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This does not make sense. Are you saying that the ideas (or lack of ideas) of the prequels are what contributed to the problems of modern Star Wars?
The prequels had flaws, but ideas and worldbuilding were the least of them. Say what you will about the bad dialogue and directing choices, the prequels at least attempted to tell a fresh story that expanded the universe, and didn't just rely on nostalgia.
George Lucas could have just made another OT-style adventure, but he deliberately chose not to. He could have used more practical sets and effects, but he wanted to push the medium. He made a lot of mistakes, but he also laid the foundation for future stories to take place in the universe he built.
If anything, one of the big problems with modern Star Wars is when they ignore that foundation. Writers and directors are concerned with putting their creative stamp on things, which leads to incoherence.
I think the idea is that the original movie drew it's ideas from a ton of sources and that the new films' only sources of ideas are earlier star wars films.
The meme is riffing on the criticism that Star Wars has become too self-referential. That modern Star Wars are inspired only by earlier iterations of Star Wars, rather than the more diverse list of inspirations for the original film. It's not a comment on the quality of the PT.
I think you’re absolutely correct. When Disney bought it and invalidated/retconned all established Star Wars lore and world building, they threw out the foundation.
You take some raw meat, not even necessarily very good meat, and run it through a meat grinder. You've got hamburger, and you can make a pretty delicious hamburger.
You take a cooked hamburger and run it through a meat grinder, and you're getting something else, and if you try to make a new hamburger, it's going to taste weird.
There's not enough raw pulp going into the meat grinder for the latter entries.