The liberalism and early p.c. of the 60's and early 70's killed the cowboy and war genres. The only ones that could get made featured anti-heroes.
Star Wars brought back the cowboy movie as space cowboys, in a fun, fresh format with characters the audience enjoyed. The lads could blast their way across the Galaxy having a grand old time while killing Nazis, I mean, storm troopers. Leia was the updated damsel in distress, at once sexy and believable as a leader of the rebellion. Carrie Fisher should have relished her role and fame instead of apologizing for Leia and throwing shade on others.
But, it couldn't last. The Empire didn't just strike back, it reined in the rebellion. Gloom and doom, over-serious and over complicated plots, no clear good and evil and characters that couldn't have fun blowing up a Death Star if they tried.
The original cast were not Lawrence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn, but they were right in the grove of the Matinee movie. We enjoyed them and cared about them. I just don't care about the new cast and wonder how they could manage a weekend together much less save the Galaxy. I suppose I'll watch some of them on Netflix.
“how they could manage a weekend together much less save the Galaxy”
If you decide to watch any of the new ones, check out Rogue One ... it’s basically the setup for 1977’s Star Wars. Specifically, watch the last 45 minutes or so. It’s just fun space battles and laser blasts :-). The beginning and end of the film are great ... the middle not so much :-).
Regarding the new trilogy ... they had a decent cast of new characters dreamed up ... I thought the idea of a recluse, junk scavenging woman having strong force powers, a deserter from the empire, and the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy made for an interesting trio to fight that brit Hux guy, Captain Phasma (loved that name), Kylo Ren, and Supreme Leader Snoke on paper ... but when you have to inject today’s PC nonsense into the formula, it all falls apart quickly.