Star Wars and the smallness of The Empire Strikes Back

[intrigueing]

A great, bubbly, and very enjoyable read about why Empire was the best Star Wars movie:

The Empire Strikes Back is faster and more intense—but only because it’s smaller and more personal.

It also made me laugh because I'm pretty damn sure the fanfic-and-meta-and-fanart cohort of fans* (as opposed to the male uh, I mean, the what-is-Darth-Vader's-suit-made-of-and-is-it-fireproof-fans) noticed this and went to town on it ages ago. How come critics are always late to the blindingly obvious party?


*(Is there an official term to distinguish these fans from the dudes (yeah yeah and girls) whose fandom consists of only collecting Star Wars merchandise and playing Star Wars cards and that kind of stuff?)

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I use "fangirls" and "fanboys" with the disclaimer that not all fangirls are female and not all fanboys are male. I've also seen "transformative fans" and "affirmative fans" meaning those who want to take canon as a creative starting point vs those who want to experience as much of the given canon as possible.

[intrigueing]

That's interesting too, though I don't know if all fanfic/meta fans use canon just as a creative starting point -- some fans mostly write fanfiction as a way to explore the canon rather than jump off of it. IDK if that still counts?