I've already watched the trailer for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith at least five times already. Aside from the fact that this is the part of the story that I've been waiting and waiting for (what pushes Anakin to become Vader, how do Luke and Leia get separated, how is it that Vader knows he has a son but not a daughter when said children are twins, what *gulp* exactly happens to their mother and how can Leia have memories of her [see dialogue between Luke and Leia in RotJ] when Leia had to have been hidden with Bail Organa's family on Alderaan [side note: I always want to type that as Oregano...] since birth in order for her father not to have known about her, right?), I was over the moon to see and hear Alec Guiness as Obi Wan again, explaning everything to Luke while we got to see visuals of everything he was talking about. I get chills every time I watch it. Seriously.
Plus, it's all coming together. I think I caught a glimpse of Chewbacca and if it wasn't him, other wookies. C3PO and R2-D2 look like themselves. And whew, that Anakin kid went from looking too teen angsty (We can clearly see where Luke got his whining ability--"I was going to the Tashi station to pick up some power converters"-- Hee.) to bad mojo evil-vibe looking guy. I'm impressed. I wouldn't even have recognized him had I not know the actor was the same.
What is it about Star Wars? Princess Leia is the first character I ever remember wanting to be in real life. (Though, in all honesty, there may also have been a Wonder Woman or Laura Ingalls Wilder moment in there too). I loved her snappy comebacks to everything Han Solo said ("I am not a committee!"). She was smart AND pretty, and hello? royalty. But you know, some part of me wanted to be like Luke too. Starting off on that adventure. Fighting the good fight. Coming through in the clutch to save everyone. What is it about this setting and these characters that pull at so many people? And it definitely has a lot to do with characters. Yes, the special effects are/were unbelievable for their time, but it's the characters that bring people back time and again (and again and again).
-Luke feels trapped by his current situation, obligated by familial bonds to be something/someone he's not. That's probably something we've all felt at one time or another.
-Leia is kind of a control freak. She doesn't even break down when Alderaan and her adoptive family is blown up. She holds everything together like the weight of the world, and the fate of the rebellion, rests on her shoulders. And hey, to some extent, it probably does.
-Han (probably my second crush, my first one was on Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk), a troublemaker looking for someplace to belong. He doesn't want to admit it, would rather not belong anywhere because it's easier, but it seems he can't help that impulse within him. And Princess Leia's probably not a small factor in there either : )
When you look at them this way, at least for me, it's easier to see the appeal. Everyone has been or felt like one of these characters at one time or another in their lives. Maybe more than one at at time. I think that's the key to creating a good story of any kind, on film, paper, etc. You have to have characters that people can relate to in a personal way. Something in those characters that makes people sit up and go, "Yeah, I know that feeling." Because I think one of the gifts of any good story is making people feel that they're not alone, even if they don't realize that's what's happening. Why else do characters like Bridget Jones strike such a chord? Women read that and go, "I am that girl." Or, "I was that girl." In the case of Star Wars, I think it's probably relating more to the dilemmas of each character rather than the character as a whole. People probably don't look at Luke and go, "Hey, I am that guy." But they nod their heads when they see his frustration about wanting to get out and see the universe, to do something grander than moisture farming.
I've blathered on about this long enough. Can you tell I love Star Wars yet? : ) I love Star Trek too for anyone who thinks I'm landing only on one side of that rivalry. I put the DVD of Star Trek IV on my Christmas list. "I think he had a little too much LDS." "LDS?!?" Hee!
By the way, if anyone has any theories (not actual spoilers, though) about any of my Star Wars questions listed at the top of this entry, please share them with me!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment