Star Wars: The Force Awakens mostly left me brooding about Disney's carpet-bombing marketing techniques, the movie's depiction of fascism with the First Order emulating Hitler's
Triumph of the Will under a blood-red flaming sky aptly reflecting the real-life sinister Mickey Mouse-faced brain-washing corporation
synergizing its movie with other brands (Lego, Target, Subway) in the many ads that we were forced to watch oh so obediently, like so many mind-droned stormtroopers, in the AMC Showplace cineplex beforehand, but also there's the (
spoiler alert) way the movie plays on the older audience's sense of nostalgia for the 1970s as Carrie Fisher and an oddly cheerful looking Harrison Ford (when was the last time we've seen him smile in a movie? 1990?) exchange soulful looks as if in a sci-fi-high school baby boomer reunion, not to mention Tarantino's
gripes about monopolistic Disney distribution over-reach, the movie's poaching of both a catless Oscar Isaac
and Adam Driver from
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), the latter of whom (as Kylo Ren) keeps impotently slashing up spaceship interiors with his cross-shaped lightsaber before he kneels (as we are meant to kneel, worshippers of the synergized Force of the mouse God) before a Darth Vader mask that someone accidentally left in the oven as the new more politically correct generation (scrappy Rey (who, ironically, will
not sell the droid) and Fenn, going through the hero's motions) take their strategic positions for various target audiences as J.J. Abrams reshuffles, remixes, and rebakes most of the plot points of
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope with enough swirling X-Wing Starfighters and TIE Fighter dogfight sequences to keep one's eyes occupied (in this universe, most everyone (except, perhaps, the Wookie) turns out to be secretly blood-related, and father/son issues are resolved on some platform over a great abyss), while Luke retains the most mystique and interest by just
staying away like a guru on a mountain top who is ostensibly less burdened with product tie-ins, junket interviews, and promotional appearances during this crucial holiday season.
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