Culture Did A Way Better Job Of Signaling Trump’s Win Than Broken Polls
As Bob Dylan famously sang, 'You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.'
"Star Wars" show "The Acolyte" cost $180 million to produce, and it’s finally over.
But after the season finale, Lauren Chen is wondering where the money went — or whether the writers of the show are even sane.
“I’m beginning to think that the writers behind ‘The Acolyte,’ they’re just bad people. Maybe even psychopaths,” Chen says, adding, “Overall, where this money went, I have no idea.”
In the finale, the protagonist of the show kills her old Jedi master, Sol, in cold blood, and it's presented as being “what’s right.”
“Is she really the protagonist? Like, I’m sorry, am I still supposed to like or relate to this character in any way, shape, or form?” Chen asks.
“Not only does basically the only good character in this show get murdered in the finale by the little girl that he helped raise and that he did rescue from these weird space witches, but on top of that, his memory and his legacy are completely dragged through the mud,” she adds.
The show itself was supposed to revolve around the theme of ambiguous morality, Chen doesn’t think it did a good job of that at all.
“Such disappointing stuff. And here’s the thing: The entire morality of this show essentially hinges on the fact that the writers believe that Sol was in the wrong, but they didn’t really do a good job convincing the audience otherwise,” Chen says.
While Chen doesn’t believe the show is the “worst thing” she’s ever seen, she says it’s up there.
“It’s terrible. It’s not good as a piece of "Star Wars" fiction, and it’s just not good as a show standing on its own. Like, it’s one thing if there were a show that kind of poked holes into "Star Wars" lore and canon, but at least it was entertaining to watch and decent,” she says.
“This is just not good as a piece of media. It’s not very interesting, it’s not every entertaining, and heck, even if we just look at it purely as a form of propaganda to push a social message, which it seems like is really all that the creators were interested in doing, it still fails, because the message it pushes is terrible,” she continues.
“It justifies murder, tries to add moral ambiguity into something that’s unambiguously bad, like having a temper or no control over your feelings. It’s just a failure all around,” she adds.
To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
"Star Wars: The Acolyte" is an absolute disaster.
The new "Star Wars" spin-off series was created by Leslye Headland for Disney+, and it’s turning the beloved world George Lucas built upside down.
“The show’s creator is actually doing interviews trying to do damage control and defend the show and justify the fact that she’s essentially doing a 180 from what ‘Star Wars’ fans have come to know and expect from the franchise,” Lauren Chen explains.
The show cost $180 million to produce, which Chen notes means “that each single episode had more of a budget than the entirety of Godzilla, minus one.”
While "Star Wars" fans have come to know the Jedi as the good guys, the series is now attempting to portray them as “the patriarchs of the universe who are these unjust authoritarians who are trying to clamp down on the oppressed space witch lesbians of the universe.”
“I think showing a different perspective is always fine, whether it’s entertainment or the real world, frankly, actual politics and history, but in this series, they actually portray the Jedi as doing bad stuff, as being the bad guys engaging in bad actions,” Chen explains.
“So, no, it goes beyond just ‘Oh, trying to portray a different perspective,’” she adds.
While Headland claimed the series has a “morally gray narrative,” Chen doesn’t believe she’s accomplished that whatsoever.
“Morally gray is what a good writer could have accomplished, but I feel like these writers, they lack any nuance. It actually takes finesse and skill, I think, to write something morally ambiguous, and so these people just fail like at best,” she explains.
Instead of a successful narrative flip, Chen says what “Star Wars” fans were given is “Leslye Headland and her DEI crew.”
Headland’s wife, Rebecca Henderson, was also cast in the show as the alien Vernestra, who Chen says is the “worst actress on the show.”
“So, if you’re wondering how on earth she got cast in this, uh, nepotism, basically,” Chen says.
To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Just a few days ago, “The Acolyte” — a television series that merges the "Star Wars" franchise with murder mystery — dropped on Disney+.
When the series was first announced, Lauren Chen, BlazeTV’s cinema pundit, was stoked.
“How sick would it be to have an actual 'Star Wars' series that was simultaneously a dark thriller murder mystery?” she asks. “I think that could have been amazing.”
But her excitement quickly deflated once she started actually watching the series.
“Now that I've actually seen the first two episodes, though, I am quite sure that the people behind the show — Leslye Headland, specifically — doesn't know what a murder mystery is because if she did, I feel like she would never describe this show in such a way,” says Lauren.
“As someone who does like murder mysteries, I want darkness, I want intrigue, I want mystery. What I got with ‘The Acolyte’ was not that.”
For starters, the murderer isn’t a secret. In fact, the filmmakers reveal this information almost immediately.
“If in the opening scene we see exactly who did the killing and how they did it. It's not a murder mystery,” scoffs Lauren.
But that’s not the only way “The Acolyte” breaks the murder mystery genre code.
“The [plot] twist was revealed like 20 minutes into the first episode,” sighs Lauren, adding that “any intrigue, any tension, or mystery that the show ever manages to build up, it dashes almost immediately.”
For example, one of the major conflicts “is solved almost immediately,” leaving audience members yawning.
“This is just not how murder mysteries work,” critiques Lauren.
To hear the remainder of her analysis (including spoilers!), watch the review below.
To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
This summer, a new "Star Wars" production called “The Acolyte” will drop on Disney+, and like most Disney productions, this series will likely push political propaganda and alienate the original fanbase.
“It looks like this series is going to be the worst that Disney 'Star Wars' has ever seen,” sighs Lauren Chen.
Unfortunately, the premise of the series appears quite strong, making it a missed opportunity to connect with longtime "Star Wars" fans.
According to Comic Book Resources, “‘The Acolyte’ is set approximately 100 years before the first prequel trilogy film, ‘Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.’ The story will primarily follow Stenberg's former Padawan as she reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes.”
“Maybe it's just me and my love of mystery thrillers, but that as a premise sounds kind of interesting,” says Lauren.
But the compelling premise is where the good news ends, unfortunately.
“The people involved with the project” are why the series will likely take a nosedive. For starters, the creator of the series is Leslye Headland, who Lauren says is “fully unprepared and unqualified to be heading up a 'Star Wars' project” granted her previous work almost exclusively revolves around “shows that are about female promiscuity.”
“[Disney] keeps throwing creatives at these huge, blockbuster, sci-fi projects who have absolutely no experience with huge, blockbuster, sci-fi projects,” she laments, adding that “there are executives at Disney who are obsessed with DEI and who know nothing about actually making films and TV shows.”
Further, Comic Book Resources reported that Headland revealed “‘The Acolyte’ would approach the Jedi from a different perspective, proving that they were wrong in ‘The Phantom Menace.”’
"When you're doing something completely original like we are, you want to question the status quo of the era that you live in," Headland stated.
“Why does everything now have to be subversive? Why does everything new have to undermine what came before?” asks Lauren.
To make matters worse, the star of the series, Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in “The Hunger Games,” is well known for her “LGBTQ+, BLM activism on social media.”
“She is certainly one of those celebrities who makes her political and social positions the headline no matter what she does, so her involvement in this series, I think, is concerning in and of itself,” says Lauren.
But it seems like that’s exactly what Headland was looking for, as she’s made it known that she created “The Acolyte” with Stenberg in mind for the lead role.
In Stenberg’s interview with C Magazine, she said, “In the context of the Star Wars universe, it’s a time of great peace, theoretically. It’s also a time of an institution, and it’s a time in which conceptions around the Force are very strict. And I think what we’re trying to explore within our show is when an institution has a singular conception of how power can be used…We try to provide a lot of different perspectives and answers to that question. The idea is to kind of honor the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force and also challenge them, hopefully harmoniously.”
“Why can't these shows be character- and lore-driven rather than thematically driven?” asks Lauren, adding that the answer is “because anybody, including these DEI hires, can appreciate the themes of 'Star Wars,' but it actually takes a 'Star Wars' fan to engage with the characters as they have been written and the lore as it has been presented.”
Stenberg also took time to blast Hollywood as a “white institution” on a recent podcast:
“I was not fully cognizant of Hollywood as a white institution ... I was aware in terms of the direct experiences I had, you know, being a little brown girl and only getting particular kinds of role submissions ... Representations within Hollywood are going to be extensions of white supremacy," she said.
Lauren is shocked that “this girl can call Hollywood white supremacist when most Hollywood institutions are actively pushing DEI and saying, ‘We need things to be queerer, blacker, more female.”’
“It seems like [Stenberg] and [Headland] are of the same mind, where 'Star Wars' needs to tell a message, and that message is not actually 'Star Wars'; it's social justice.”
To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.