#wordtalk

I finally saw the original Star Wars trilogy! Now I suddenly understand like twice as many internet memes. (I’m seeing TFA tomorrow and I wanted context)

Thoughts:

Liked it a lot. I can see a formulaic plot in here but it works. Character arcs are ok for the most part. Darth Vader’s arc is juicy. Also Lando’s. Lando was great.

Love the world building and politics. You have dynamics like colonization and imperialism, Military and Navel warfare, scifi crime, tons of good stuff.

Pacing is decent. Feels like a large story without being confusing, boring, or rushed. 

Harrison Ford is easily the most watchable actor. James Earl Jones has the best voice though.

A lot of this movie feels really dated, which is to be expected, but still...

John Williams’s beautiful score is brilliant and epic.

Character, Plot, Theme:

The redemption arc is one of the most delicious and compelling story ideas ever. No wonder so many people like this franchise. Even with some clunky end pacing and minimal acting, at the end I was like ‘daww Vader did something right and is redeemed enough to be forgiven... I feel so fuzzy inside’.

That said- why does Luke have this conviction in the first place? Seriously, why?  I know the movie gives him telepathy/empathy magic but we as the audience are never ever given a reason to hope on Vader’s account. There are no scenes where there’s like... a spark of humanity shown in his actions or words. There’s nothing.   And Luke hasn’t been raised by Vader, or even been in contact with the guy for more than five or six minutes by the time he’s decided to redeem him. I know blood is thicker than water, but to me that premise seems a bit lazy.

At the same time, I’m a sucker for the ‘nearly everyone has decency deep down’ sort of trope and story, so even if Vader is just a dude that happens to be the symbol of evil and has terrorized and murdered the citizens of the empire, (and has lopped of Luke’s hand) Luke managing to redeem him is still... compelling enough I guess.

     ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Aha the old ‘evils of technology’ vs ‘purity, faith, and strength of the old ways’ theme. *Luke looks at cyborg hand in horror* yep there it is *Darth Vader takes of mask to reveal tortured cyborg face* ok ok *2004 cgi added to everything* dear god why

There’s so much stuff in this movie to dissect, as well as how it relates to the period it was made in and how it influenced stuff and geez I’m going to move on for now but I need to like find a book on this or something.

Grumbling:

I’m disappointed Leia didn’t get any actual powers or training. She seems more involved in the rebel group than Luke actually. And she has a confrontation with Vader that’s got actual dialog in ANH. 

Ok fine fine I guess this is before third-wave feminism and all, but geez, Hans Solo comes across really... rapey in this. 

The force sort of got old as a plot device. It worked for getting information across and even though it was suspiciously convenient when Luke calls Leia for help I still bought it up to that point. Afterwards it felt a little overused to me, especially with the ‘I suddenly know you’re my brother because’.

As much as I dislike the Han and Leia dynamic, it’s gets a lot better in Return of the Jedi. (And, as with lots of things in fiction, something that would be a dysfunctional model in real life can make for some super interesting interactions and arcs in a story)

On the topic of Luke/Leia: the incest thing was weird but honestly didn’t feel as odd or gross as I had heard.  You/they don’t know they’re siblings until quite late in the story, and they’re adults without a history together. Idk it’s still a little weird to me but not gross for the most reasons incestuous relationships are. (which is abuse of power. Game of Thrones anyone? George RR Martin uses this idea a lot. It’s interesting) I wasn’t feeling much romantic chemistry with them but whatever dynamic they have feels a lot ..healthier than what’s between Leia and Han. It is kind of weird that there are some borderline incestuous dynamics in such a popular conservative Reagan Era movie and it wasn’t more a problem for the censors? (Was it?) 

Is it just me or is Luke kind of boring?

Footnotes:

I’m still not sure if I like the Trek franchise more or what. Trek and SW are really different sides of that era. How many nerds have written dissertations on this I wonder.

I really like jittery stop motion animation.

Do I have to watch the other three movies before the new one comes out? why did I do this to myself I should have listened

(i assume that means horse)

This part too

yeah

been noticing a lot of people cry at live theater lately 

I personally think one of the great things a good story does is make you feel things and connect... with other humans... that are also feeling things