Star Wars reconsidered
As we all cross our fingers and hope that Episode III isn't as bad as Episodes I and II, one question pops into my head: Was this series ever that good?
The original movie was on TV the other day, and I was struck by how bad some of the dialogue seems on the 14th or 15th listen. And some of the situations are just preposterous. Yes, you have to suspend disbelief for a bit when you're dealing with leaps into hyperspace, giant space guns that can blow up a planet and a robot with a Woody Allen personality chip (alas, without the sense of humor).
There's also the problem I've always had with the blasters. On the rare occasion that a blaster shot hits its target, it's always fatal, no matter how much body armor the stormtroopers are wearing. (Honestly, if you're wearing something that does nothing to protect you but makes you run like Molly Shannon in that Seinfeld episode, wouldn't you think about tossing the stuff in the garbage and investing in lightweight uniforms?) But when that blaster hits Leia in Episode VI, it's like a bug bite. What?
So why do we watch this nonsense?
I think it's Vader. (Disclaimer alert: Point also made by a co-worker.)
The first time you saw Darth Vader, the question was "What the ...?!" When you saw Vader reveal that he's Luke's father, again: "What the ...?!" Even after he died and was redeemed: "What the ...?!"
I think one reason Episodes I and II have been so disappointing is that we're impatient to know the answer. It's been fun to learn about Obi-Wan and Yoda, but Episode I only gave the underlying question more emphasis. Now we want to know how this sweet little kid could end up as the guy who blew up Alderaan just to tick off Leia.
That makes the series an intriguing examination of evil. We sometimes see bad guys redeemed, and we sometimes see good guys turn bad. We never see bad guys redeemed and then go back to see them as innocents. It 's a valid moral lesson to think of tendencies of good and evil residing in the same person.
It's especially chilling for those of us with kids to see Anakin with his mother. Parents can give kids a loving environment, and it might not be enough. And when we see Vader topple the Emperor in Episode VI, we see the family tie again. (Relevant Oasis line I've always liked: "I ain't good-looking but I'm someone's child.")
Part of me wants to wimp out of seeing this movie. It's going to be a gut-wrencher. We know the Jedi will be slaughtered. We can already see Obi-Wan's horror. And as badly written as Amidala has been (thank you, everyone who has cast Natalie Portman in a non-Star Wars movie in the past decade), what will happen to her? Lucas says this might be too intense for kids. I wonder if it's too intense for me.
On the other hand, maybe we'll see Jar-Jar in the opening minutes, and I'll instantly care less about all these people.
The original movie was on TV the other day, and I was struck by how bad some of the dialogue seems on the 14th or 15th listen. And some of the situations are just preposterous. Yes, you have to suspend disbelief for a bit when you're dealing with leaps into hyperspace, giant space guns that can blow up a planet and a robot with a Woody Allen personality chip (alas, without the sense of humor).
There's also the problem I've always had with the blasters. On the rare occasion that a blaster shot hits its target, it's always fatal, no matter how much body armor the stormtroopers are wearing. (Honestly, if you're wearing something that does nothing to protect you but makes you run like Molly Shannon in that Seinfeld episode, wouldn't you think about tossing the stuff in the garbage and investing in lightweight uniforms?) But when that blaster hits Leia in Episode VI, it's like a bug bite. What?
So why do we watch this nonsense?
I think it's Vader. (Disclaimer alert: Point also made by a co-worker.)
The first time you saw Darth Vader, the question was "What the ...?!" When you saw Vader reveal that he's Luke's father, again: "What the ...?!" Even after he died and was redeemed: "What the ...?!"
I think one reason Episodes I and II have been so disappointing is that we're impatient to know the answer. It's been fun to learn about Obi-Wan and Yoda, but Episode I only gave the underlying question more emphasis. Now we want to know how this sweet little kid could end up as the guy who blew up Alderaan just to tick off Leia.
That makes the series an intriguing examination of evil. We sometimes see bad guys redeemed, and we sometimes see good guys turn bad. We never see bad guys redeemed and then go back to see them as innocents. It 's a valid moral lesson to think of tendencies of good and evil residing in the same person.
It's especially chilling for those of us with kids to see Anakin with his mother. Parents can give kids a loving environment, and it might not be enough. And when we see Vader topple the Emperor in Episode VI, we see the family tie again. (Relevant Oasis line I've always liked: "I ain't good-looking but I'm someone's child.")
Part of me wants to wimp out of seeing this movie. It's going to be a gut-wrencher. We know the Jedi will be slaughtered. We can already see Obi-Wan's horror. And as badly written as Amidala has been (thank you, everyone who has cast Natalie Portman in a non-Star Wars movie in the past decade), what will happen to her? Lucas says this might be too intense for kids. I wonder if it's too intense for me.
On the other hand, maybe we'll see Jar-Jar in the opening minutes, and I'll instantly care less about all these people.
posted by bdure | 2:04 PM
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