A couple weeks ago, in a galaxy far, far away: More rambling

As I did three years ago in the middle of the first week of December, it's time for a meandering and completely unnecessary post touching on George Lucas' most popular works that succeeds in being not being geeky enough for the geeks and dull for everyone else. Ah, tradition.

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A couple weeks ago, while flipping through channels—by which I mean: scrolling through the guide for the satellite-based TV system; there's no more simply going from one channel to the next without knowing what I'm going to find when I get there, but I retain that "flipping" expression as a pleasant anachronism—I came across a program on the History International channel called Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, wherein scholars discussed the philosophical themes of the Star Wars saga. Footage of experts on areas such as mythology was interspersed with actual scenes from the movies (so clearly it was sanctioned by Lucasfilm). Why wouldn't it be? What filmmaker would not want his work analyzed in such a context, to be compared to classic works going back thousands of years? One could almost feel George Lucas plugging in the elements while reading Joseph Campbell to create the structure for his mythos, so nothing would be more apropos.

It's not that there is no foundation for such analysis of the story of how Anakin Skywalker turned to evil; certainly that has some similarities to the story of Lucifer's fall from grace, and his desire for power making him be willing to adopt the Dark Side is not unlike a Faustian deal (both points made by those interviewed for the program). The transformation of the Republic in to an oppressive empire seems obviously based on the rise of the Nazis in Germany (another point made in the program). Heck, it's a History Channel show, so there's almost an implicit requirement that either Hitler or the Civil War be mentioned.

One might question whether Lucas' work warrants this level of scholarship is not worth disputing; the mythological pieces are definitely there to be found, and I suspect intentionally so. Star Wars is contemporary mythology in its structure.

However, even in the bit I watched (and I recall seeing it previously, as originally it aired a couple years ago) I found myself having the following reaction during the portions where the scholarly talking heads were discussing Anakin in the same breath as classic works like Paradise Lost and then a scene from the film where Hayden Christensen acts with the skill level of a junior high production: If only the execution of the overall saga had lived up to that mythic structure.

It's not that the themes aren't there to be mined, and in A New Hope (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) the movies turned out pretty well. However, the story in those was all about Darth Vader, galactic badass, not whiny Anakin Skywalker; there was no melodramatic overacting to be done from behind the mask.

On the subject of Anakin being whiny, this was addressed by perhaps the best quote in the entire special. Clerks director Kevin Smith was interviewed and noted that there was no incongruity between how Anakin was and how Darth Vader was; the petulant youth is precisely who would grow up to be the merciless tyrant, he posited, and although it's complete pop psychology I must admit I think it trenchantly accurate. (Would Hitler have been so inspired to seek power had his ego been assuaged by his attempts at being an artist?)

For those who were paying attention, you'll notice I only mentioned two of the six films as having been done well—and probably not coincidentally they were the first two made. That's not suggesting that the other four were crap by any means, or that New Hope and Empire were without their flaws. However, I'm not here to go off on the tangent of specifics about how well or poorly the others were done; that's not the point. My lingering perception was merely that only the first two made struck me as living up to the quality level of storytelling that is associated with the works to which the saga was being compared in this special.

But here's the thing: Even though I am critical of 2/3 of the films in the overall saga (most specifically the ones that are identified as Episodes I – III), I'll still stop and watch at least part of them if I come across them on TV. They provide a modicum of entertainment (which may be based more on the potential that the two good ones established for the saga than on their content), even knowing precisely how the story turns out.

And not only will I stop and watch those movies but I'll stop and watch a special that touches on the philosophical themes in the movies… even though I've seen that before.

So clearly Lucas did something right, and maybe the credit balance built up by 1981 was enough to coast along from then on out. Or maybe the focus changed from storytelling to special effects and sound mixing. The look of the CGI and the THX sound in Episodes I – III are pretty phenomenal, even if the performances from the live actors leaves something to be desired. Maybe that's good enough.

Of course, I can't help but wonder that if the series had started with Episode I, and been the same story-wise, whether there would some 30 years later be made a special on the History Channel about it.