I'd think that in a leg of western history that looks heavily shaped by and for the internationalist, disaffected and atheist 'nerd' with a moderately idealistic view of nature - I'm generalising and conflating a bit - the Ewoks would be more popular.After all, they're an ungainly, galactic everyman, underdogs who come good, mastering a tyrannical aggressor with their own tech, even taking the first steps in a new paradigm.
And if not absolutely popular, at least relatively, compared with, say, the Jedi, presented as physiologically favoured, aristocratic alpha warriors not so much seeking progress by intelligence as led by an abstraction to restore a presumably established religious order.
And if not absolutely popular, at least relatively, compared with, say, the Jedi, presented as physiologically favoured, aristocratic alpha warriors not so much seeking progress by intelligence as led by an abstraction to restore a presumably established religious order.
Why this dissonance? Is it just the Jedi having more readily identifiable individuals, or traditional hero figures? Or is it the personally empowering mysticism of the Force, or the Jedi access to not just spiritual but worldly power? Or is it something more subtle..?
I suppose if there wasn't so much that could be read into the films, or so much that was unclear, contradictory, or even poorly conceived or realised, so much seeming to reflect life, or so easily used to gloss certain aspects of it from this or that perspective, even if only in vague terms or by blunt analogy, they likely wouldn't have been such a success.
For example, this set of clips is almost a kōan and may even suggest an existential arc.
I suppose if there wasn't so much that could be read into the films, or so much that was unclear, contradictory, or even poorly conceived or realised, so much seeming to reflect life, or so easily used to gloss certain aspects of it from this or that perspective, even if only in vague terms or by blunt analogy, they likely wouldn't have been such a success.
For example, this set of clips is almost a kōan and may even suggest an existential arc.