extrapenguin

I think the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is, perhaps, the most popular story where a significant portion (or majority, even) of the audience insists on misreading the message. And sure, a lot of that is because George Lucas desperately needed an editor, but I think that even if the prequels had been perfect and flawless cinema, people would still intentionally misinterpret them: all of Hollywood seems to go for "you should go to any lengths to save the girl!" and here was a trilogy that said that actually, you shouldn't. Add to that a bunch of things we don't usually get in Western media (space Buddhism, the superpowered people voluntarily subordinating themselves to an elected government) and I think people would've tried to make the square peg fit the round hole of the rest of Hollywood regardless. The films were also screwed over by an entire generation of people who grew up with the OT and built up elaborate headcanons. When those headcanons were contradicted, well, cue "George ruined my childhood!!!" and the death threats to Lucas and the actors.