“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to watch the Clone Wars TV series until I’ve seen the Clone Wars movie. I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended.” Dr. Sheldon Cooper
So while I was home sick yesterday, I decided to watch Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I, like many Star Wars fans, own all six movies on DVD even though we find the three prequels to be terribly disappointing (if not downright offensive) in their portrayal of the Star Wars mythos. I will still sit down and watch these movies and each time I still have this vague hope of being transported and immersed in the worlds that enmeshed me as a youngster. And each time I come up short.
There are definitely aspects of the prequels that Lucas got right. I have to admit that the films look amazing. The advances in technology since the initial trilogy make it far easier to create imaginative worlds that look realistic. And the worlds of Naboo and Coruscant definitely look real (though the battle scene between the Gungans and the droid army look like they’re taking place on the original Windows XP wallpaper—the hills are too green and the sky is too blue). The CGI characters aren’t as realistically rendered as the scenery and technology, but this was in some of the early days of the technology.
The story itself—the general plotline and arc of action—is also rather good. If you looked at a one or two page summary of the film, you couldn’t be blamed for getting excited. However, the devil is in the details and it really falls apart there.
Let me look at some glaring problems.
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Okay, I’ll admit it’s almost a cliché to mention the flaws inherent in the character of Jar Jar. When the film came out he was roundly criticized. But it was for good reason. He doesn’t fit. The original movies had plenty of humor (R2 and C3P0 have often been compared to the likes of Laurel and Hardy or Abbot and Costello), but none of it was so broad and drew so much attention to itself. The problem with Jar Jar’s humor is that it seems like Lucas is trying too hard and being too obvious. What this does is take us out of the mythos that has been carefully constructed by making us aware of the process of creation. That is Jar Jar’s great sin, in my opinion. There are plenty of other problems with him (obviously the Stepin Fetchit racial stereotype is one of them), but the biggest is that his character destroys ‘reality’ of the world that Lucas has painstakingly constructed.
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It’s important to note that there were lots of heavy expectations about how this character could be portrayed. After all, we’re talking about Darth Vader as a child. Everybody watching knows that he is going to be the one of the biggest bad guys in all of film. So we know where’s he’s headed. The trick is to make his story interesting—to see the genesis of the monster and perhaps build some sympathy for him. But how do you do that when the kid playing the role is so damned flat as an actor?! There is nothing here that hints at Vader. Not that he needs to go around torturing Jawas or anything. But his affect is so blank that I don’t feel anything for him—good or bad. And that’s not good as we’re being introduced to an iconic villain.
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Really?!?! Microscopic organisms? At the heart of The Force? This is just so dumb and wrong that I don’t know how they let it happen. What makes The Force work in the mythos is the idea that it is supernatural and mystical. This gives the Jedi an aura of power and wisdom that connects them to mythical icons like King Arthur’s Knights of The Round Table, the Templars or even Ninjas. The mystical aspect gives their power something that takes them beyond normal humans. It elevates them to a new status and makes their story an epic one. Making the source of their power some sort of bacterial infection (or anything with a simple scientific material basis) obliterates the mythology. We can almost imagine a whole cottage industry of snake oil salesmen now combing the galaxy offering herbal treatments to “boost your midi-cholorian count so you too can feel like a Jedi!” Epic fail, George. Epic!
Perhaps at some point I can enumerate some of the other good parts of these movies (like the fact that Darth Maul is a complete badass!). But the disappointments above strike so much at the core of what these movies could be that they compromise even the wonderful parts of them. Which is a real shame.
I’ve been watching The Clone Wars series recently and it’s been reigniting some of my old Star Wars fandom. There is so much richness to the world(s) that Lucas created and so many people who are creating great works within this mythos. And for that I am glad.
One Response to “The Force Is Strong With This One”
Kids today – at least mine – much prefer the new trilogy to the original one. I haven’t figured out exactly why, but I think a lot of it has to do with more Jedis and the addition of the clone troopers (which Lucas brilliantly tied into his new animated show). For those of us who grew up with the original trilogy, there was no way the new films could meet our expectations. Same with the new Indiana Jones film – but with that, I’d learned my lesson. I took it for what it was. When I watch the new SW trilogy films now, I just try to enjoy them, and not compare them to the original films, because you can’t. There are many things about them that disappoint, but many good things, too.
I had no intention of watching the Clone Wars animated series, but I DVR’d it for my kids. After a few episodes last year, I realized it was actually pretty good. Again, taking it for what it was. There’s a lot of potential with the series, and a lot that can be done since it’s animated (let’s not get into the fact that much of the new trilogy was “animated”). But at least they’re doing it right. We’ll see if they can do the same for the new live action series.