Random Star Wars Observations

Because "A New Hope" Hasn't Been Discussed Enough Already

I recently watched the original Star Wars movie again…and tracked down a digital comic of the original trilogy. Rather than just enjoy the story for the zillionth time, I found myself analyzing several aspects of it. But this time, rather than just file away my observations until I have cause to revisit them in the future, I’m going to subject you to them.

You’re welcome.

The Music

I am prepared to die on this hill: all other factors remaining constant, George Lucas’ radically revised space opera would not have become the dark horse blockbuster of 1977 that took the world by space storm without John Williams’ epic old-fashioned score. In fact, it might have become the colossal flop that all the Hollywood insiders of the time assumed it would be—including Lucas himself.

I’m aware that Williams plagiarized the hell out of work like Holst’s “The Planets” and even the traditional “Death March.” And yet I insist that score was absolute genius from the opening title and narration crawl, through all the humorous and sentimental scenes, the Darth Vader scenes, through the attack on the Death Star, to the awards ceremony. Genius. Friggin’ genius. He nailed it in every respect.

As a young whippersnapper who was aware of the buzz at the time, I read the Mad Magazine spoof long before I got to see the movie. And Top 40 radio stations were playing the heck out of that music every day, but I didn’t know it was the “Star Wars Theme” for the longest time. (Yeah—radio stations would do that back then. They did the same with the “Rocky Theme” too. I can’t remember any other instrumentals ever played on the radio in those days.)

I kinda’ liked the radio-release version, but I assumed it was the theme of a western. It just sounded like music that would go along with a western movie. In the middle of it, the orchestral theme broke for the Mos Isely saloon tune. Listening to it now, it sounds more Big Band-derived than western saloon music should sound (like I would know), but that didn’t stop me from visualizing wide angle crane shots across vast prairies, cattle drives, gunfights…and a detour into a saloon with women on the stage dancing the Can-Can.

Assumptions of an Ignorant Child

My assumption that the music was for a western may be ironic. You can see western movie influence in A New Hope not just in the saloon scene, but of course in Luke’s return to Uncle Owen’s farm immediately after his refusal to answer the Call to Adventure. But when I finally saw the movie, I recognized it as a WW2 movie with sci-fi trappings.

I didn’t write anything down…or, if I did, it’s been lost. But I thought out how I might retell the same story, but in its “proper” setting. The Empire was Nazi Germany, of course. R2D2 was a comedy relief Lou Costello type with a tape recording, a film reel or a file folder full of plans for some diabolical new Nazi secret weapon (most likely their own atom bomb, since I’d heard grownups mention that the 3rd Reich had a nuclear program and had also been working on a “New York Bomber”.) The rest of it would fall easily into place, too. Mos Isley was Casablanca. The pilot briefing was a scene from any number of WWII fighter jock flicks. The attack on the Death Star would revert to dogfighting Zeroes while attacking a Japanese carrier group (maybe transporting the New York Bomber with its atomic payload!). Luke and Han manning the gun turrets to fight off the TIE fighters was also from air combat movies—specifically about bomber crews—and could easily be translated back to the inspirational source of the scene.

The WW2 vibes were not coincidental, BTW: the resemblance of Darth Vader’s helmet to the Stahlhelm, the “Storm Troopers”, the Stuka scream of the TIE fighters, and so on. Lucas made it so obvious that even a kid could see it.

Editing Suspended Disbelief

Special effects weren’t even a pimple on the booty of what filmmakers have access to today, and those poor effects guys had their work cut out for them. Industrial Light and Magic was formed to create the effects needed, and their work was impressive on the big screen, though it didn’t hold up when transferred to video.

Nevertheless, some stuff just couldn’t be simulated believably. Fortunately, Lucas’ one true talent was in the editing room. For instance, watch the saloon scene again (“You’ll be dead!”) and you’ll notice how he used old editing tricks in lieu of non-existent effects that could have made it look like Obi-Wan chopped off somebody’s arm with a light saber in one shot. (Also notice how, in the Director’s cut, new footage was added to make the pug-ugly at the bar fire a blaster before Obi-Wan takes action.)

Lucas the Hyped Paper Tiger

There are plenty of people who will insist that creative types like Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore and George Lucas all enjoyed astonishing success simply because they were just so gosh-darned talented. I am not one of them.

Lucas is a good editor, and he has demonstrated the ability to think of interesting ideas. But as a director, he was a flash-in-the-pan at best. He struck gold with American Graffiti and Star Wars, but his other directorial efforts are forgettable, IMO.

As a screenwriter, he has always sucked. I once got hold of an early draft of Star Wars (from before Kasdan fixed it). It was abysmal. My attention span was much longer back then, but I couldn’t get through the first act.

I realize there are people who believe that the prequel trilogy is so awesome that it throws my entire credibility as a critic into question. So be it. Write your own blog post fisking me and refuting my arguments. It might be fun. I’ll read it.

Lucas is not just a leftist New Age Boomer, I suspect he’s a Gamma male who has found himself in situational Alpha roles since the mid-’70s. There could be another reason why he had Greedo fire first in his reworked Director’s Cut of A New Hope, but to me it reeks of Year Zero weakness, virtue signaling, and desperation to keep ahead of the Overton Window so the cool kids won’t disown him. That’s undoubtedly why he sodomized the universe for the latest cinematic dung heaps set in the Star Wars continuity.

My hypothesis is that his Gamma nature is why his original characters give us mixed signals.

The Socio-Sexual Hierarchy in the Stars

Vox Day’s SSH is a subject of much controversy, outrage, and obfuscation. I don’t understand it as well as I understand Generational Theory, but I do see some truth in it. If I screw up this attempt at ranking the characters, it’s likely due to my misunderstanding—not to a lack of validity in the SSH.

I believe VD doesn’t recognize any such thing as a hybrid rank in the socio-sexual hierarchy. I’m going to ignore that because we’re dealing with fictional characters, here. While these characters IMO fit Strauss & Howe’s generational archetypes just about perfectly, I find their classification by the SSH more difficult. Nevertheless I’m gonna try, because there’s something there, even if I misinterpret it.

I’m limiting myself to the original trilogy, and mostly A New Hope in particular, because I either don’t remember much about the other movies, or never watched them in the first place.

Like perhaps all artistic types, Lucas puts part of himself in a lot of his characters. And no doubt that contributes to the confusion.

Luke Skywalker

Whether consciously or subconsciously, most Gammas have a “secret king” complex. And it turns out Luke is, literally, secret royalty. But that reflects less on Luke than on his creator.

I’m thinking Luke is a Beta/Bravo. He is arguably an Alpha by Return of the Jedi, but then reduced to something else (Gamma?) in the most recent movies, which I have no interest in watching. I’m guessing according to hearsay, in the latter case.

Anyway, Luke is a good follower, with a can-do attitude and perhaps leadership potential, but is a little too emotional and babe-in-the-woods to inspire others to follow him at this point. He’s basically a whiny teenager at the beginning, but does mature somewhat by the end of the first film.

Darth Vader

It’s already getting tricky. You could argue he’s a Beta/Bravo, because he is second fiddle to the Emperor, and even to Grand Moff Tarkin. He seems comfortable in the role, too. It isn’t until the Emperor tries to make him kill his son (in Return of the Jedi) that Vader is anything but loyal to his chain-of-command.

But he certainly does come off as an Alpha at times. Maybe he’s a natural Alpha in a situational Beta role. Or maybe he’s actually a Gamma who has been given far too much power. Perhaps that’s how the Dark Side seduced him in the first place. He does offer his unsolicited opinion at the Round Table: “This technological terror is insignificant next to the powwah of the Force.”

I guess we’d have to see Vader in action at a singles’ bar to be sure. He might be a hit with the 50 Shades of Grey crowd, and make the ladies feel a tremor in the Force.

“If you only knew the POWWAH of the Dark Side…” might work as a pickup line.

Then, back at his place:

“I have you now!”

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

“You have failed me for the last time!”

Ahem.

The Droids

C3PO has some Gamma behaviors—overly emotional, doesn’t know when to shut up, blames others for his own mistakes. R2D2 has some Delta tendencies—highly competent within the bounds of his occupation, but with tunnel-vision regarding his job in the context of any bigger collective effort.

But, c’mon, they’re robots. They’re not even in the Socio-Sexual Hierarchy. They’re underneath it, like pets or children. That makes them both Omegas.

Han Solo

Before the SSH, when the only two ranks were Alpha and Beta, and rankings were all about game and pickup artistry, Han would have been assumed to be an Alpha.

Even by the SSH, he exhibits some alpha traits. He’s got leadership capabilities, and women find him attractive. I mean, he’s a smuggler who makes it with a literal princess. That’s exemplary Alpha swag.

What that proves is he could reach the top of the hierarchy if he wanted to. But he has no interest in being a part of it—especially if it means taking orders from anybody during his climb to the top.

Solo is content to stay solo, operating on the periphery of society, making a living on the black market, with his loyal wookie tagging along. That tips him into Sigma territory.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

This one is also tough to call. He makes a good mentor and teacher, but he never really takes on a leadership role beyond that. He and Han Solo have some friction regarding what the best course of action is, but neither ever recognize the other as the leader.

Obi-Wan is highly competent in his own fields of expertise, and insists that his specialty (the ways of the Force) is more important than other immediate concerns, like Luke getting the droids back home and doing his chores, or mourning the entire population of Alderaan. Does that make him a Delta?

He detaches himself from Han, Luke, and Chewy on the rescue mission, to disable the tractor beam and face Vader alone. Could be Delta; could be Alpha or Sigma.

But then consider this famous line: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

Translation: “Even if I lose, I still win.”

And then the whole Rebel Alliance clapped.

It reeks of Gamma. And it’s not true. He does speak to Luke and Yoda from the grave, but it’s really not so impressive that Vader couldn’t imagine anything as powerful.

Again, here it’s murky because we have to consider not just the character, but the filmmaker who controls the character.

“Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.” Sounds like a Gamma fantasy when you consider Obi-Wan’s situation. He’s a “strange old hermit,” at the beginning of the story, who’s not taken seriously by anyone.. The official reason is that he’s “getting too old for this sort of thing” now. He’s a distinguished veteran of the Clone Wars and now just enjoying a meditative life of solitude staying in tune with the Force. But a Gamma would adopt that lifestyle because they’ve annoyed or infuriated everyone they know and are spending every hour of the day humblebragging on social media about their unrecognized greatness and character-assassinating everybody who has put them in their place…while fantisazing that they are really a fearsome Jedi warrior weary of battle, self-exiling themselves due to the inferior intellect of their former acquaintances.

It’s convoluted because the filmmaker’s fantasies are tangled up in, nay, integral to the character and the milleu that character occupies.

Other Random Stuff

My latest viewing has reminded me of other tidbits I should mention.

Off We Go, into the Absurd Yonder…

What the heck kind of military does the Rebel Alliance have, here? Luke is a farmer who never went to “the Academy.” Nevertheless, somebody apparently issued him a uniform and an X-Wing Fighter to attack the Death Star.

“Well, you have no formal military training; no formal pilot training; never flown an X-Wing before; don’t know anything about this squadron’s tactics or S.O.P.s; but you’ve got a nifty light saber, there. How would you like to participate in the biggest, most important mission of this war alongside other pilots you’ve never flown with?”

This is an oversight you could expect from a boy who watches a lot of classic war movies on TV and plays with GI Joes and toy airplanes, but has no concept of the context those toys and movies were taken from. Nobody with even an inkling of how a military (any military) actually works could have come up with this, or could think critically about it then defend it.

In one of the later movies I understand Princess Leia has become “General Leia,” using the same (absence of) logic, turbocharged by grrrrrrlpower.

No Smoking in Galaxies Far, Far Away

Watch the scene after Kenobi meets Luke, when they’re at Kenobi’s home. Alec Guinness really wants to be smoking a pipe. In one shot it actually looks like he is, at a glance, but he’s really just pinching part of his beard. That dude needed a pipe—though probably not full of what the Boomer director would have preferred to smoke.

Hoosier Daddy?

Luke has heard of Ben Kenobi, but has never met him and doesn’t recognize him. Obi-Wan has to reveal his identity.

So how does Obi-Wan know who Luke is? It must be the Force, because there’s no way Uncle Owen ever invited the crazy old wizard over to the house when Luke was a toddler.

Hmm. Did Obi-Wan choose to live on Tatooine less than a day’s speeder drive from Owen’s farm specifically so he could one day recruit Luke?

Very Advanced Design

There’s a scene on the Death Star wherein one of the Storm Troopers is carrying a Lewis machinegun.

Movie Logic

When I’m out in the shop, I often find washers laying around where I don’t remember dropping them. Obviously, droids have been there.

Normally, if you find internal machine parts on the outside of the machine, it means sumpting broke-um. But evidently whichever droid spit that part out didn’t need it, to function.

Time is Running Out!

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