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Forums - Movies & TV - J.J. Abrams responds to criticism over TFA being a rip-off of A New Hope

J.J. Abrams addressed the claim that Star Wars The Force Awakens was too similar to Episode IV A New Hope while talking to THR's Awards Chatter podcast

- on the issue he said:

"I knew that, whatever we did, there would be a group of people — and I was just hoping and praying that it would be smaller than not — that would take issue with any number of things,"

It was obviously a wildly intentional thing that we go backwards, in some ways, to go forwards in the important ways, given that this is a genre — that Star Wars is a kind of specific gorgeous concoction of George [Lucas]’s — that combines all sorts of things. Ultimately the structure of Star Wars itself is as classic and tried and true as you can get. It was itself derivative of all of these things that George loved so much, from the most obvious, Flash Gordon and Joseph Campbell, to the [Akira] Kurosawa references, to Westerns — I mean, all of these elements were part of what made Star Wars.”

I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!’ We inherited Star Wars. The story of history repeating itself was, I believe, an obvious and intentional thing, and the structure of meeting a character who comes from a nowhere desert and discovers that she has a power within her, where the bad guys have a weapon that is destructive but that ends up being destroyed — those simple tenets are by far the least important aspects of this movie, and they provide bones that were well-proven long before they were used in Star Wars.”

“What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards. So I understand that this movie, I would argue much more than the ones that follow, needed to take a couple of steps backwards into very familiar terrain, and using a structure of nobodies becoming somebodies defeating the baddies — which is, again, I would argue, not a brand new concept, admittedly — but use that to do, I think, a far more important thing, which is introduce this young woman, who’s a character we’ve not seen before and who has a story we have not seen before, meeting the first Storm Trooper we’ve ever seen who we get to know as a human being; to see the two of them have an adventure in a way that no one has had yet, with Han Solo; to see those characters go to find someone who is a brand new character who, yes, may be diminutive, but is as far from Yoda as I think a description of a character can get, who gets to enlighten almost the way a wonderful older teacher or grandparent or great-aunt might, you know, something that is confirming a kind of belief system that is rejected by the main character; and to tell a story of being a parent and being a child and the struggles that that entails — clearly Star Wars has always been a familial story, but never in the way that we’ve told here.”

- on working Episode VII while taking into account that Episode VIII was also being worked on, he said:

“Larry and I had a bunch of thoughts of where certain things could go and we shared those things with Rian Johnson, who’s directing VIII. He had things that he came up with where he asked if it was possible if we could make some adjustments with what we were doing at the end, most of which we did — there were just a couple that didn’t feel right, so he made adjustments — but it was just collaboration. We’re all fans and friends and supporters of each other, and there’s been no one cheerleading and supporting louder and more consistently than Rian on this, and I feel that I am grateful that I now get to take that position for him.”

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/awards-chatter-podcast-jj-abrams-853171

 

The Force Awaken's Maz Kanata in Episode 1 as a figurine? Disney treating the prequels closer to fiction?



Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1

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I suppose this website is more of a "reviews aficionados" situation than actual Star Wars fans.



Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1

Don't give Doctor Who to this guy. He already crapped all over Star Trek and Star Wars.



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amp316 said:
Don't give Doctor Who to this guy. He already crapped all over Star Trek and Star Wars.

There were some things in The Force Awakens I rather wish were done differently. Star Trek felt very different to the originals.



Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1

amp316 said:
Don't give Doctor Who to this guy. He already crapped all over Star Trek and Star Wars.

 

I like his Star Trek movies. He pulled out that parallel universe not to conflict with the originals, and so he's good to do whatever he wants without screwing up the legacy. Also, I found them entertaining to watch.



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You don't have to utilize the same concepts and plotlines in order to present interesting character relationships and to 'embrace the history'. TFA was not embracing history, it was a complete replica. How exactly did the movie go forward? It is the same absolutely evil emporer/conflicted apprentice(Vader/ Kylo Ren)/all decent(parentless) hero/exiled jedi master story all over again. Could they not come up with anything else? I can understand people being entertained by the movie, I can't take that away but it IS a rehash of the original trilogy.



I'd rather have a New Hope rip-off than a movie as "amazing" as The Phantom Menace. Besides, Episode VIII won't play it as safe as Episode VII.



                
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AZWification said:

I'd rather have a New Hope rip-off than a movie as "amazing" as The Phantom Menace. Besides, Episode VIII won't play it as safe as Episode VII.

 


We don't know that yet :P This is Disney we are talking about here ;) Hope you are right though. And Phantom Menace did suck.



AZWification said:

I'd rather have a New Hope rip-off than a movie as "amazing" as The Phantom Menace. Besides, Episode VIII won't play it as safe as Episode VII.

Maybe, but it will continue to an extent, as the situation feels once again one of The Rebels vs the New Order/Empire. I bet that that will persist.



Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1

amp316 said:
Don't give Doctor Who to this guy. He already crapped all over Star Trek and Star Wars.

Except the only thing wrong with the Star Trek movies was the casting for Khan, and TFA is a great movie.



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