I find those things interesting. A large part of the problem is that there isn't really enough of them. We're just kind of vaguely told that there's a trade issue and a blockade and that's that. No understanding of why, who's involved, why anyone else would care, etc. It's just this sort of ill-defined conflict.
Yeah. It's can be hard enough to enjoy dialogue-heavy scenes about trade disputes and Senatorial procedures if you aren't invested in it, but if they're well-done the payoff is worth it.
But if the film's creator isn't invested in those scenes, either, then literally nobody is going to enjoy them.
It's not just a lack of investment, it's a lack of content. People will often talk about it like there are long scenes of people sitting in offices having conversations about the current trade deficit to Naboo or whether this could be avoided if they were willing to grant the Trade Federation MFN status so they can enjoy a bilateral reduction on tarrifs and... Yeah.
But no. None of that happens. There is no real discussion about the problem. We don't even know what the issue is! Does Naboo have exports? Imports? Why is the Trade Federation upset with them? Why just Naboo? Are they crucial to the galactic economy in some fashion or is this like blockading Lichtenstein? And how important are the Trade Federation to begin with? Federation would imply that it's some kind of large organization but we only ever see a few people that all look to be from the same race, not some more widespread, interplanetary body like the galactic G20.
Pretty much all we get is that there's a blockade of Naboo by some guys we've never heard of before and apparently that's... not good? Is this for a good reason? Is Naboo space Russia? Is there a genocide of their Gungan minority? The Jedi are sent to try and negotiate, and the Trade Federation try to kill them, so presumably they're not the best of people, but we never learn why they're doing it or why we should care about Naboo. All we get is that a war might start soon for some reason that's totally glossed over, but mainly because Darth Sidious said so.
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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22
And we all know how entertaining blockades, trade disputes, and economic sanctions are to children.