So much has changed in the 15 years since Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace first opened in theaters. The media landscape has been altered so drastically in the last decade-and-a-half that you have to wonder how differently things might go if the film hit theatres today. Don't get us wrong, the movie would still suck, but how people talk about The Phantom Menace's awfulness would be quite different.
In 1999, we were still in the dark ages of the Internet. If you wanted intellectual takes on the latest pop culture, you had to trudge down to your local newsstand and pick up a copy of The New Yorker or hijack your parents' subscription to The New York Times. Thanks to the awesome powers of the Internet, you can now read an extensive thinkpiece that confirms all of your biases the morning after a film is released. no matter what those biases may be.
Yes, we live in amazing times. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, we wanted to give the film something it was deprived of by arriving more than a decade too soon. Here are 10 Thinkpieces That Would Happen if The Phantom Menace Opened Today.
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