It sounds like you're saying the effect is more apparent because TFA is bad. But the effect you claim is that people pretend (to themselves or others) to like w

It sounds like you're saying the effect is more apparent because TFA is bad. But the effect you claim is that people pretend (to themselves or others) to like works that have a brand or franchise or cult following behind them. And you admit that the prequels have that too. But then we would expect people to either like or pretend to like the prequels. And we don't see that. The prequels are widely disdained. And you haven't explained why the prequels don't get the same pretense as TFA.