I clicked on here knowing there was someone who hated
Raiders of the Lost Ark and wondering if they were going to post that here. Nice to see they didn't disappoint.
I wouldn't say that it's nostalgia concerning the first SW movies, insomuch as they were just products of the era they were made in. Movies back then didn't rely on eye candy to hold people's attention like they do now. Those movies were much more character driven. I'd also say that they weren't really aimed directly at kids. I'd put them in the same category as Westerns were back then.
Also, there's no way you could say that the original SW was made to sell toys to kids since that was a phenomenon that didn't exist prior to it's release. None of us were collecting All the President's Men action figures back in 1976.
Excellent point. Kids could watch SW for the fun and adventure of it, without needing to fully ‘get’ the deeper issues of the Rebellion, politics, etc… And SW Ep4 came out at exactly the right time. We were just getting out of Vietnam and Watergate, and the best movies on the first half of the 70s were very dark and heavy. 1976-77 brought us 2 very fun, stand-up-and-cheer movies in SW and
Rocky. As good as
The Godfather was, people didn’t stand up and cheer when Al Neri shuts the door on Kay.
And how cool would it be to be able to play Bernstein trying to get info out of the bookkeeper with action figures?! “GIMME THOSE NAMES, BITCH!”