and how negative opinions can be amplified.

I for one welcome Cloud, Bayonetta, and Corn in Smash.

I still think Lucas gets hit way harder than he deserves over the prequels, there are some serious flaws with the dialogue (and Hayden Christensen's acting just made it worse) but otherwise the movies aren't that bad, especially episode 3, which had some serious cringe in the dialogue and the "nooooooo" but otherwise episode 3 is a very good movie.

However Sakurai is right on the money about how people can mob together over the most trivial of matters

I love all the dumb nerds who hop on the "prequel suck sooo bad" train. Yes, the dialogue is bad, the actors suffered for it. Yes, they are bad, but they are not THAT bad. It give a break. The Revenge of the Sith is probably the best star wars movie. I can understand the people born at the time SW4 A New Hope came out on, they lived on a movie that was ahead of it's time. But the people born in the late 90's and 2000's, COMMON.

What the **** is with people trying to pretend that the prequels weren't garbage? And Episode III is good now? I'm in the "star wars is kind of neat" group of people, I'm not really that big of a fan so I'm saying this just as a fan of movies. I'd go so far as to say they are up there as the worst blockbuster movies of all time.

Thats how it is in real life also, people always amplify the negative more then the positive. Thats why whenever the negative has me feeling blue, i always remember...Winter is coming.

"A few bad apples spoil the bunch".

While creators should and will be criticized, Sakurai and Lucas are exactly right, people go way too far in how they criticize. At some point it becomes less about the products flaws and more about being truly mean about it. I mean if you look at what people say to George Lucas or even people like Kristen Stewart both of whom do very questionable things, (or who aren't the best at what they do) but to the extent that they receive criticism is appalling, things like people telling them to go kill themselves or calling them other obscenities is not constructive criticism, but simply bitterness to the highest degree. I mean you can call Star Wars prequels crap and that's fine, but it's not exactly beneficial to the creator unless you explain it in a way that can help them, but also being at least somewhat respectable to them and the fact that they really love what they have created no matter how subjectively or objectively bad it may seem. Creators should be able in some ways to take criticism (at least the ones that try to help) in a mature and positive way unlike some who rage and say obscenities towards fans who genuinely wish to help like some of Ready At Dawn's developers in regards to The Order: 1886.

Lucas botched the prequels and got deservedly criticized for it. I don't think they're comparable except when you make something for the public people are probably gonna have some not so nice things to say about it. The more popular it is the more shit people will talk about it. Call of Duty is a good example, millions of people talk shit about ti but millions more are buying it all the time.

Star Wars has people invested in the lore of Star Wars for years from everything for their theories on things in the films to the comics and books and video games and everything released between original films and now. There's a lot that can go wrong when making a new film that can upset these people Whereas I don't think people have canon expectations with a Super Smash Bros game.

Wow, so now people are apologizing for the terrible dialog and horrible acting in the prequels. You can't really have those 2 things be bad and still have a good movie imo.

Can't wait for "the people vs. Masahiro Sakurai" to come out on netflix

Sakurai's games aren't a pimple on Lucas's film's ass. lol.

The point is, who cares if they were garbage? If I see a bad movie, it's my own dumbass fault for watching it in the first place. "Gee, I didn't like that movie!" So what? If you don't like it, that's fine, but to be one of those people who is OFFENDED at how bad the prequels are is stupid. To act like George Lucas is personally hurting you because you didn't like something that he never had to make in the first place is asinine. It's just a movie, it doesn't matter if it's garbage or not. Enough people liked it for it to make hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales, so it's a success. George Lucas doesn't have a single thing to feel bad about. This Star Wars stuff made him wealthy beyond belief, and the only reason he manages to sell it is because people like it enough to keep on buying it. He's making fans happy and getting rich doing it. And shit, even people who hate the prequels typically bothered to watch ALL of them. They got burned by trash with Episode I and then went back two more times, so George Lucas shouldn't give a flying **** if they're mad. No one made them watch those movies, that's their own damn faults.

A steaming pile of shit is better than Krystal Skull and Ep1-3.

Guy clears a cool couple BILLION then complains about what they are doing with it.

SHUT THE **** UP GEORGE

Well all of the star wars movies suck ass.

It's Lucas' fault for creating this fanbase and knew full well the dorks and geeks he was making those movies for. Turns out the movies were garbage. I didn't pretend like the movies ruined my life, I don't care that much about Star Wars but this is the beast he created and made some genuinely shit movies so he gets what he gets. These low lives are the same freaks that made George Lucas what he is today so he has no right to complain about their passionate hatred for him and his awful movies. If he had made even serviceable movies he would have accepted the passion and love given to him. I just fucking hate the hypocrisy of it all. Hey you are overly in love with my movies and dress up as the character and collect the toys? Hey I love you man and appreciate the love you have for my series. But when it's passionate disappointment then it's wow you need to get a life loser. He deserves everything he gets to him whether it's praise or disdain.

Can agree with a couple of points. Like people focusing on the negative, disapointed fans being the loudest, some mob mentality and we obv don't understand developing that much. However Star Wars ep 1-3 were an abomination. Indy 4 was even worse. These are facts.

Not to mention he is extremely generous.. He donated the majority of the money he got from selling Star Wars to charity.

All I wanted was Toad in Smash. Its not like I was asking for the world.

Bullcrap. Hell, look at the stickied topics on this very board. Permanent ban for anyone who does anything resembling a spoiler for the new Star Wars movie. Is that standard protocol here? Hell no. How much trouble do you think anyone's going to get in if they post spoilers for Anomalisa? I mean, it's Star Wars, so we've gotta treat it special, right?

And the people who were actually angry at the prequels being awful? Exact same thing. People see awful movies all the time and don't give a shit because movies are just movies. But an awful STAR WARS movie? That's different!

And gee, do you know ANY Star Wars fan who is like, "I've never seen Episodes II and III, because I watched Episode I and I hated it." Any other time, people would start watching a shitty series and then just stop because it's clearly shitty and not worth wasting one's time on. But even with the prequels, everyone's approach is, "I am hating every minute of this, but I have to see it anyway because it's Star Wars."

George Lucas isn't responsible for that shit. George Lucas isn't going around forcing people to act like fucking Star Wars is precious like their freaking child or something. George Lucas isn't going around telling people to get that serious about a product that's always sort of largely been just an advertisement for selling toys and other merchandise. This shit is a product designed to generate money, and that's what it does even when it IS awful. People literally buy this crap just because it's Star Wars. **** what George Lucas "gets". What he gets is a mountain of money. I'm saying that I'm fucking sick of hearing people cry about the fucking prequels, as if having to suffer through that shit wasn't their own faults. Everyone knew that prequel trilogy was gonna be garbage after the first one came out, and they still went and watched the whole thing anyway. So I'm sick of hearing about how hurt they were by the prequels when they're the people who voluntarily watched that shit even though they knew it was gonna suck. Boo-freaking-hoo, like this is the first time anyone's ever seen a bad movie. Would you constantly like to hear me complain about every bad movie I've ever seen? We get it, the prequels suck. Now get over it and start watching better movies.

prequels are better than the originals.

He's completely responsible for it. He made the movies and he accepted the love. If you accept the obsessive love then you have to accept the obsessive hate. The originals were gigantic so I don't know why you so confused by the amount of complaining from people. People typically complain more about movies from loved franchises, you even kept saying it yourself it's Star Wars. And they were talked about when they were coming out, they sucked, people said so and then after the trilogy was finished the complaining died down. And a new Star Wars movie just came out so obviously people are going to talk about Star Wars again. You don't like it? tough shit, it's what people are talking about now.

And also it seems like your referring to the crazed fanbase not the typical, in which case it's your fault for being so annoyed by them. Just disregard them they're probably the most ignore-able people on planet earth.

@Heirren: troooololol

With all due respect Geezer, I think you're really making light of the relevancy of Star Wars. Star Wars isn't just a movie. It is a cultural phenomenon that far transcends past film. You may roll your eyes at this, but it is the truth: Star Wars inspired an entire generation (more) of people. It launched careers (hell, with the establishment of ILM for IV it largely helped define an entire special effects industry for cinema, massively contributing to the state it's in today), it helped form peoples' identities and shaped their dreams (I wouldn't doubt some astronauts began pursuing their path inspired by watching the OT as children). You may see these fans as a bunch of dorks and geeks with no life, I do at times too, yet when I try to convince myself that Star Wars are just movies I'm always left with the same conclusion after giving it much thought.....they're really not. It is impossible to look at these films (I'm only referring to the OT here) and relegate them just to their medium. They cannot be exclusively dismissed in it, because they do not solely reside in it.

"Any other time, people would start watching a shitty series and then just stop because it's clearly shitty and not worth wasting one's time on. But even with the prequels, everyone's approach is, "I am hating every minute of this, but I have to see it anyway because it's Star Wars."

Doesn't that tell you something right there? You're saying it yourself, you just don't seem to be grasping the greater implication of why you're saying it. It's staring you straight in the face. Is it any wonder for the sticky? As Char noted in it, "Star Wars isn't any other movie". That's 100% accurate. It's more than a movie. It's more than the toys on the shelf (and c'mon man....to pretend like Star Wars was simply created as a marketing tool to sell toys is being pretty disingenuous). Lucas doesn't force people to act like Star Wars is their child, but he most definitely IS responsible for creating that feeling.

Fucking bullshit. NO artist or creator is responsible for their fanbase being obsessive, be it obsessive love or obsessive hate. Take some damn personal responsibility. Next thing you're gonna be saying is that someone who obsessively plays World of Warcraft until they flunk out of school and lose their job is just the victim. What, it's Blizzard's fault for making the game so addictive that some people ruin their lives over it?

And it most certainly IS the casual fanbase that I'm complaining about. You CAN'T avoid hearing people whining and crying about the prequels without completely avoiding anything movie/game related.

And people can keep crying over a few bad movies that they saw over a decade ago. I'm saying that it's fucking annoying and it's fucking pathetic. People act like it's George Lucas who has a problem, but he made movies, he made a shitload of money, and he made something that people actually care about. He doesn't have a problem, he did just fine for himself, and I don't want to hear him complain for a goddamn second about anyone not liking anything he's made. What's SAD are the freaking consumers who get so fucking emotionally attached to a product that they deliberately buy it even when they know it's shit and then spend the rest of their lives obsessing over the time something didn't live up to their expectations. I have no goddamn pity or sympathy for George Lucas OR the fans. I don't care how good or bad these movies were, they are just movies. And if you are gonna treat something special as if it's your kid, then at the very least fans could have a little bit more taste and get possessive over something that's actually more artistically meaningful. After all, George Lucas has been whoring this movie out for merchandising since the beginning. I'm not saying that he had no artistic passion for this thing, but from the very beginning it has always been clear that this franchise was about selling shit. By design, the end goal is to get to the point where people buy it just for the name, regardless of how good it is. That has been clear for a LONG time, well before the prequels ever came out. And the fact that Episode I sucked and people still ate that shit up just so they could complain about it completely validates the kind of decisions that led to it sucking in the first place. It's the equivalent of someone who complains about how bad Call of Duty is, and still buys the games every year. That's not just sad, that's ignorant. How the hell can anyone be surprised that the Star Wars prequels suck when the very obsession over the brand name played a massive role in WHY they suck? There are numerous stories about George Lucas getting a cocky "can do no wrong" attitude and that's a direct result of the same kind of obsessive fanboyism that I've been talking about. People were more reluctant to tell him that his ideas were shit. And why the hell would he think that his ideas were shit when all indications were that people would eat up anything he threw at them as long as it had "Star Wars" on it?

Star Wars is not special. It's just movies, games, toys, books, and other merchandising. Approaching it from any angle other than that CONTRIBUTES to the exact same kind of crap that fans complain about.

People like you freak me off, honstely. You seem to have no heart, no emotional connection to the media you consume. Why do you even watch movies, play games, read books, listen to music, experiencing any human art? Just because you have to kill off boredom?

They day I can't be emotionally involved in the media I consume I will kill myself because life is not worth living if you don't have passion - for both the things you love and hate. Nothing is more sad than indifference.

So no, it's not a "kind of crap", it's the true emotional engagement of people into something that they can establish a connection to, that resounds with them, that makes them feel alive. Caring, even in a negative sense, is no bad thing, quite the opposite. The day you only see books, movies, games and music as mere products to make money is the day you lose something, not the others.

It's also pretty weird that you post something like that in a forum that is especially dedicated to people being emotionally involved in a piece of freaking hardware, not even in the actual human creation that can be experienced by owning it. I mean, why the **** are you even here if you don't give a shit about all this stuff???

It is the truth. They are extremely well crafted. Every aspect of their design is top notch. They intertwine within themselves and the original trilogy, and add immense depth to the latter in the process. Great sets, great locations, great miniatures, great costumes, great structure, great everything. The prequels absolutely SHAME the new film that just came out. The prequels don't fit within a genre and/or time period because they have their own identity. The one just released is nothing but a modern Marvel/Transformers film with a poorly imagined star wars coat of paint covered in JJ Abrams overproessed image.

Yeah the fans are responsible for getting so caught up but to say Lucas or Blizzard or any group that creates a huge fanbase isn't responsible for it is a delusional point of view. Also star wars may have been about selling shit but that went away quickly, it's quite apparent that Star Wars is MUCH more than that now, to the fans and to Lucas. And you keep bringing up the irrelevant point about people that keep watching when they hated the first, again that's just you being delusional and not understanding how much Star Wars means to people, but I have a hard time believing any of this from you, you are not this detached from human emotions this is just some phony sociopathic image for the sake of seeming intelligent. You full well understand how big Star Wars is, what effect it had on people, and the effect the prequels had on them. Just because you don't feel like that personally don't act like you don't understand it as if you've never become attached to something that may not be the most important thing in the world. People become attached to certain things and Star Wars is one of those things that a lot of people connected with. Whether you try to pretend otherwise and whether Lucas likes it or not he is responsible for it.

Of course I have an emotional connection to something, the difference is that I recognize that it is not any creator's job to appeal to my emotional attachments. It is not any creator's job to give me something that I like, ESPECIALLY when I've demonstrated that I'll buy it regardless of whether or not I like it.

I say that Star Wars is about making money, because that's how the property has been handled. Regardless of how emotionally attached I may be to it, it is arrogant and naive to expect that my emotional attachment has ****-all to do with what the creator hopes to get out of releasing the product. And people will manipulate the shit out of your emotions. Again, that's the ultimate end goal of a franchise like this.

Let's take an example here: by all accounts, Star Wars Battlefront is a deliberate ripoff, right? They're deliberately stripping content in order to sell later, and they totally believe they can get away with that because people's emotional attachment to Star Wars is gonna get them to buy the game anyway. Now, if you're buying Star Wars Battlefront for emotional/nostalgic reasons and you're okay with how much of a ripoff it is, then no complaints. But if you're buying Star Wars Battlefront for nostalgic reasons, knowing in advance what a piece of shit it is, and then you have the nerve to complain about EA's business practices, then you can get bent. You knew exactly what you were getting into, and you're specifically asking for more of it by giving away your money. You're part of the problem. If you hate that crap so much, then stop freaking buying it. And if you have to buy it anyway because of some emotional attachment, that's YOUR fault, not EA's. EA's job is to make money, and that's exactly what it did. The Star Wars prequels existed to make money, and that's exactly what they did.

Of course Star Wars is still about making money. Do you think Disney would have bought it for billions of dollars if it was not primarily about making money?

Shit, look at one of Disney's other divisions, those Marvel movies. Those are CLEARLY about making money. Despite generally being better than they have any right to be, they are formulaic as hell and they get pumped out to the point of near-oversaturation. They are safe, easily consumable products that get pumped out as often as possible, and the entire "cinematic universe" formula is a direct analog to the kinds of shit going on in comics. You know, those big crossover events that existed solely to get people to buy more comics.

And Disney's stated approach is no different. People complain about Episode VII being too derivative of Episode IV, but that's exactly what Disney has been doing with the Marvel movies: taking the safe approach. Don't rock the boat, don't do anything that might seem too different. Settle into an established formula and then repeat it over and over and over again. And Disney has already stated their plans to release a Star Wars movie every year, which again is the EXACT same type of thing they're doing with those Marvel movies. Make something competent, yet safe and formulaic, and then keep on churning that shit out as much as they can.

This of course isn't to say that the products can't be good, but they certainly don't have to be. Star Wars is a multi-billion dollar media empire. Yes its primary purpose is to make money. Not to appeal to your nostalgia, not to give people a sense of wonder, not to satisfy people's emotional connection to the lore. It's about making money. That's not to say that they don't care AT ALL about anything else, but anything else is secondary.

@Heirren:

If you believe that, you are delusional. I won't argue that Lucas owes anyone anything, but come the **** on. Star Wars is not only special, it is extraordinary in its accomplishments past film and viewed within the context of our greater culture. Do you fail to acknowledge its contributions across a wide breadth of fields not only in respect to professions, the advancement of industries (their establishments, no less) but of personal impact for a shitload of people and their lives, or just intentionally ignore them in claiming that it was all done for merchandising?

What you are saying is absolutely absurd.

You dont have a TV either along with no PC.

Lucas wins again.

Have you guys heard of the conspiracy theories regarding Bayonetta in the game? So sad lol.

I'm saying that a movie is just a fucking movie. It's not your fucking baby, it's not your fucking life, it's not your fucking identity, and it doesn't matter whether or not it sucks. It's just a movie. If you're letting the fact that a movie was bad hurt you personally, then blame yourself, not anyone who was involved with its creation. This is no different than someone who was nostalgic about Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles getting genuinely upset about Michael Bay "raping the franchise" with his recent movies. And if you're gonna argue that that's a bad analogy because Star Wars was actually good, I'd argue that Star Wars was never that good in the first place. Impactful? Sure. GOOD? Not that much. Seeing people lose their shit over fucking Star Wars looks exactly like someone losing their shit over X-Men or Pokemon. It's lowest common denominator pop culture entertainment, certainly not something worth getting elitist about.

Don't tell me that's not the implicit notion here. If someone spoils The Revenant or The Hateful Eight, who cares? It's just a movie, they'll get over it. If the next Avengers movie sucks, who cares? It's just a movie, they'll get over it. But spoiling Star Wars is almost a crime, regardless of how good the movie is. It has nothing to do with quality, the mere fact that it has fucking Star Wars in the title means that you're actually hurting people by spoiling it. You're robbing them of something important, again, just because it has Star Wars in the title.

And I'm saying, no, it's just a fucking movie.

What the **** is this thread? People liked the prequels?

The writing and direction of the Star Wars prequels was absolutely terrible. Those movies deserve all the hate they get. But despite him going downhill over the years, Lucas deserves respect for the earlier classics he created, including the original Star Wars trilogy and the original Indiana Jones trilogy. By the time he worked on the prequels, Lucas was past his prime.

And that's the thing you're failing to realize.

It's NOT just a movie. It began as a movie, yes, yet it has transcended above that. Who are you to sit there and say of what impact it's held upon peoples' lives? How it's affected industries? You don't need more than a brain cell in your head to see this when you look out your front door, go see a movie, have friends, and are out in the world. Star Wars has influenced and permeated so many aspects of our culture of entertainment and its consumption it's honestly difficult to fathom. It is not at all equitable to Transformers, TMNT, or Pokemon, and I'd go on to argue that the OT does in fact constitute quality in many respects of film making, but that is another debate altogether.

I get the feeling here that you are so fed up with the fandom of Star Wars and the entitlement culture that you see it encapsulating (especially in respect to the prequels) that you are laying the blame at the films' feet, and then attempting to marginalize it so as to then make it easier to attack the fans (of which your real grievance here lies) to suit your argument. An assault taken, but also undertaken though indirect means to strengthen it, so to speak. That's bullshit. Place the blame where it lies: the fans. I'm okay with that. But please, to try to claim that the OT of Star Wars is "just a movie" or "not special" when viewed in its overall impact over so many years in so many areas is 100% ignorant and far removed from reality.

No doubt. Everyone criticizes entertainment as if they are the most talented creative force in the universe.

And again, whatever impact it had on them is their business and their business alone. It's got nothing to do with George Lucas. I could think that fucking Garbage Pail Kids is the most magical thing ever based on personal emotional reasons, but that doesn't mean it's not one shitty movie. By that same token, whatever attachment people had to Star Wars is their own business. George Lucas let them down by ruining the franchise? Well, tough shit. He has zero obligation to respect people's emotional attachments to the franchise. He's a creator, he created, end of obligation. And he didn't even have to do THAT. Hell, he could have left the series on a giant cliffhanger after Empire Strikes Back, and then never touched the series again.

And again, I wasn't talking about Star Wars' impact on pop culture, I was talking about its quality. Sure, Star Wars had a massive effect on pop culture, but to say that it's special because of that is an appeal to popularity. To say that it is more than just a movie just because it's so universally popular is sort of absurd. Lots of things are EXTREMELY popular and yet there's nothing particularly special about the content. And that's the thing...the next Charlie Kaufman or Martin Scorcese film could be 10 times the achievement of Star Wars at its best, but it'll never measure up to the POPULARITY of Star Wars. To argue that Star Wars deserves special entitlement because it has permeated pop culture to such a degree is to argue that popularity entails ownership. There's a disturbing little element here that no one is quite saying but that seems to be on the tips of people's tongues': that Star Wars belongs to the fans. I mean, there are people arguing that Lucas (or I guess Disney now) actually owes us a proper release of the original trilogy, specifically because Star Wars is so culturally significant. Lucas owed us a good prequel trilogy, to the point where people are genuinely upset that the prequels stunk. People owe me the ability to see a new Star Wars movie without having heard spoilers, because seeing Star Wars is supposed to be an extra-magical experience. And as an artist, I find the implications of that kind of entitlement deeply unsettling. In truth, neither quality nor popularity has anything to do with it. Creators create, consumers consume, transaction complete. That doesn't change just because the thing you made caught on and became a big hit.

I've already touched on this, though perhaps I wasn't clear enough about it. I'm not denying that Star Wars is "more than a movie" to you. But that's an internal emotional response. Having an internal emotional response to a work of art does not in any way mean that the rest of society is obligated to accomodate or respect or cater to it. And yes, this is even true when the art in question becomes universally loved. You can hate the prequels more than anything in the world. But those things (and Star Wars in general) have primarily been about making money for about as long as the franchise has existed. Prequels made money, job done. George Lucas held onto the franchise for decades and did whatever the hell he wanted to do with the franchise. Fans complained, George Lucas still did what he wanted and the series still sold like hotcakes. Job done. Hating the prequels is absolutely fine, but the hatred seems to be way more than just "the movies sucked". There seems to be a very real element, even among casual fans, that George Lucas wronged us. And no, no he didn't. An artist made the art that he wanted to make, his business ventures were highly lucrative, and his worked was so entertaining to the world that people kept coming back to it even when they expected it to suck. For an artist, that's like the best fucking case possible. Most artists manage to do, at best, one out of those three things. Maybe two if they're REALLY lucky. To say that the process went wrong with regards to Star Wars is delusional. Sure, you might've hated the prequels, but everything went exactly how it was supposed to, and the people complaining are the same people who kept on buying the shit. Seriously, what the hell is there to complain about here? "But I thought the movies were bad." Yeah, and lots of people think that Joel-Peter Witkin's art is bad. So what? No artist is entitled to critical acclaim or financial success, and no fan is entitled to actually liking anything that any artist makes. This is how art works. You make what you want, then you either get an audience or you don't, then that audience either likes it or they don't. Beyond this, what the hell was anyone actually expecting?

No clue what you're on about...

+1

Not to mention 1st Smash game was made in 1999, and the first Star Wars movie in 1977 and still is selling in various channels. DD, new box sets, new collector tin cases. Point being is the first smash game going to have that much legs and sell that much volume in 2037?

Star Wars is in our culture and although Smash is a fun game it is not nor where it ever be, at least in the same solar system as Star Wars is.

I havn't been interested in Smash since the N64 so I have no complaints about it other than it being service for the fanboys. They might as well make it Amiibo Smash and maximize the milking of the wallets.

Nintendo doesn't need another Smash on NX. They need to just try something new-- create a new, serious fighter IP that can compete with the likes of Tekken and VF. Fans can't complain about new games because there is no previous entry for them to compare it to.

There's two points here we're addressing. I don't necessarily disagree with you on your views of entitlement/owing people anything, with one exception which you're going to love I imagine.

I just take issue with you saying that Star Wars is "not special". You are viewing popularity as being the same as impactful, and while they can be one in the same, they can also be mutually exclusive. It's possible for something to be popular and not hold that much impact in the bigger picture. In Star Wars's case, what impact it has held on people is not solely their business because it's extended so far into our culture. Star Wars is so big that it's become EVERYONE'S business at some point in their lives. You cannot live in America and not know what Star Wars is unless you live under a rock, nor know anything about cinema and be ignorant or it either. It's not just pop-culture it's affected. As I said, the entire special effects industry owes a huge debt to ILM, for one example.

Having said that, I'll say this (you're right on the money that this is an underlying sentiment not yet spoken on): I am one of those fans whom you probably hate, as I'm one who believes that once ANY art enters the public domain, it becomes the property of that culture. The ownership remains with the creator in a sense of acknowledgement and monetary recompense in its usage, but the culture consumes and embraces the art, where it then lives. I suppose an overly simple analogy would be someone cooking you a meal. You consume it. It nourishes and sustains you, it helps you grow, it gives you appreciation for food you may have never experienced before. Sure, the cook owns the recipe and make new dishes and no one has one damn right to say or demand anything else or more...but once given and eaten, that food is no longer theirs even though it's their creation. It has manifested itself into a greater whole. I would never argue that popularity entails ownership, because again, I don't necessarily equate popularity with impact and relevance. But I do think an argument can be made that when something holds such a drastic impact on a collective, it pulls its ownership into question at a certain point.

Art is a gift to others, and when an artist hands over their work to an audience, I fail to understand how they are not granting entitlement. They are saying explicitly, "You are entitled to now enjoy this and use it as you will to identify with, to grow with, to discover with" (sans commercialized exploitation, obviously). Lucas's actions with the Special Editions of Star Wars pisses me the **** off. Not because he wants to change them....it's his art, his creation. He has that right. What he doesn't have the right to do is attempt to replace the originals and strive to destroy them to extinction and remove them from the hands of so many to whom it has meant so much. Not just popularity-wise, but also relevant in respect to the impact to their lives. I do think Disney should release the OTs remastered, absolutely. Do I think they owe us that? I'm probably going to get some flack for this, but given what the OTs represent.....yes, I do.

This isn't to say that because Lucas or any artist gives us something, and that we love it so, we are entitled to more. Lucas doesn't owe us shit, nor does Disney past what they've already made. But they have NO right to take away what they've given or permanently alter it once it's out there. If that's entitlement, fuckin' A it is, but it's entitlement that's already been given to me. I love the OTs, they're a large part of my youth, and no arrogant egocentric creator has the right to say they can take that away predicated on the concept of ownership when that is only but a small part that constitutes the value of any art form out there once it has entered the public consciousness. It's like trying to rob me of part of my identity, while also trying to rob society.

You may find that to be overly sentimental hyperbolic nonsense and roll your eyes. But Star Wars means a lot to many, and a lot to society in its contributions as a whole. I'd like to respond on your point about society's obligation to accommodate art, but this has already gotten way too long...