As a kid I was a little too spellbound by the brand to get the willies from Ewoks, although now I see the line from teddy-bear to Jar-Jar. The real issue I have with the latest episodes is that the plausible tension created by a boy genius, raised by a society of geniuses, to have been turned to “the dark-side” was a task for much better script writers then Lucas.
We are all aware of the common bond forged between soldiers who have fought and killed together. We are well aware of the tight bonds between apprentices and their masters. We should assume that the thought tools being passed from Jedi to Paduan would be as sophisticated as those we gleam within the Bene Gesserit society. All things considered I didn’t buy Anakin’s disloyalty to the Jedi. As a follow up to the comparison between the created universes of two men even more stark, think of CHOAM in the Dune series as compared to the trading guild in the Star Wars universe. Think of the levels in political intrigue between the Imperial line of the Padisha Emperor as opposed to Emperor Palpatine’s machinations. Someone, please compare and contrast midichlorins to the Spice.
Anikin ends as he began, a whiny kid with an angry squint in his eyes. It took that character some 13 years or so to get from point A to point A. Even a parrot changes more then that in 13 years. Its not much of a surprise seeing as Lucas’ character development ability hasn’t grown in 30 odd years. Take all the shallowness of Lucas’ political ideology (assuming that his films reflect his actual thinking) one wonders why people forgive him the shallowness of his character and plot creation. The fact is that Lucas lowered the bar with the first two episodes so low that fans were practically raving over the darkness of the third episode (it occurs to me now that the term episode is perfect, as in “My bi-polar brother is in the middle of one of his episodes”). Its enough to set a man on fire and have him scream with pubescently broken voice, “I hate you Obi-Wan, I hate you”.
Sean Sarto, You introduce cynicism of such depth that it seems you are almost defending Lucas and his drivel. Of course we were drawn in by a simple story and special effects, Lights and Magic, as you will. I understand that some people want to pass Star Wars on as the new American Myth with societal and personal lessons embedded in the script. I don’t expect every film to be meaningful and poetic but if I’m paying to be entertained then I don’t think I can forgive the director for breaking the spell, again and again, in an effort to get kids to buy merchandise. Lets be honest, my $7-$9 bucks ain’t exactly Manhattan.
Dune is an example of a novel which is what the Star Wars films could have been and even the Lynch film wasn’t too bad. Would I take my kid to watch Sting get a knife wedged into his brain, no. But, one day my boy might read Herbert’s book and get a sense of what dynastic politics are all about. In Star Wars, not so much.
