Tashi Station

This Bickering Is Pointless

2007-06-30T14:23:00.001-07:00

Apparently, the "Star Wars on Trial" publisher wasn't up for maintaining the forum linked to below; I went back to see if anyone was still posting there, and it's offline.

I Have a Bad Feeling About This

2006-10-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

I recently read Star Wars on Trial, a book of essays prosecuting and defending the Star Wars series against a variety of purported charges.

The book has a companion forum, so I made the mistake of posting a few things there.

I say mistake because, frankly, the reading of the book and my brief time on the forum have made me feel very bad about David Brin, and have done little more than rouse my anger at those who take a sadistic pride in hating something that others love.

Here's a sampling of some of the posting there, including another exchange between me and Brin:

Me: Here’s my take: The Prosecution in Star Wars on Trial is itself guilty of most of the charges it levels against George Lucas.

“The politics of Star Wars are anti-democratic and elitist.” This charge is quite rich, given the instant and reflexive response of the Prosecution every time the Defense raises the issue of the mind-boggling numbers of peole who love these movies. Without exception, the Prosecution heaps scorn and derision upon any suggestion that popularity could be used as a barometer of the films’ worthiness as art. Now, as it happens, I’m in full agreement with the Prosecution’s low opinion of the moviegoing public’s ability to judge quality filmmaking. But unlike the Prosecution, I acknowledge that such an opinion is at its very core an elitist viewpoint.

“Star Wars portrays no admirable religious or ethical beliefs.” While claiming to want fiction and art that make for a better world, the Prosecution elects to be a prosecution - to dwell in an antiquated adversarial system where it is acceptable to consider only one side of an issue. To resolve disputes through uncompromising conflict and not open-minded dialogue. The defining characteristic of the adversarial judicial system is that it frees the prosecutors and defense attorneys from having to worry about the morality or immorality of their respective positions. This is the model that the Prosecution chooses in order to lead us forward into a bold new future?

“Star Wars has dumbed down the perception of SF in the popular imagination.” Merely by including this charge and the “pretends to be SF” charge, the Prosecution “dumbs down” the science of critical analysis. When has SF ever been perceived well in the popular imagination? And in its own case, the Prosecution proves that Star Wars absolutely does not pretend to be SF, by way of numerous and explicit quotes from George Lucas himself. By presenting such utter hokum as high-level thinking, the Prosecution reinforces in readers the idea that hating something makes you smart.

“Star Wars pretends to be SF, but is really fantasy.” The Prosecution, though, is fantasy masquerading as Reason. It engages in relentless cherrypicking of facts, and is willing to endlessly speculate beyond the facts when doing so appears to support its case - but never does it expend the energy to fire even a single neuron on speculation that explains or accounts for the perceived deficiencies of the films. As a case in point, the nearness of Bespin to Hoth is presented as evidence of Leia’s deficiencies in The Empire Strikes Back. A real leader, it is claimed, would be aware of all systems near the newly established base. But the assumption of “nearness” relies on a scientific interpretation of the size of the asteroid field and the maximum speed of the Millennium Falcon without hyperdrive. Only by assuming that TESB is science fiction, and not fantasy, can you claim that Bespin must be extremely close to Hoth. So by using this line of reasoning, the Prosecution is admitting that one or the other of these two charges is clearly false. Yet no such admission is overtly forthcoming, because central to the Prosecution’s case is the utter fantasy that one can make such contradictory claims in parallel without any need for reconciling them.

“Women in Star Wars are portrayed as fundamentally weak.” The Prosecution's attempts to prove this charge are based almost exclusively on stupid and weak actions by women in part 3 of each trilogy -- but since almost everyone in part 3 of each trilogy comes off weakly compared to parts 1 and 2, this amounts to asking for special treatment for the female characters. In the case of Leia, the accusation is particularly repellent. She is described as being politically marginalized, shown as less important to the rebellion than in the earlier films. But the person by whom she is “marginalized” is Mon Mothma - a woman! The prosecution so thoroughly devalues Mon Mothma’s role that it fails to even mention her.

“The plot holes and logical gaps in Star Wars make it ill-suited for an intelligent viewer.” If anything, the Prosecution is even more guilty of logical gaps than the Star Wars movies themselves. There are numerous gaffes of the most amateurish sort (like saying that Obi-wan gave Luke a green light saber in Episode IV), and when presented with a holistic explanation for the central theme of the series, the Prosecution writes it off by claiming that less than one percent seem to have gotten that explanation, without producing any statistical evidence for the “less than one percent” claim or explaining why the percentage of people “getting it” is germane in any way to the truth of the explanation. Note also that the wording of this charge is highly elitist, as it inherently makes a comment about the intelligence of everyone on the Defense side, while also suggesting that plot holes and logical gaps do not make something "ill-suited" to an unintelligent viewer.

Brin: David Brin speaketh!

Cool posting. I wish herbm had been on the defense team. Things would have been far more exciting thn simply watching the Defense backpedal from every charge. (e.g. embracing the sins of Yoda rather than denying them. Accepting that the nasty little oven mitt is evil... and saying so?)

Seriously, Herbm/s remarks, while well-spoke, boil down to: “How dare anybody have strong opiniosn or try to persuade lots of people to see things in new ways! “

Really, read his remarks over again. So I believe I have fresh insights to offer, and I put them on Salon (a few years ago). Whole bunches of people found the article interesting, INCLUDING thousands who agrees, disagreed and ye, had their perspectives changed.. Many wrote in clamoring for a full book. So many that BenBella pushed for one.

Ah, but writing that article and expressing a fesh point of view is now “elitist”! Suggesting that millions might want to step back and re-examine a myth is snobbery. Will you pardon me for saying hogwash?

Likewise herbm’s dismissal of the adversarial disputation process.

Oh, sure, it isn’t as sweet and communitarian as some touchy-feely hippe love-in. (I can talk that way because I WAS a hippie! Moreover, my opposition to right-wing monsters is no less strong than George Lucas’s -- see? We agree where it counts!) Still, those who deny that we are strongly competitive and adversarial beings often do so in the strongest, competitive, and adversarial way! Like herbm? Hm?

Like the black-white adversarial imagery in Star Wars? In which institutions of subtle negotiation are trashed and ridiculed while decent men and women have to choose between two stark groups of mutants?

In fact, all of our progress toward democracy and enlightenment has come from HARNESSING these competitive drives, rather than pretending to suppress them. The “trial” metaphor works! It gets it all on the table while rules prevent one side from bullying.

(For a rather intense look at how "truth" is determined in science, democracy, courts and markets, see the lead article in the American Bar Association's Journal on Dispute Resolution (Ohio State University), v.15, N.3, pp 597-618, Aug. 2000, "Disputation Arenas: Harnessing Conflict and Competition for Society's Benefit." or at: http://www.davidbrin.com/disputationarticle1.html)

Me: Thanks for taking the time to make such a long response without actually addressing any of the points in my post! (Okay, you did make some noise about the adversarial process, I'll grant you that.)

For someone who claims to dislike the construction of strawmen, you certainly do an awful lot of it yourself.

I'm all for strong opinions, and nothing in my posts suggests that I hold the expression of such to be elitist. It is either a misreading of my post or a mischaracterization of it to make that claim.

Similarly, I never accused you of "snobbery" because you want people to reexamine Star Wars. I accuse you of snobbery because your presumption is that most of those who love Star Wars have not already examined it in detail. There is an assumption in your case for the Prosecution that most people have not thought about these movies and, more importantly, that most people would agree with your side if they did bother to think about them. The former is probably an accurate assumption; it is the latter which demonstrates a generalized arrogance. But when we get to the subset of people who are interested enough in Star Wars to actually buy a book like Star Wars on Trial, both assumptions become offensive. It becomes insulting to assume that such a reader is an uncontemplative ruminant absorbing Jedi platitudes without thought.

The fact of the matter is, you steadfastly refuse to address the dramatic structure of this series and the message it conveys:

Episodes I - III show how both a religion and its parent civilization lose sight of their values and allow the ascendancy of tyranny.

Episodes IV - VI show how a person focused on the values of truth, loyalty, and forgiveness can achieve personal redemption for those around him, and how all of us can play a role in righting things which have gone off course.

I once challenged you in an email exchange to explain what was wrong with Luke Skywalker. These two trilogies, viewed in proper dramatic order, contrast Luke with Anakin, and show what it takes to be a true hero. If you are to show that Star Wars is valueless, I suggested to you, you must show how Luke's story, which provides the ultimate climax of the series when he throws down his lightsaber in a moment of pacifist self-sacrifice, is bad.

You failed to respond to me then. I wonder if you can do so now?
--------------------------------------

Of course, the ending of that last post is a bit unfair, since I did explicitly invite Brin to cut off the email exchange at any point that he tired of it. But honestly, I was so angry that he would say, "Cool posting," and then proceed to disparage me as trying to silence his point of view.

The guy just seems to willfully or perhaps subconsciously misinterpret everything he reads or sees if it is contrary to his own perspective.

It's Not a Story the Jedi Would Have Told You

2006-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a refreshingly engaging exchange I've had with author David Brin since emailing him a few days ago, for those who are interested.

HM: I recently caught up on your epic feud with the Star Wars universe, having read the first installment just after Episode I came out. I must say, the whole thing makes for compelling reading, even some of the comments from your blog readers.

Naturally, I felt a compulsion to email you a heartfelt defense of the saga, but I contemplated for a bit, and decided that such a missive would almost undoubtedly fail. Worse yet, if I somehow did manage to affect your thinking, it would rob you of something you clearly enjoy, i.e., hating the philosophy you see as explicit in Star Wars.

So I decided to write this letter of support instead. Please keep up your good work of writing thought-provoking material, even if I might not always agree with it.

p.s., Of course, I did write a blog entry on the subject as well. But I'll leave clicking over to it entirely up to you.
---------------------------
DB: Thanks for your kind words and insights. I find it genuinely moving when people write to me in the way you did. And yes, with criticism, too. I’d be a hypocrite otherwise, since I preach that criticism is the only known antidote to error.

By coincidence, there is now in pre-production a book called STAR WARS ON TRIAL that will take off from my older articles (revised) and offer several vigorous "defense attorneys" their time, too. Watch for it mid-06. It may be announced on my site.

Meanwhile, get the new King Kong book you see touted there!

Alas, the excuses for Lucas nearly all boil down to (1) "chill out, man, it's just a story." Which might fly if Lucas had not spent 30 years relentlessly touting the importance of its "message." and that he taught important Values.

The more recent excuse is that average people win the day (as I was the very first, ever, to point out). So Lucas meant to say that. But would he not have at least HINTED somewhere, that that was his message?

Given his myriad other plot goofs, this one just looks like another slip-up.

Finally, there's Yoda. The fact that 99% of SW fans just eat up the nasty little fascist. As so many adore today's new wave of crypto fascists, excusing secrecy in the name of urgency.

Sorry, this is all coming together, and it is right to at least stand up and point it out.

But have fun too!

;-)

With best wishes for a happy, successful 21st Century!

David Brin
www.davidbrin.com
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HM:To clarify something: I pay no attention to anything Lucas says. I don't know if the man is an outright liar or if he simply can't remember things from one interview to the next, but there's never been any coherence to his explanations of his universe, and he actually seems rather bored when you see him discussing it. So I tend to be a textualist about the films. I really don't care what Lucas intends (or I care only a small amount).

The fact is, viewed as a text distinct from any avowed authorial intentions, these movies make exactly the point that you want them to make. Elitism is bad and leads to suffering; real heroism is about working to make sure that the right things happen. Any other interpretation turns the films into a jumble of mush without real meaning, whereas this interpetation is consistent with everything that happens in the six-movie arc.

I'm sure you as an author have had the experience of writing a story, and returning to it later to find that it means something different, or something more, than you originally intended. I think you'll find that the Star Wars films exhibit a surprising internal consistency if you view them while making the same assumption about Lucas.

My only comment about Yoda is that this is a guy who has direct sensory evidence that his religion is true. So it's difficult for us as empricists to get inside his head. But I think that his actions make a lot more sense if you keep in mind that there is no distinction between physics and metaphysics in his experience.

Happy New Year!

Herb

p.s. As I'm sure you're quite busy, feel free to break this discussion off at any time you feel other matters better deserve your attention.
------------------------------
DB: Thanks. good stuff. But even if we toss out authorial intent, you ignore several other levels. e.g. the LESSONS that millions take away. At most 0.0001% notice that Lando and the wookie are the only ones who matter.

At best that number notice that Yoda is a nasty, lying fool... or much, much worse (see the new book when it comes out.)

No, if I can increase the fraction who notice - and discuss - this stuff to .o1%, my carping will have mattered.

good luck & thrive db
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UPDATE!

HM:I don’t know . . . every Star Wars fan I know recognizes the importance of not just Lando and Chewbacca, but Wedge Antilles as well.

I really can’t buy into the notion that most people would watch Return of the Jedi, see Chewbacca and Han bring the shield generator down, see Lando and Wedge blow up the Death Star, see Lucas emphasize their role by showing them reuniting and embracing during the Endor celebration, and then conclude that the actions of ordinary people make no difference.

There’s also no way at all to conclude that Luke wins out through elite magical powers. His crucial act is the moment he throws away his light saber and refuses to fight. Anyone who can’t see the importance of Luke’s willingness to sacrifice himself is frankly pretty hopeless in my book. So if it really is only .0001% of people who recognize what’s plainly there to see, I think that’s more of a strike against the moviegoing audience than against the films.

(Note that I’m perfectly willing to concede that most people do not bother to think about these films. But what negative “lesson” are people really going to absorb and act upon when viewing movies so passively, so unconsciously? Surely, most of that 99.9999% don’t think there’s any relevance at all to a bunch of guys swinging laser swords. It’s just a diverting spectacle to them.)

I’ll be interested to see your interpretation of Yoda in the new book. My view is that since we know that Yoda can see the future, while never being told exactly what he does see, it’s hard to say whether his actions truly impede Luke’s journey toward redeeming his father, or whether they simply provide Luke the opportunity to make his own choice. Is Yoda a benighted religious zealot who tries to lead first Anakin and then Luke down a foolhardy path to moral stagnation? Or does he know almost from the start everything that's going to happen, forcing him to play the role he does as a sort of a pawn to his own precognition? Impossible to know for certain, it is. : )

Ultimately, what one can’t argue about is Luke’s vastly greater importance to the series as compared to Yoda’s, or Ben Kenobi’s. Luke is the hero. It is Luke who destroys the first Death Star, Luke who goes to save his friends on Bespin, Luke who refuses to join his father to overthrow the Emperor, Luke who is unwilling to suppress conscience for the sake of purpose, and who thereby redeems Darth Vader from the Dark Side. He’s an ordinary farm-boy with some extraordinary talents who prevails in the end because of his values, and there is no logical support whatsoever for saying that the values he exhibits are elitist.

Lucas can say that these six movies are about the fall and redemption of Darth Vader all he likes -- only a fool could watch them and hold Vader to be more important than Luke. If you want to show me what's wrong with Star Wars, you have to explain to me what, exactly, is wrong with Luke Skywalker. That's a lot taller order than enumerating the flaws of the Jedi.

I join you in hoping that the new book causes more viewers to really ponder these films. As I'm sure you can tell, I think there is a great deal beneath their surface.

Brin(g) 'Em On -- I'd Prefer a Straight Fight to All of This Sneaking Around

2005-12-30T16:23:00.000-08:00

I read David Brin's article on The Phantom Menace some years ago and was very disappointed to find that an author I respected greatly would work himself into such a frenzy despising something I so enjoyed.

My previous entry, for some reason, called that event back to mind, and made me wonder if perhaps Brin had continued to write on the subject as the other movies have arrived. Indeed, it turns out, he has. I am sorry to report that the results are no improvement.

What's most astonishing is the way that he and his commentators manage to completely spell out the coherent message of these films while insisting that the message is something completely different.

They complain that Episodes I-III lack real heroes, that the Jedi are elitists and out of touch, that for all the wisdom Yoda mouths, he never effectively gives real help or workable advice in the whole series. Brin goes on and on about the fact that common people, not Jedi, are responsible for the defeat of the Empire at the climax of the saga -- then he goes on to insist that this must be an oversight on Lucas' part. He rightly remarks that the "light and dark" sides of the Force are virtually indistinguishable, but fails to recognize that this provides the impetus behind the repeated references to a need for "bringing balance to the Force."

I'm entirely appreciative of the fact that lovers of good plotting and dialogue and acting have many valid bones to pick with SW I, II, III and VI -- and at least a few with IV and V. But for some reason, in their rush to hate the entire Star Wars universe, Brin and company find themselves driven to counter-rationalize its philosophy. It's not enough for them to hate it on the grounds of quality alone. They have to get inside George Lucas's head and through some form of telepathy discern which portions of the dialogue and plotting are purposeful illuminations of his ethos, and which ones are slapdash bits of hackery that the author failed to see as undermining his attempt to make a point.

I defy any of them to demonstrate a single slip in any of the six movies that's inconsistent with this simple theory: the Jedi are a stagnant if benign cult that has long outlived its purpose, and it takes a common person who has not been raised in their sterile order to reclaim the true worth of their philosophy. I defy them to point to any instance in the movies where doing right by those around you leads to a negative outcome, or where acting in the reverse ultimately brings something other than significantly bad consequences.

The most simplistic mistake you can make in interpreting literature is to assume that the protagonist is always in the right. In fact, it's almost impossible to tell a good story in which the protagonist does not have some flaw to overcome.

Why is it so difficult for Brin and his sort to see that at work in the Star Wars saga?

So Be It, Jedi

2005-12-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most unsettling thing about Revenge of the Sith is the way it turns everybody uncool. Darth Vader isn't cool -- he's weak, petty, and manipulated. Padme isn't cool -- no more picking locks and smacking alien panthers down with a chain; she can't even find the strength to hold on to life so that she'll be there for her kids. The Jedi aren't cool -- they deliberately piss off Anakin and set him up for failure, even though they know there's a Sith Lord out there somewhere monkeying around with things. And Obi Wan Kenobi isn't cool -- he's bigoted against droids, perfectly willing to sacrifice clone troopers, too slow to recognize Anakin's vulnerability, and unable to recognize that the statement, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes," is itself an absolute.

When Obi Wan leaps up onto the bank of the lava river at the end of his duel with Anakin, he speaks two sentences that are very telling: "It's over, Anakin. I have the high ground."

Of course, we know it's not over -- there are still three movies to come. But at that point, Obi Wan has no idea that Yoda will fail to defeat the emperor -- no idea that the Republic has already fallen.

Likewise, Obi Wan only thinks that he has the high ground. Even as he admits that he's failed Anakin, even while he's telling him that he loved him like a brother, he is preparing to leave him to die a gruesome, horrifically painful death, alone and helpless -- and he makes sure to pick up the guy's light saber as he goes.

The prequel trilogy ends with evil triumphant because the good guys have dropped the ball -- and what's most interesting is that the pattern inverts itself in the original trilogy. Luke's triumph in Return of the Jedi is not a part of the victory over the Empire. It's a personal triumph for him, turning his father back from the Dark Side. But it does not effect the outcome of the Battle of Endor. The good guys get lucky that a bunch of furry Ewoks help them out, and that Han Solo pulls a trick on the shield generator crew that only an idiot would fall for. The Emperor would have died when the Death Star blew up whether Darth Vader threw him down the generator shaft or not -- and the reason he was doomed to die is the same reason the Jedi fell in Episode III. He didn't keep his eye on the ball.

The message of the saga as a whole ends up being pretty simple: politics will come and go, and those with power will sooner or later grow overconfident and assure their own downfall -- so be good to the people around you, because that's what will ultimately make a difference.

One To Beam Up, Mr. Scott

2005-07-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

James Montgomery Doohan

March 3, 1920 - July 20, 2005

His Fate Will Be the Same as Ours

2005-07-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

I just realized that this line can be read as one of the subtler pieces of foreshadowing in the whole Prequel Trilogy (not that the prequels are notable for the subtleness of their forshadowing in most cases).

Anakin (as Vader), Palpatine, and Obi Wan all meet their ends at the hand of the person they most wanted to follow in their footsteps.

I Thought I Detected Your Foul Stench the Moment I Came on Board

2005-06-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

[SPOILER alert!]

A number of things toward the end of Return of the Sith irritated me on my first few viewings. One is the clownishness of certain moments in Palpatine's duel with Yoda -- the way he gets flipped backwards over his chair with his skirt up, the way he squeaks and squeals while dangling from the Senate hoverdisk.

Another is the "Frankenstein" moment when Darth Vader breaks loose from the medical table after his transformation -- not to mention the outrageous wimp-factor in his dialogue thereafter, and that ridiculous, "Nooooooooo" that he emits after being told Padme is dead. We waited 22 years to hear James Earl Jones speak as Vader again, and that is what we get?

But, as usual with the prequel films, when I asked myself if there might be method to Lucas' seeming ineptitude, a door opened wide for me. In this case, things clarified themselves after a conversation I had with a friend of mine. Bob complained that Lucas had done an interview recently in which he described Darth Vader as essentially a dupe and a schmuck in the original trilogy. This really aggravated Bob, who, like all of us, had always thought Vader to be the ultimate in cool villains. He felt cheated to hear Lucas badmouthing a figure who was of such primal importance to him.

And that, I think, is exactly the point of the way Vader and the Emperor are handled at the end of Episode III -- to tear down the notion that bad guys are in any way admirable. For almost 30 years, people have been seduced by the power and majesty of Darth Vader, and that seduction represents the fool that lives in all of us. Palpatine comes out on top in ROTS because the Jedi make a ton of big-time mistakes. Anakin turns to the dark side because the Jedi are not there for him in the way that he needs them to be. There is nothing praiseworthy, noble, or deserved about the triumph of evil at the end of the film: evil merely happens across one of those moments when good leaves the door unlocked.

Ultimately, the truth is this: villains are disgusting and pathetic. They win only when heroes fail, and when the public fails to recognize them for what they are.

She's a Politician

2005-05-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! I finally figured out why Obi Wan tells Yoda, "That boy is our last hope," in The Empire Strikes Back, despite the fact that he's known all along that Leia is Luke's twin sister. It's because she is a politician -- a senator --and he hates politicians. He can't conceive of teaching her the ways of the Force and turning her into a Jedi, because in his mind, she's already halfway to being a Sith.

Obi Wan's loathing of politicians had struck me as interesting but a bit strange ever since it was introduced in AOTC. Now I realize that it perfectly explains why his line to Yoda was, "That boy is our last hope," and not, "Well, he's a goner. I guess we'd better get to work on Leia."

It Deserves Our Gratitude

2005-05-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

[SPOILER WARNING -- Episode III details in this post]

Now that the Star Wars saga is complete, we have seen that R2D2 is the only character who appears in all of the films without transformation. The fact that he knows the scoop on everything in the prequel trilogy makes him even more interesting in IV-VI. For instance:

Artoo's exciteability in IV takes on a whole new tone. When he says, "She's here, she's here, I've found her," he's talking about Leia as someone he's watched over for 20 years, and whose mother he was personally devoted to. When he gets spastic in the throne room at the end of the film, it reflects a whole lifetime of waiting for something good to happen.

His attitude toward Yoda in V is contextualized too. He's not just mad that this old crazy guy has come out of the swamp and started ransacking his master's stuff -- he knows exactly who Yoda is, and knows that the crazy-old-coot schtick is an act. He's trying to protect Luke from someone he sees as manipulative. He knows that this Jedi training stuff didn't go so well for Luke's father. So his worry when he's told to wait with the ship isn't just fear for himself -- it's concern about what Luke's getting into.

And here's a partial list of his pivotal accomplishments throughout the films:

- Saves the Queen's ship as it flees Naboo
- Alerts everyone of Obi-Wan's capture on Geonosis
- Saves Padme from getting burned up in the droid factory
- Provides critical support for Obi-Wan and Anakin to rescue Palpatine and kill Dooku (not necessarily all good results, but failure would have meant their deaths)
- Carries the Death Star plans
- Instigates the rescue of Leia from the Death Star
- Shuts down the garbage compactor
- Keeps Luke's ship flying long enough for Luke to destroy the Death Star
- Provides smokescreen cover for the escape from Bespin
- Repairs the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive, allowing it to flee certain capture
- Conceals Luke's lightsaber until the critical moment on Jabba's sail barge

In pretty much every one of the films, there's some moment at which one or all of the principle charaters would be toast if it weren't for Artoo.

What a guy.

Another Happy Landing

2005-05-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I've seen Revenge of the Sith three times now -- the 12:01 a.m. showing on the 19th, a matinee that day, and then again with the kids a week later.

My expectations were so high, and I had so much invested in my pet theories, that I actually didn't like it all that much on the first viewing. I was hoping to see more of Christopher Lee than we did, and really, really wanted a different role for Padme. But the movie closes with some of the most effective scenes of the whole series -- in fact, I was crying by time the final image came onscreen. I loved the next two viewings, and really want to see it again before it leaves the theaters.

Among many excellent accomplishments, the film succeeds in making Return of the Jedi a much better movie that it was before. My oldest daughter wanted to watch ROTJ as soon as she got home from ROTS. Since it was past her bedtime, I had to say no, but we watched Ep. VI the next day, and several lines floored me in the context of the completed prequel trilogy. When Darth Vader tells Luke, "Obi Wan once thought as you do," the meaning became completely different than it had been before.

If you haven't already seen it, go right away. Although I guess that if you haven't already seen it, you're probably not the kind of person likely to be reading this blog. : )

[SPOILER EXPLANATION -- Even if you've seen Ep. III, you might not want to read this without rewatching ROTJ. Before, Vader's line to Luke always struck me as a reference to having defeated his old master -- "Obi Wan once thought the good side more powerful, but I showed him." Now, having seen Anakin crying after he massacred the Separatists, I hear it as, "I recognize that Obi Wan truly wanted to help me when he confronted me on Mustafar." Similarly, the line, "It is too late for me, my son," is more powerful because it's obvious that Anakin has been telling himself this, over and over, ever since the moment he turned on Mace Windu.]

You've Taken Your First Step Into A Larger World

2005-04-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

My kids discovered Star Wars a couple of years ago, when the three oldest were 5-1/2, 5, and 4. I'd been hoping to keep them out of it until after Episode III debuted, so that they'd be able to watch the six films in sequential order. But that was probably pretty naive.

One day, a catalog came in the mail. When I arrived home, my 4-year-old son greeted me with it at the door.

"Daddy, daddy," he said, pointing to a Millennium Falcon toy, "do you know what this is?"

"Well," I replied, trying to play dumb, "it's a spaceship toy."

"Is this spaceship from a movie?"

"Yes," I said, warily.

"Do we have this movie?"

"Yes."

"Can we watch it?"

"I'll have to talk to your mother about that," I said, remembering the bloody arm on the floor in the bar scene.

"She said to talk to you about it."

It became pretty obvious that there was no putting this off. So the next Saturday (Saturday at that time being my day to watch the kids while Katie worked), I gathered all the kids around and put my VHS of Star Wars into the player. My expectation was that the girls would quickly lose interest, but that Joey would remain fixated by all the blaster fights and spaceships.

The 20th Century Fox fanfare sounded, and then the fateful words appeared onscreen, prompting my nonreading children to ask, "What does that say?"

So I read the blue lettering quickly, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . ." and worked to keep my pronunciation clear -- as a full-blooded Star Wars geek, I tend to get choked up at that first symphonic strike accompanying the appearance of the Star Wars logo.

"Star Wars," I read,

"Episode IV: A New Hope

It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Leia--"

A sharp intake of breath from both girls.

"There's a princess in this movie?"

"You didn't tell us there was a princess in this movie!"

Contrary to my expectations, Joey ended up playing with trains through most of the film. His attention was captured only during the blaster fights and spaceship scenes -- which of course are not the majority of the movie. The girls, on the other hand, remained glued in place throughout, only occasionally interrupting to say, "When are they going to show the princess again?"

Don't You Call Me a Mindless Philosopher

2005-04-01T16:51:00.000-08:00

I took the Entertainment Weekly Star Wars quiz this week. Well, I didn't so much take it as read it.

The Padwan level was absurdly easy -- even someone who hates Star Wars could probably get a passing score. I think the middle level was "Jedi Knight," and it did require the knowledge one might expect of a casual fan or a nonfan with a good memory. But it was a blow-off for anyone who's watched the films repeatedly and regularly.

Then the quiz jumped to "Jedi Master" and into the realm of the ridiculous. Hardly any of the questions addressed the films themselves. Instead, they focused on trivia about the actors and crew members. I had certainly never heard that there is a rumor that Annakin Skywalker was named after some director whom I had also never heard of.

I almost suspect that the magazine's editors didn't really want to provide a test that would please fans of the series. I could very well imagine them dreaming up the questions, saying, "Okay, we want to make sure that the first two levels make our readers feel clever about knowing most of the answers, while the third level makes them think, 'Only a total spaz would know that.'" Thus, the average reader would come away feeling both intelligent and superior.

I just felt glad that someone had loaned me the issue, instead of me buying it.

You're Not Actually Going INTO an Asteroid Field, Are You?

2005-03-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

My favorite scene in all of the Star Wars films is the Asteroid Field sequence in The Empire Strikes Back. It's an absolutely perfect scene, in every respect that counts. The dialogue is snappy, the effects are terrific, and the music is so perfectly matched to the action that you can see the images when listening to the soundtrack, or hear the music even with the sound turned off on your television.

Most importantly, it's a scene with tremendous meaning, because it marks the beginning of the true courtship between Han Solo and Princess Leia. For all the exploding TIE fighters and whirling gargantuan space-rocks, the entire scene is about these two people and their relationship. It is here that Leia recognizes her feelings for Han -- earlier in the movie, she denies them, and later, she fights against them, but to no avail. Han's daring and skill overwhelm her.

When the last Imperial fighter explodes, the Millennium Falcon comes out of the asteroid canyon, and Han takes the ship through a sweeping, showboating loop to enter the cave. The love theme plays as he executes this perfect maneuver, and while I'm not a big admirer of Freudian interpretation in literature, it's hard to miss the significance of the Falcon gliding down the cavern's smooth bore. The courtship may be entirely chaste, but at the end of this scene, their love has been consummated.

In many respects, the asteroid field sequence is the turning point of the film. From this point forward, Han and Leia are a team, whose union will carry them through all of the horrors that will follow, regardless of Leia's misgivings.

At Last, We Shall Have Our Revenge

2005-03-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

I guess I shouldn't have gone to see Robots on a day when I'd already watched The Incredibles on DVD. It's a visual masterpiece, but the story suffers in comparison.

On the other hand, it did allow me to see the new Episode III trailer for the first time, so in that regard, it was $30 well spent. (Two kids' tickets, my admission price, large popcorn & drink.)

There wasn't any clear support for my spoiler theory, but the trailer makes one thing pretty obvious -- even if there aren't any major twists or revelations, this movie is going to pack a heck of a punch.

I Am Your Father

2005-03-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

ENORMOUS SPOILER ALERT! I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO KNOW THIS BEFORE YOU SEE THE MOVIE! STOP READING NOW, OR THE SURPRISE OF THE DECADE MIGHT BE RUINED!

All right, if you're still reading, then clearly, you don't mind finding out a startling twist about Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Of course, you're also likely to be mad at me, since I don't actually know if my spoiler is real or not. In all probability, in fact, I'm completely wrong.

Okay, so if you're still reading now, here's what this post is about: Obi Wan Kenobi is Princess Leia's father. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Allow me to make my case.

Let's start with music. When Leia first appears in A New Hope, Obi Wan's theme music plays. Not that big a deal, really, since we know she's recording a message to him. More important is the fact that when Obi Wan is struck down by Darth Vader, Leia's theme plays. John Williams is on record as saying it just seemed like the right music to put there, but in my world, the Star Wars music is fraught with meaning, and I'd like this to mean something.

Next, let's move to Empire, and the moment when Luke takes off for Bespin. The ghostly Obi Wan says, "That boy is our only hope." Yoda's response: "No. There is another." Now, who knows what George Lucas had in mind when ESB was in production. Maybe Luke and Leia were already twins in his fertile imagination, maybe not. Maybe Han Solo was the other to whom Yoda referred. But the story we have is the story we have, and that story ends up with Luke and Leia as twins, suggesting that Leia is the other to whom Yoda refers. In that case, wouldn't Obi Wan have to be somewhat addled to say Luke was their last hope? He knows that Leia is a leader in the rebel alliance. If he also knows that she's Luke's sister, then he should certainly consider her a source of hope as well.

Logic leads us to the simple conclusion that as of ESB, Obi Wan does not know Leia is also a Skywalker. Perhaps, as a ghostly entity of The Force, he ought to, but he clearly doesn't. Which leads to the question, Why not?

Obi Wan has known who Luke is for Luke's entire life. In all likelihood, Luke is the main reason Obi Wan settled on Tatooine to begin with. So why wouldn't he know about Leia? A reasonable answer would be that Yoda kept it hidden from him.

Obviously, neither Vader nor Obi Wan was present at the birth. Kind of hard to miss that second twin coming out. But just as obviously, both of them knew about Luke. No one would consider the Lars farmstead a subtle hiding place for the child, which means it's entirely possible Vader knew Luke was there all along. Clearly, Ben Kenobi did. So Luke's existence was an open fact, while Leia's remained a guarded secret. The motivation for hiding her from Vader is hardly worth discussing -- she was an ace in the hole. But why keep the knowledge from Obi Wan?

Here, we turn back to the prequel trilogy, and again, I'll bring up music. Have you noticed how weepy and sad the awkwardly named Love Theme From Attack of the Clones is? It's a tremendously somber piece of music, considering that Annakin's relationship with Padme is one of the few bright spots in his life. The nature of the music alone suggests that this romance is bad news. Even more telling is the very end of the End Title music. After a number of variations on the Love Theme, the score gives us a few moment's of Annakin's theme from Episode I. Then, that dreamy childhood leitmotiff segues into the Love Theme, which in turn blends into the unmistakeable Darth Vader theme. Once again, this could just be John Williams futzing around. But I can't interpret it in any other way than as an open statement that Annakin's romance with Padme directly facilitates his transformation into Darth Vader. Annakin --> romance --> Vader.

Now, of all places, I'll go to the recent article about Star Wars in Vanity Fair. In a mixture of quotes and paraphrasing that render's George Lucas's actual words indeterminate, the article flat out says that Annakin turns to the Dark Side in a Faustian bargain to gain the return of a dead loved one. The article makes it clear that this is Annakin's mother -- or someone else whom he has lost.

If Annakin turns to the Dark Side because he wants his mother back, I can hardly see how the romance facilitates his corruption. On the other hand, if the romance is central to his downfall, then it must be Padme whom he loses and hopes to gain back.

Here's where things get really interesting. A careful watching of Attack of the Clones suggests that Padme is far more interested in Obi Wan Kenobi than in Annakin Skywalker. It is Obi Wan whom she greets so warmly in Chancellor Palpatine's chambers. When Annakin sulks over Padme barely recognizing him, Obi Wan says, "She was glad to see us." My emphasis would be on the "us" there. With his Force-heightened senses, Kenobi ought to know very well whether Padme was specifically glad to see Annakin, so it probably means something that he says "us" and not "you." When Padme is packing for her return to Naboo, she defends Obi Wan's critical attitude toward Annakin, saying that that is what mentors are for. At every turn, she expresses her discomfort at Annakin's attentions, and whenever given the opportunity to talk about Master Kenobi, she reveals her high regard for him. It is Padme, not Annakin, who insists upon going to rescue the man who is "like a father" to him.

So why does Padme end up falling for Annakin at all? My answer is that she does not. Unless the Jedi are just a bunch of prigs or prudes, they must have a reason for prohibiting attachment, and that reason seems pretty straightforward to me: when a Jedi is highly emotional, his emotions can extend to others through The Force. What Padme feels in AOTC is not her own love for Annakin, but his desire for her to love him.

The acting in AOTC has been widely ridiculed, but if you watch the film with the presumption that Padme is not actually acting upon her own wishes, but upon Annakin's, then Natalie Portman's performance suddenly makes complete sense. Why is she flat and lifeless when passion seems called for? Because the passion is not Padme's. Annakin relentlessly manipulates her the entire time they are on Naboo, both with his open words and, subconsciously perhaps, with The Force. He would do anything for her love, even use the plight of his mother to play upon her sympathies, and move her from her familiar territory to his own.

In point of fact, we actually see the two of them in shadow-puppet form just before Annakin rides off to find his mother. Padme walks stiffly out of the homestead and out of camera view, and only then does her shadow puppet speak the words Annakin wishes her to, while his own shadow assumes the likeness of Darth Vader.

So, what do you think Padme's reaction is likely to be when she finds out why Jedi are forbidden to love? And who do you think is most likely to tell her about that?

How about "She's going to be really, really pissed," and "Obi Wan Kenobi."

Picture Senator Amidala and Master Obi Wan on a ship bound for some important negotiation. Away from Annakin, she confesses that she once had a laughable, juvenile crush on Obi Wan. He tells her that he knew it all along, and explains why, as a Jedi, he could not respond to it. If he were to fall in love with her, he could never be certain her emotions were her own -- they might simply be projections. Realization dawns on Padme. She understands at last why her feelings for Annakin are so powerful while in his presence, but so muted when he is gone. She is alone with Obi Wan. He knows nothing of her marriage to Annakin. She is unaware that she has just conceived a child, but she is suddenly very aware of what her true feelings are, and what she wants.

We already know that Luke and Leia are fraternal twins, since paternal twins must always be identical. The twist is that they are fraternal twins with different fathers. Leia is hidden from Vader because she was easy to hide from him -- she has no blood link to Annakin Skywalker. She is hidden from Ben Kenobi because, in all likelihood, Padme seduces Kenobi to get back at Annakin, and then does not want to burden Obi Wan with having irresponsibly fathered a child. Or perhaps she is hidden from Kenobi because Padme, or Yoda, or Bail Organa, knows that Kenobi would want to do the right thing and stay with his child, which would tend to make both of them easier targets for Vader.

So there you have it. In two months, we'll find out if it's complete hogwash, or a feat of deduction worthy of Sherlock Holmes.

Sorry if I spoiled anything for you.

Look at the Size of That Thing!

2005-03-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already checked out Stardestroyer.net, go over to my blogroll and click on it. Star Trek fans may chafe at the inexorable logic that shows how thoroughly the Empire could defeat the Federation, but anyone who likes Star Wars ought to get a kick out of the site.

I'm Ready for Anything.

2005-03-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

In two months, my favorite movie of 2005 will arrive in theaters. It most likely won't be the best movie of 2005, although I believe there is at least some chance that it will astonish one or two skeptical critics.

Let me explain that I was 10 years old when the first Star Wars movie premiered, and had already developed a voracious appetite for science fiction. As a budding artist, I found the visuals spellbinding. Furthermore, I am naturally susceptible to passionate music, having been exposed from infancy to the music of Russian composers like Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninov.

So I was sort of tailor-made to become a die-hard Star Wars fan.

Yet we all grow up, and there came a point in my life when I nearly lost my adoration of these films. During and just after college, I gravitated toward more cerebral science fiction (Gene Wolfe, Kim Stanley Robinson, Octavia Butler), and had not seen any of the SW films since high school. The low point came when my sister and I happened across a cable showing of Star Wars, just as the attack on the Death Star commenced. We both found ourselves startled at the crudity of the effects (this was pre-Special Edition), and actually ended up laughing at Obi-Wan's disembodied voice saying, "Luke! Trust in your feelings!"

Another few years passed. I assumed that I had largely outgrown Star Wars. I moved from my first job to my second, met my wife, experienced a number of dizzying peaks and crushing disappointments, and settled into a long-running like/hate relationship with the various Star Trek television shows.

Then word came that George Lucas had decided to revisit the Star Wars Trilogy for its twentieth anniversary. The commercials and previews rekindled my interest, although I rolled my eyes at a coworker who stood in line overnight for tickets, and who bought one for every showing on the first day.

Curiously, I can't now remember very much about the first showing of that first Special Edition. I remember standing around talking about it afterwards. I recall finding the reinserted Jabba the Hut scene disappointingly poor in its effects. But I think I remember about as much from seeing the movie in 1977 as 1997. (We arrived late in 1977, and entered the theater to the image of R2-D2 in the haunting bowels of the Jawa sandcrawler.)

What I do remember from 1997 is the showing of The Empire Strikes Back that changed my life. It was my third viewing of ESB:SE -- I saw it on opening day, saw it again in that narrow window of opportunity you could catch all three films in the megaplex back-to-back, and then saw it in the dollar theater, after SW had already left and I didn't have the opportunity to watch my "favorite" on the big screen again.

That was the night when I realized that ESB is a better movie than Star Wars, when I realized that the asteroid field sequence is about the most perfect sequence ever captured on film, for someone who believes in romance, in struggle against adversity, in music, and in art. I had not loved The Empire Strikes Back as a kid, but I found that I could love it without reservation as an adult.

So now here I am, having spent inordinate amounts of time over the last eight years thinking about and talking about Star Wars, awaiting ever-more-anxiously the debut of Revenge of the Sith. If the hints and implications in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are not merely figments of my own imagination, the new movie will be full of revelations, including several that I don't think most people expect. (A hypothetically spoiler-filled explanation is forthcoming.)

Hopefully, George Lucas and John Williams will at least bat their averages this May. If they do, nothing else will touch Episode III this year. At least, not for me.

You Can Fool Around With Your Friends Later

2005-03-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Star Wars blog. I'll be posting my thoughts about the six Star Wars films here from time to time. Feel free to leave comments correcting my dialogue quotes -- I have four kids, so I don't always have time to go to the DVDs and search out a line to get it perfect.