8 Things You Learn Watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens

After rewatching all of the Star Wars films in anticipation for The Force Awakens (in order to see what we can learn form each), we're finally here. When it dropped last week, Episode VII was met with near universal acclaim, perceived as a stellar return to franchise form. And it's hard to deny these claims, for The Force Awakens truly is a great blockbuster, both of the Star Wars saga, and outside of it. While the immediate rush for articles understandably looked to delineate plot points and pinpoint saga symmetry and assess the narrative foreboding, I've held back a week or so to continue a series of articles which look at the Star Wars films in terms of iconography, performance, cinematography, and cultural relevance. And while it's true that this has been a rewatch series, a reflective account of revisiting each episode years after watching it for the first time, it remains that the same sort of process can be applied to viewing The Force Awakens even just a week after it opened (and technically I have watched it twice, so consider these thoughts made on the second viewing). While the fanfare isn't even close to dying down, the initial OMG-ness of Episode VII's opening days has slowed a little, allowing for a more measured look at where The Force Awakens stands overall in the saga. Note: all six previous entries can be found on my author page.