Unpopular Opinion #1:  Disney Cutting the Canon

By way of introduction, this blog is Heretical Holocrons, and I am Chris.  This blog is primarily a homework assignment, but I hope to maybe talk about some of my opinions about Star Wars -- opinions which are not popular or well known.  Some of what I say could simply be conjecture or opinion, but I will do all I can to base my hypotheses on facts (as much as you can have fact in a fictional universe).

Without further ado, I'll give it over to Unpopular Opinion Puffin to introduce my first unpopular opinion:

Okay, before you go grabbing your torch and pitchfork, let me back this up.  There's a near universal law that needs be applied here:

Book > Movie.  Always.

Book to movie adaptations carry an unshakably bad reputation for tarnishing what was otherwise a legendary work of art.  You can list nearly any book to movie series, and they are all inferior in movie form.  Granted, this reasoning is largely a product of general opinion, so people are entitled to think whatever you want.  If you're the type of person who thinks that the Harry Potter movies are better than the books, I'll respect your opinion, but don't expect to ever borrow a pen from me again.

Admiral Thrawn, terror of the Republic

Star Wars has a long legacy of incredibly well-written books.  Sure, there are some better than others, but the storyline following Return of the Jedi has been wildly popular for many years, and widely acclaimed as among the best Star Wars novels of all time.  The Thrawn Trilogy in particular reaches the highest peak of critical acclaim.  With such a robust plethora of books, how could a movie ever hope to break the principle of "Book > Movie"?

The simple answer is that a movie could never break the expectations of a book.  The two mediums of entertainment are also not directly comparable.  So with an existing story and ending for the Star Wars saga through Episode 9, Star Wars had little hope of reaching such lofty standards.

That is, until Disney did it's thing.

At the time of Disney's acquisition of Star Wars, the company declared that all Star Wars content outside of the six feature films were no longer "canon," and would be henceforth labeled as "legends."  What many interpreted this to mean was that everything outside of the movies didn't happen, or "didn't count" for anything.

Really though, did any of it actually happen?

My interpretation is that this shift in canon means that everthing happened unless overwritten by the content of new canon.  Of course in reality, nothing "counts" in Star Wars; it's a fictional universe.  But by rewriting the rules, Disney has allowed itself room to create what could be the best Star Wars movie of all time.

In my book, Disney is doing everything right to set the world up for a new generation of Star Wars.  If indeed The Force Awakens is to be the best Star Wars movie yet, it so far has everything it needs to reach that goal.  It has the majority of the original cast, particularly the actors that played the roles of Luke, Leia, and Han.  The cinematography is also taking a step backwards from modern trends, relying on practical visual effects rather than green screens and CGI sequences.

Digital effects could make them looks younger... but why?

Furthermore, Disney could never tell the story of Star Wars from the books without significant backlash because of casting issues.  Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford are all now much too old to take on the roles they would have in Episode 7 as it was written in the books.  At that time, Leia and Han were fairly young parents, as was Luke and his wife, Mara Jade.

Luke and his wife, Mara Jade

Could fans have received the story with all new actors for such critical characters?  It's possible, but I highly doubt that such a move would be well-received.  Avoiding this issue is another reason that Disney's canon scrapping is the best move it could have made.