Fan Service, Easter Eggs

A character or scene is “fan service” if it’s put into the story just to please the fans. This is, allegedly, a serious flaw. For an example of the flaw in action, consider Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. At the climax of The Force Awakens, two episodes earlier in the series, Kylo Ren and Rey face off for a lightsaber duel. Having just killed Han Solo, Ren says to Rey, “It’s just us now.” The remark had a larger resonance. The field had been cleared, and new blood could now take the story in new directions. That’s what happened in The Last Jedi, which saw both Leia and Luke die, the last ties to the past. But audiences complained. So, for The Rise of Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine was resurrected, and our hearts sank. The editor of the film admitted it herself: “Look, sure, it’s fan service.”

But there’s something funny about this criticism. How could pleasing the fans be a flaw in a film? Even if doing so should not be the whole point, isn’t it one of the points? You could argue that great art must be esoteric, intelligible and enjoyable only to the snobbish elite. I will not.