A Critique of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Introduction

This is Part 1 of 6 of a series of videos all about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We open with a discussion on video essays as a genre and end on the ideas of objectivity and subjectivity.

And in between? well, plenty of Star Wars.

The Thumbnail art is courtesy of Oliver Pocock

Big thanks to Caddicarus and Fringy for their cameos. Check out their channels if you are interested -

And hey, I have an alternative to Patreon through YouTube, if you follow this link and choose the "Join" button, it will subscribe to the channel in the same way it does on Twitch and you will have emotes to use on live streams like EFAP.

[MauLerYT]

EDIT: Timestamps included Below

Hello there!

I decided to make this series of videos nice and short, that's why we have a 2 hour and 42 minute intro for a movie analysis :^).

Either way, the remaining parts will be released at a later date as they are not currently complete. This part works on its own as I tackle quite a few fundamental topics at the same time as covering the main world building elements of TFA and part of the opening scene.


I hope you folks enjoy, this series has taken ages to put together and I cannot wait to get the whole thing out. o/

I have an audio commentary coming on New Year's Eve as well, looking forward to seeing what you guys think of both. Thank you so much for supporting this channel, Merry Christmas and have an awesome new year!


Timeline edit courtesy of Sapheiron:

Table of Contents:

0:00 - Montage of initial reactions to TFA

4:00 - Disclaimer 1

5:18 - The Objectivity vs Subjectivity Debate

6:23 - Clarifying MauLer's Position

7:48 - On Consistency in Fiction and Argumentation

20:30 - On the Practice of Purely Subjective Critique

49:02 - The Force Awakens Critique Proper

50:26 - Disclaimer 2

1:02:28 - Cameo 1: Caddicarus

1:05:35 - The Title Crawl: Bridging the Gap between Episodes

(1:31:29 - One-Punch Man: An Unbridled Praise)

1:37:07 - The Title Crawl: Story Set-Up

1:41:36 - Worldbuilding Difficulties in Continuing a Story

1:53:55 - Cameo 2: Fringy

1:56:22 - The Opening Scene: Opening Shot and Flickering Lights

1:57:43 - A Tangent on Nitpicking

2:04:02 - The Opening Scene: No Stone left Unturned

2:21:35 - Intellectual Consistency and Emotional Resonance

2:40:19 - To be continued...

[Ifitmovesnukeit]

"Yes, you did just watch me talk about the opening seconds of a movie for 30 minutes"

That's...why I'm here.

[jetfox]

“Thank you JJ Abrams, for saving Star Wars.”
That one uh... yea, that one actually hurt a bit. That one really stung..

[QuestionMark]

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being called the film of a generation."

God, that hurts my soul.

[NoOne-fodi]

I think the biggest problem people actually have with Mauler is that he responds to every single thing they try to say about him and fully explains why what they're saying isn't right. Most of these people aren't used to that and expect someone to just say "no, they're wrong" and leave it at that because that's as much effort as they put into their own work

[homerhat]

Do not under any circumstances skip the intro. MauLer has summed up the biggest issue with video essay creators. But that's just my opinion.

[SuperBadadan]

>2 hours and 45 minutes
>Part 1 of 6
OH BOY

[Chronos]

*“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” C.S. Lewis*

[jakeohalloran]

3 years old and still a great piece of content. Thanks man

[franklinturtleton]

The argument from Quinton reviews is so telling. I remember seeing his defense of the last jedi video and the part where I felt actual anger was when he said "to everyone saying that luke would never kill a member of his own family aren't remembering the original trilogy right" and then he shows the scene of luke angrily striking vader until he cuts his hand off. Like he completely omitted the motivation of Vader threatening leia and the part where he refused to kill him after seeing him defeated and helpless. All he needed was 1 minute to let the first scene start and the last scene finish to completely nullify his point. The irony being that he needed to manipulate the footage in order to state that WE weren't remembering it right. It's like the textbook definition of gaslighting.

[esemicolonr]

The sheer enormity of this lad.

(Thanks for the cameo, btw 1:21:51)

[SnatchBandegrip]

1:15:18 Mauler says "clone" over a shot of Snoke

HE KNEW

[chrismatteson]

I was going to say “I enjoy this series more than I enjoyed the sequel trilogy.” But that should go without saying.

I’ve watched this series of critique videos more times than I’ve watched the movies.

This is brilliant writing, I wish a single person working on writing the sequels had an ounce of the passion you put into these videos.

Thank you, MauLer.

[peeppeep]

"The best movie out of the seven"
*The ability to speak does not make you intelligent*

[JayExci]

In my subjective opinion the Intro about subjectivity vs objectivity could have and should have been its own video. That's just my opinion though. Also if you disagree that's just your opinion which means I'm right and you're wrong.

[justvibin]

*_We're hitting video essay levels that shouldn't even be possible_*

[TheTrueLunarVoid]

"Thank you J.J. Abrams for saving Star Wars"

That one didn't age quite so well.

[mattikunnas]

I have an idea for a Lord of the Rings sequel: Aragorn has disappeared and Gondor is in ruins. Meanwhile a dark lord named Jimmy has rebuilt Mordor three times more powerful than it was under Sauron but he has lost his source of power, a golden bracelet, which is then found by a young hobbit girl who with the help of Eowyn who is now a powerfull witch starts an epic journey to destroy Jimmy's bracelet.

[AnAmericanComposer]

This guy is on a level of video essay completely removed from anyone else on the internet. I absolutely love these videos, and I love how incredibly lengthy and detailed they are. Never change, man. Never change.

[wetwingnut]

The Last Three Star Wars Films:
The Force Awakens,
The Force Get Tired,
The Force Goes Back To Sleep.