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Does Jim Jarmusch hate Star Wars?

By Tim Beisiegel

AARHUS, DENMARK - APRIL 25: Visitors watch Star Wars episode IX "The Rise of Skywalker" film in a drive-in cinema, organised by P Scenen on April 25, 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark. Denmark relaxes restrictions imposed to fight coronavirus. The country reported 8445 cases and 418 deaths from Covid-19. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 191,000 lives and infecting over 2.7 million people. (Photo by Julien Hekimian/Getty Images)
AARHUS, DENMARK - APRIL 25: Visitors watch Star Wars episode IX "The Rise of Skywalker" film in a drive-in cinema, organised by P Scenen on April 25, 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark. Denmark relaxes restrictions imposed to fight coronavirus. The country reported 8445 cases and 418 deaths from Covid-19. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 191,000 lives and infecting over 2.7 million people. (Photo by Julien Hekimian/Getty Images) /
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I was today years old when I heard the name Jim Jarmusch and found out that it appeared he hated Star Wars and refused to watch it. I was wanting to be angry with him for dripping his haterade all over my special galaxy far, far away. But, I am not going to do that. I choose to reserve all my toxicity for Tom Cruise, I think he’s earned it.

For those of you who are like me and also had a zero on your “Who is Jim Jarmusch?” scorecard, let me give you a hand. Jim is a very accomplished writer, producer, and director of some very well-respected films over the last half a century. There are some circles where Jim Jarmusch is considered a legend, and after some research and seeing what he’s done, and who he has worked with, it becomes easy to understand why some would have that feeling.

But none of that is why Jim Jarmusch is in the news today. Jim is in the news for some inflammatory remarks about the Star Wars universe, and his lack of interest in the universe as a whole. I would suppose that if there was a “Gone with the Wind” fan site, he will get a rather sternly written letter in 3 to 5 business days when the mailman drops it at his door. He said some stuff about that movie too.

According to IndieWire, Jim is quoted as saying, “I will never see any ‘Star Wars films, because I resent that I know so much about them and the characters.”

Jim goes on to say, “Why is all that in my head when I’ve never actually seen one, you know? Why do I know about R2-D2 and Darth Vader and all these things when I’ve never even seen any ‘Star Wars’ film”.

On the surface, it appears to be a dig at the Star Wars universe. It appears to be the type of ill-thought-out remark that tends to anger the masses and incite fingers to fly on keyboards telling Mr. Jarmusch exactly what they think of his comment and what they don’t know of him. But that’s the surface. I don’t think that was his intention at all.

Let me explain it like this. Imagine that you were told everything about a book or movie series before you had a chance to read it or watch it. Imagine that the person telling you never announced any type of spoiler or anything like that. What reason or desire would you have to read or watch said IP? None. You would have zero reason to watch it. You know everything about it.

On the one hand, I kind of agree with Jim. It would be very hard for me to find a reason to sit down and watch everything in the Star Wars universe if I was on the outside looking in. On the other hand, you can also let that knowledge inform your appreciation or dislike of the universe based on your own factual knowledge and not someone else’s lack of spoiler alerts.

My final two thoughts on this topic are this, first, put your stakes and pitchforks down and let people like or dislike whatever they do. Secondly, and I doubt highly that Jim Jarmusch will ever see this article, I would like to invite Jim to sit down with me and watch the movies. I’ll buy the popcorn and the sodas, he just has to come. Sit down with a fan who won’t spoil anything else for you and allow you to enjoy the universe on your terms. If you can make it through the Naked Gun movies Jim, you can survive Star Wars.

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