Joho the Blog
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May 10, 2005
A bad portent for the new Star Wars episode: Even in a carefully posed cover photo for Premiere magazine, Hayden Christensen looks like a kid standing on line dressed up as Darth Vader:
The problem is that George Lucas has not made a single movie that wasn't composed of stock characters. When he wants a movie to be more than a Saturday afternoon diversion — for example, when he starts to believe The Force is more than a plot device, that he's exploring deep themes of good and evil, or that he can write a love scene — he goes off the rails. He can direct large action scenes, and in every movie there's been one or two special effects that have been imaginative and cool — jumping to light speed, those gunner bots that transform from rolling balls — but he is so unaware that he's dealing in stereotypes that he can base an entire movie around Ewoks or dive head first into racism. All the variables have been explored. He's got a budget big enough to make the movie he wants. He has total mastery of digital effects — which he pioneered, and hats off to him for doing so — so he can make anything happen that he imagines. He's got a built-in audience so he could try experimenting. He has fantastic actors, including Hayden Christensen. So why have his movies marched steadily downhill? There's only one variable left... Having said that, I expect the new one to be better than the previous two. And no matter how bad it is, I'll go see it. But I will not wear my JarJar outfit. I've learned my lesson. [Technorati tags: StarWars GeorgeLucas] Posted
by D. Weinberger at May 10, 2005 08:59 AM
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Comments
While I agree that Jar Jar Binks and Ewoks are too formulaic (and not necessarily good formula), there is a point at which I disagree with grumbling about the stereotypical nature of characters.
They're not stereotypes, they're archetypes. For that reason they should be very, very familiar to you, recognizable at a level that may be below your consciousness, perhaps at soul level.
Lucas drew from the Hero's Journey, the archtypical path that heroes/heroines have taken across all cultures, across human-recorded time. See Joseph Campell's work on this subject and you'll begin to see why there is such resonance in Lucas' characters and storyline; there should be. I'd bet that if the characters and storyline were too far away from the archetypical Hero and his Journey, we'd complain universally and refuse to see his movies entirely.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 10, 2005 11:26 AM
I know that Lucas drew on Campbell. But not every re-telling of the myth works. E.g., if I made cardboard cut-out puppets and had them enact the myth, using pretentious and silly language, it probably wouldn't work. IMO, that's pretty much exactly what Lucas has done.
Did I mention that this is IMO?
Posted by: David Weinberger | May 10, 2005 12:28 PM
rubberfaces.com just added a bunch of star wars faces - lots of fun while you whittle away 9 more days..
Posted by: Jonathan | May 10, 2005 06:11 PM
I also think that in the 25 years since the original film, we all as a movie-going society have changed. I am not so sure that Star Wars would be as well received now as it was back then. Certainly it would have done well, but maybe not as well today. A low budget Sci-Fi film with unknown actors? I think we may be a little too jaded to embrace that concept.
Also, the problem with telling a prequel 25 years since the original telling is that we have all filled in the details of the backstory in our own minds. Now when those don't mesh with Lucas' films, there is a great deal of disatisfaction. However, I am hopeful that this final chapter will be closer to what the fans have envisioned all these years. For me, the PG-13 gives me hope ;)!
Ian
Posted by: Ian Martin | May 11, 2005 10:50 AM
Damn, Ian beat me to it! :-)
Still, David; how would you have viewed the past episodes if it did not have the legend of the first three to live up to?
Posted by: Branko Collin | May 13, 2005 08:48 PM