(SPOILERIFIC)
About 3 years ago, I did the one-day
Star Wars marathon: all six episodes in one sweep. A few thoughts:
-The most riveting part for me was the
end of Return of the Jedi. After watching Anakin's journey
into darkness because of the love he had for Padme, Vader's
temptation of Luke really hit home. When Luke finally gives into
rage in order to protect his sister, it felt like a real loss. The
music especially sets the mood. I always felt that John Williams'
score was epic; when I'd watch that scene, I would think “This is
the final battle between Luke and Vader.” But watching it now, I
felt “I'm watching a tragedy.” It felt like Luke had lost from
the outset simply by giving into hate because we already saw where
that road had led with Anakin. It made it even more powerful,
therefore, when Luke says: “Never, I'll never give into the Dark
Side. You've failed your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father
before me.” At that point, whether Luke lived or died, the tragedy
was averted: he won.
-The turning point for Anakin's fall
and his redemption was also wonderfully juxtaposed. In Revenge of
the Sith, he is won over by Palpatine, who begs for help while
being electrocuted. He is won over by Luke in the same way. He gets
to redo his awful choice, only this time he does it right. I loved
how the catastrophe happens in Revenge of the Sith, where the
Jedi think that they have victory within their grasp, but then are
betrayed to death by Anakin. And then the Emperor almost defeats the
Alliance, the love of Luke saves the day.
-Two themes kept coming up: power vs.
love and death vs. evil. Palpatine grasps more and more power be it
political, military, or personal. He tempts Anakin with power by
convincing him that he should use it out of love (just like the power
of the One Ring tempts all the heroes of Middle-Earth). Luke on the
other hand, rejects the Emperor's offer in favor of love. Anakin's
utter fear of death also takes away his ability to be a hero. He
would do anything, even that which is evil, to preserve life. Luke
chose death rather than evil. He shows this when he throws himself
off the edge of the station on Cloud City, when he surrenders to the
Emperor (“Soon I'll be dead”) and when he refuses to kill Vader.
Only when Vader understands that there are things worse than death,
he can be redeemed. When Luke tells him that he'll die if he removes
his mask, he replies “Nothing can stop that now.” Love is
stronger than death
-Shmi tells Anakin that you can't stop
the change any more than you can stop the suns from setting. In each
of the prequels (and in A New Hope) a major change occurs
after a sunset. In The Phantom Menace, Padme decides to
return to Naboo and Qui-Gon chooses to defy the council and train
Anakin after the sun sets on Courascant. In Attack of the Clones,
after the suns set on the Lars homestead, Anakin finds his mother and
begins to give in to the Dark Side. In Revenge of the Sith,
when the sun sets, Anakin decides to defy Mace Windu and go to
Palpatine. Also, after the suns set in A New Hope, Luke
begins his journey to becoming a Jedi.
-There is a huge change in Anakin from
Attack of the Clones to Revenge of the Sith. He moves
from whiny teen to tragic knight. I give credit to Hayden for the
change in performance between films. You see it at the outset, but
especially when he and Obi-wan are on Grievous' ship. (Rick O.:
feel free to fire back on this one)
-All of Luke faults are much more
pronounced and frustrating after watching mirrored first in Anakin.
-I used to think of Yoda as incredibly
wise. But looking at all of the films together, he his foolish in
two important ways. First, he does not believe that personal
connections are good. His advice to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith
to let go of the love he has for others only drives Anakin further
away. (This is ironic, because Yoda doesn't do this himself when he
chooses to save Anakin and Obi-wan rather than kill Count Dooku).
Second, he does not believe in redemption. He tells Obi-wan and Luke
that they have to kill Vader. Any chance Padme had to save Anakin
was lost when Obi-wan showed up to kill him But it is Luke who is
wiser when he realizes that his love for his friends and his belief
in his father's goodness save the day.
-I prefer the special editions of the
original trilogy except for Return of the Jedi
-Padme's love for Anakin pulls him away
from his duty while Leia's love for Han calls him to a higher duty.
-I've decided I like Revenge of the
Sith more than A New Hope. Episode III has a lot of story
and action and resolves the slow build up of Episodes I and II.
Watching all of them together makes Episode IV drag a bit, especially
in the beginning.
-Luke asking about his mother was very
touching after watching Padme die in Revenge of the Sith
(although I still think she should have died of something else. More
on this in a future post)
-Palpatine, Anakin, and Obi-wan have
subjective moralities (goodness and truth are simply a
point-of-view). Padme and Luke don't buy it, which is why he can see
the truth about the goodness found in Anakin.
-Still thrill at that Yoda/Dooku fight.
-Still wince when Padme jumps on the
Reek
-Opening to Revenge of the Sith
is the best space battle of the series
-Jango is much cooler than Boba
-I don't care what anyone says, Luke
becomes a much bigger bad-ass than Han. On Jabba's sailbarge, Luke
almost single-handedly kills almost everybody!
...that's all I got for now. Feel free
to let me know what you think or where I'm crazy
Here's an interesting topic. I had heard a suggestion from another site that the best way to experience the entire sextology for the very first time is to watch it in the following order: 4,5,1,2,3,6
ReplyDeleteI can actually kind of see his point...what do you think?
That would be very interesting. It leaves the end of the entire saga as a cliff hanger while you go back and experience Vader's fall. I think I'll make that my suggested order for anyone who hasn't seen the movies (and I cannot believe how many are out there).
ReplyDelete