/r/prequelmemes: This Is Where The Fun Begins

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise?

There has been a resurface of jokes on the internet regarding the Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars, a trio of films commonly perceived to be poorly written, poorly directed, poorly acted, and ultimately disappointing. While many overstate the flaws in the Prequel Trilogy, one cannot argue that they are certainly badly written. One might argue that there is greater consistency of theme and idea, yes, but one cannot say that the dialogue is anything but awkward, forced, and just plain bad. However, it turns out that having bad dialogue may have been a boon in this case.

One harkens back to the days of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show that was all about making fun of bad movies. As a man and his robots sit silhouetted in front of a giant movie screen (almost like you're watching a bootleg theater rip that the FBI will bust you for having), they crack jokes about the various goings-on in the film they're watching, which is invariably of poor quality. While this isn't what the sudden emergence of Prequel-related jokes is doing exactly, it feeds into that same impulse. Bad movies make for fantastic comedy, especially when they're ostensibly trying to be taken seriously.

The subreddit /r/prequelmemes is a breeding ground for new and popular jokes about movies that are at least twelve years old. But the same MST3K rules apply here, too. Even back during the 90s, MST3K was all about snarking on older movies. And it's all about mocking the nonsensical actions of its characters or recontextualizing dialogue in order to fit a punchline, much like in MST3K. Sometimes, you don't even need to change anything; the movie itself will be enough of a joke to make you laugh.

It's a delightful culture and one that could only exist on the internet. The proliferation of these memes is something that's been brought upon by the unique circumstances of the moment. While people have made jokes about the Prequel Trilogy before - most infamously by the gutbusting Phantom Menace review by Red Letter Media's Mr. Plinkett character - there hasn't been such a renaissance of good humor regarding the Prequel Trilogy in quite a long time. Part of this is simply because Star Wars has once again entered the cultural zeitgeist in a way that it hasn't in over a decade, but it's also because the continued presence of the franchise has caused many to reevaluate the Prequel Trilogy. As people who saw them as children are now entering their college years, they are beginning to see the Prequels much in the same light as their parents saw the Original Trilogy - those movies that they loved from their younger years.

And while it's easy to make fun of the Prequels (and the films do make it extremely easy), the fun is ultimately good-natured. There is a certain understanding that the reason people are having this much fun isn't simply because the movies are that bad; on the contrary, many of the scenes constantly used in memes are actually not that poorly written. The fun comes from a love, a nostalgic and hilarious charm that these films give the audience that appreciates them for what they are. Watching the Prequels is a much different experience now, almost as if you're constantly being barraged by jokes that only you understand. It's an enriching experience and it comes from a place of love.

You might ask yourself, is it worth making such a fuss about jokes on the internet (and not just because this is being written last minute once the author realized at the end of their last post that it was Star Wars Day)? I think so. If you disagree then, well...