Something Greater: Regarding A New Hope
I was born into a Star Trek household. Like, Star Wars was there but my dad was always more into Star Trek; he had grown up when it was on TV for the first time and it left an impact. He saw all the movies in theaters, even the ones that suck (And a fair amount do). One of my earliest memories is my parents taking me to see Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in theaters. Star Trek was just a constant in some form growing up.
But I'm here to talk about Star Wars so I probably shouldn't have wasted the first five sentences talking about something else. Dammit.
The first image I have of Star Wars isn't Luke looking out over the binary sunset on Tatooine. It isn't the Millennium Falcon launching into hyperspace for the first time. It's Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi dueling on the Death Star. When you look at it now, it's these two old men awkwardly hitting each other's light sticks. That's not a euphemism. Obi-Wan does a half-assed spin move in there. But, at that moment when my dad happened to turn the TV to that lightsaber duel, it just looked like the coolest thing I had ever seen. An old man in robes fighting a robot (Didn't know there was a man in there when I was that young) with laser swords? Sign me up!
Seeing my interest, my parents rented the trilogy from the video store one weekend and we sat down and watched all three. Star Trek is like Russian literature: you usually have to be in the right mindset to really appreciate it. Star Wars is pure popcorn: there's a message there but it's a Saturday matinee space opera with the whole thing built towards entertainment rather than philosophical meditation.
I think that the big message in that first film is that it's a coming of age story for Luke Skywalker; the entire trilogy really is. Luke is the dreamer upon which Star Wars is born, he's the audience's POV and wish fulfillment character all at once. We all want to be important, to be destined for something greater than our humble beginnings. Luke spends every night taking in that binary sunset over the desert horizon because he knows there's bigger, better things out there in the stars. And yet, because of his sense of duty and responsibility, his dreams will remain just that: dreams. Though, as we all know, destiny cannot be denied.
Star Wars (Look, I know the thing is subtitled A New Hope but on VHS it was only ever called Star Wars until the Special Editions came out in 1997 so that's how I remember it best) is Carl Jung's archetypes put in a cosmic playground with Luke following a pretty strict hero's journey. He loses his family, he teams up with a motley cast of characters, he is given a champion's weapon (which he only briefly uses here to keep from getting stung in the ass by a floating ball), he takes on evil incarnate in Darth Vader. The shades of gray and nuance aren't there yet. Darth Vader isn't a redeemable figure yet, he isn't even Luke's dad; we just know him as an intimidating, hulking villain that dresses in all black, has a red lightsaber, and choke people with his mind if you piss him off. Anybody catch that the first dude Vader chokes out in cinematic history, he does with his hands? Why does he do that when he can just use the Force? Because he's evil.
Here's my Star Wars hot take: The best Star Wars movie is the 1977 original. I love The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi just fine but there's a purity in escapist storytelling that the original has that has never been seen elsewhere in the franchise. Also, given the fact that George Lucas didn't know that there were going to be sequels, it's the most complete film without relying on prior films for setup and having a clear conclusion. Even as a kid, when I was running around the neighborhood and backwoods with my trusty Corellian blaster, I wasn't pretending to be Han Solo on Cloud City or Endor, I was pretending I was on the Death Star. That entire sequence is so much swashbuckling fun especially with the iconic John Williams' score crescendoing at all the right moments.
I suppose I should talk about the Special Edition changes to the film since they're so controversial. The updated VFX are great with the cleaner, less fuzzy lightsabers and the epic explosion of the Death Star instead of the burst of confetti that we get in the theatrical version. I actually don't mind the scene between Han and Jabba the Hutt: Yeah, the tail step is weird and completely emasculates this feared gangster slug but it also establishes why Han is so keen to get paid and the threat of Jabba and Boba Fett so early on. Nobody likes Greedo firing his blaster at all let alone first and the tour of Mos Eisley is completely unnecessary so those can both go. I still saw the Special Edition in theaters twice but there's a reason I've held off on upgrading my home video set to digital HD; I'm still hold out for the long-rumored theatrical versions getting released.
Star Wars is so big because it taps into that idea that the regular guy can go these epic adventures and maybe just save the day; the prequels suffer because its protagonists are never as relatably human whereas the original characters have a scrappy quality to them. Prequel characters don't feel like actual people largely because of the stiff acting, no genuine sense of peril, and just terrible dialogue. The original characters and settings have a lived-in quality to them. Still never understood why other fighters didn't just engage Darth Vader and his wingmen while they were menacing other Rebel pilots during the trench run. Whenever someone tries to explain that off, I just point out the Millennium Falcon did it and they kind of stop talking.
Yeah, I grew up in Star Trek house but if you ask me which franchise I'd want to watch at a given moment, it's probably going to be Star Wars more often than not. That series perfectly blends the best qualities from fantasy and science fiction together into something that's captured the imagination of millions for decades.
But I'm here to talk about Star Wars so I probably shouldn't have wasted the first five sentences talking about something else. Dammit.
The first image I have of Star Wars isn't Luke looking out over the binary sunset on Tatooine. It isn't the Millennium Falcon launching into hyperspace for the first time. It's Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi dueling on the Death Star. When you look at it now, it's these two old men awkwardly hitting each other's light sticks. That's not a euphemism. Obi-Wan does a half-assed spin move in there. But, at that moment when my dad happened to turn the TV to that lightsaber duel, it just looked like the coolest thing I had ever seen. An old man in robes fighting a robot (Didn't know there was a man in there when I was that young) with laser swords? Sign me up!
Seeing my interest, my parents rented the trilogy from the video store one weekend and we sat down and watched all three. Star Trek is like Russian literature: you usually have to be in the right mindset to really appreciate it. Star Wars is pure popcorn: there's a message there but it's a Saturday matinee space opera with the whole thing built towards entertainment rather than philosophical meditation.
I think that the big message in that first film is that it's a coming of age story for Luke Skywalker; the entire trilogy really is. Luke is the dreamer upon which Star Wars is born, he's the audience's POV and wish fulfillment character all at once. We all want to be important, to be destined for something greater than our humble beginnings. Luke spends every night taking in that binary sunset over the desert horizon because he knows there's bigger, better things out there in the stars. And yet, because of his sense of duty and responsibility, his dreams will remain just that: dreams. Though, as we all know, destiny cannot be denied.
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| With a certain iconic princess keeps them all from running off and getting killed. |
Here's my Star Wars hot take: The best Star Wars movie is the 1977 original. I love The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi just fine but there's a purity in escapist storytelling that the original has that has never been seen elsewhere in the franchise. Also, given the fact that George Lucas didn't know that there were going to be sequels, it's the most complete film without relying on prior films for setup and having a clear conclusion. Even as a kid, when I was running around the neighborhood and backwoods with my trusty Corellian blaster, I wasn't pretending to be Han Solo on Cloud City or Endor, I was pretending I was on the Death Star. That entire sequence is so much swashbuckling fun especially with the iconic John Williams' score crescendoing at all the right moments.
I suppose I should talk about the Special Edition changes to the film since they're so controversial. The updated VFX are great with the cleaner, less fuzzy lightsabers and the epic explosion of the Death Star instead of the burst of confetti that we get in the theatrical version. I actually don't mind the scene between Han and Jabba the Hutt: Yeah, the tail step is weird and completely emasculates this feared gangster slug but it also establishes why Han is so keen to get paid and the threat of Jabba and Boba Fett so early on. Nobody likes Greedo firing his blaster at all let alone first and the tour of Mos Eisley is completely unnecessary so those can both go. I still saw the Special Edition in theaters twice but there's a reason I've held off on upgrading my home video set to digital HD; I'm still hold out for the long-rumored theatrical versions getting released.
Star Wars is so big because it taps into that idea that the regular guy can go these epic adventures and maybe just save the day; the prequels suffer because its protagonists are never as relatably human whereas the original characters have a scrappy quality to them. Prequel characters don't feel like actual people largely because of the stiff acting, no genuine sense of peril, and just terrible dialogue. The original characters and settings have a lived-in quality to them. Still never understood why other fighters didn't just engage Darth Vader and his wingmen while they were menacing other Rebel pilots during the trench run. Whenever someone tries to explain that off, I just point out the Millennium Falcon did it and they kind of stop talking.
Yeah, I grew up in Star Trek house but if you ask me which franchise I'd want to watch at a given moment, it's probably going to be Star Wars more often than not. That series perfectly blends the best qualities from fantasy and science fiction together into something that's captured the imagination of millions for decades.
