Posso assistir The Force Awakens sem ter assistido anteriormente aos filmes anteriores?

• Se você gosta de Star Wars ao ponto de se interessar em ver o novo filme, provavelmente também gostará dos anteriores. Eu suponho que você não vai apenas ver "porque é novo", mas porque você está interessado na franquia como um todo.
• Existem inúmeras piadas internas, ovos de Páscoa e referências na TFA que você não terá sem ter visto os filmes anteriores.
• Se você curte o TFA, provavelmente também desejará ver os outros filmes, mas assisti-los depois seria menos agradável: muitas reviravoltas já foram reveladas e assim por diante.
• Se você gostar dos efeitos especiais no TFA, ficará desapontado ao assistir os outros filmes depois, pois, sendo muito mais antigos, eles têm menos efeitos atualizados.

• First of all, if you're about to dive into one of the biggest global pop culture phenomenons anyway, then to really get the full experience you need to witness the previous six films. At the point you've decided to see the new film, in a general sense you need to do so in the most informed way and in the context of the overall phenomenon.

• Second, there will be lots of relationship details, inside jokes, dialogue call-backs, Easter Eggs, and references that you will not understand if you don't watch the first six movies. Yes, someone can just explain it all to you in a quick, simple way, but there's no way they'll get all of the details and dialogue etc into their explanation. Any detailed explanation or written backstory that is sufficient to prepare you for seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens will take so much time to read and remember that you may as well spend the time and energy to actually experience the six movies.

• Third, the experience you have when watching the new upcoming sequel will be dramatically enhanced by having seen the previous films. From a purely artistic sense, these are amazing films and each one of them is made better by the larger context of the other films. So from an entertainment perspective, you need to treat yourself to the other movies before treating yourself to the newest one.

• Fourth, the odds are that after you see The Force Awakens, you'll want to see the other films anyway. But seeing them afterwards will create a weird disconnect in the storytelling. If you start watching the earlier films afterwards, then you might enjoy them less or have your enjoyment of the new sequel reduced after the fact as your confusions and different experiences with the earlier films add on to the original experience with the new film.

• Fifth, since you're probably going to end up watching the earlier movies if you watch The Force Awakens, the difference in visual effects will distract you. The fact is that the new movie will have visual effects conforming to today's standards. So if you witness that, and then afterwards try to go back to the earlier films, you are likely going to be more inclined to notice a lot of the limitations of visual effects in the earlier movies.

Now, technically do you really HAVE to see the first six films in order to even be able to sit through and enjoy the new movie? Probably not. You can probably watch the new film and keep up with it well enough, assuming you've at least heard the very basics of what Star Wars is. The mythology and details might be confusing to you at times, but most likely it'll either end up being explained by whatever is happening, or it will pass by and you'll forget and not care because the story keeps moving forward and you can mostly keep up.

But that's no way to experience a movie -- "mostly keeping up" and "mostly getting over any confusion." And it's especially no way to experience a Star Wars movie.