Star Words: Episode II, Part 12

[matril]

One of the best storytelling techniques that Lucas puts to use in Episode II is the use of visual contrasts. Thanks to the dual storylines, we hop between scenes of idyllic lake country with waterfalls and meadows and the lush, green vibrancy of nature; and the stark, white, purely technological landscape of the cloning facilities on Kamino. One place marks the unnatural birthing grounds of the Empire's soldiers; the other marks the origins of the romance that will result in the birth of Luke and Leia, the new hope that ultimately destroys that Empire. There are so many layers and implications, and it's all conveyed through landscape and mood. Dialogue almost becomes extraneous.

On the other hand, I could easily quote every line that comes out of the Kaminoans' mouths. What a marvelously eerie, unsettling creation they are. Graceful, courteous, soft-spoken... while they calmly discuss one of the creepiest things you could imagine. They produce human lives as methodically as a droid factory produces droids. They speak of growth acceleration and compliance through genetic manipulation with a chilling matter-of-factness. Obi-Wan, ever the skilled improviser, pretends none of this is new or shocking to him, strolling along as if he really did come for the purpose of inspecting the clones. You can see how unsettled he is beneath the surface, though it may arise more from the mystery of who ordered the army rather than any ethical concerns about compelling life forms into unquestioning military service. (The Jedi, after all, raise and train their numbers from birth as well. But that's another thread of thought.)

It's when Obi-Wan asks about the original host that we get our first mention of Jango Fett by name, and a description of the additional price he demanded along with ample pay -- an unaltered clone of his own. The Prime Minister's commentary on this is brief but very revealing.

"Curious, isn't it?"

Talk about irony. That's what you find strange? You grow babies in tubes and train them to become little more than killing machines, but it's Jango's request that has you saying "Curious"?

For most life forms, there is nothing more natural than wanting a child. I suppose not everyone has the parental urge, but at least everyone is aware of it. And yet Lama Su seems honestly baffled. Does he consider clones so different from typical life forms that he can't even understand how Boba would be a son to Jango? It makes you wonder how the Kaminoans feel about their own children. As for Jango, he might have just become a little more sympathetic even after proving himself a cold-blooded killer on Coruscant. There is something instantly humanizing about a character wanting to care for and nurture a child. But we'll look more closely at Jango in a later scene.

Next, an intriguing (and flirtatious) discussion of politics...

Comments

[krpalmer]

I'll admit I'd got to thinking the "curious" thing had to do with Jango raising a clone of himself as opposed to the more traditional forms of human reproduction (which I'd also supposed the Kaminoans knew about). There are other ways to have a child that don't involve having to interact with anyone else very much, so it is sort of tempting to suppose this has something to do with Jango not settling for anything but pure, unadulterated himself... And yet once I've said all that, I fully acknowledge Jango seems a generally good father to Boba in his own bounty hunter way, save perhaps for his final show of overconfidence. After one time I went to Attack of the Clones at the movies with my brother and some of his friends, I did raise the question of comparing and contrasting Jango and Shmi as single parents.

[matril]

Good point. It's just as likely that Lama Su is bemused by Jango's unconventional methods of becoming a father as anything else. He's obviously not meant to be seen as the ideal parent by any stretch. Even if Boba hadn't witnessed his decapitation, he was already on track to be rather nasty adult thanks to Jango's influence. And I, too, have always been intrigued by the comparison/contrast of Jango and Shmi.