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Star Words: Episode IV, Part 1
Mar. 21st, 2019 02:00 pmAnd so we begin the original trilogy portion of this series!
Let's imagine ourselves in a movie theater back in 1977. Some of you were actually there. (I was four years away from being born, but I like to picture it.) Instead of the usual main credits, we're presented with a few evocative words. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
And then STAR WARS bursts onto the screen. There follows a opening crawl like the old-time serials, describing a civil war between an evil empire and a group of rebels. We have mention of a princess, a Death Star, stolen plans, and sinister enemy agents. Other than that, we are dropped straight into the action and left to figure things out on our own.
So, after some jaw-dropping effects of a giant starship attacking a scrappy little craft, our first dialogue exchange involves....a golden metal man and a domed box that squeaks and chirps an electronic language. The next exchange after theirs is between a towering, ominous masked figure and the man he is questioning by way of strangling. What I'm trying to point out is that this movie is weird, okay? From the very start it tells you that we are watching something completely new, unfamiliar and bizarre. Yet somehow, rather than being incomprehensible, it is weirdly accessible, immersive in a way that trusts the audience to figure out what is going on.
As an example, let's look at one of the earliest lines of dialogue.
"We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who knows what!"
What the heck is Kessel? What kind of spice do they mine there? It doesn't matter. The movie doesn't provide an explanation, nor does it need to. It's masterful worldbuilding, dialogue that lifts a curtain onto a glimpse of the wider galaxy, then drops it again. No unnecessary, turgid passages of info-dumping. The important thing is that we're in a place where mechanical men have taken on the role of the lowliest caste, and they live (mechanically exist?) in fear of harsh punishments by their masters. Somewhere there's a planet or colony called Kessel. Later we'll learned of places like Tatooine, Alderaan, Yavin IV -- harsh deserts with moisture farms, peaceful havens vulnerable to tyrannical attacks, and hidden jungle bases where rebels plot to overthrow empires. The galaxy is a vast, wide space where anything could happen. All of that we can intuit from Threepio's brief, frantic speculation.
We're in for a wild ride. I can't wait.
Next time, an exchange of insults...
Let's imagine ourselves in a movie theater back in 1977. Some of you were actually there. (I was four years away from being born, but I like to picture it.) Instead of the usual main credits, we're presented with a few evocative words. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
And then STAR WARS bursts onto the screen. There follows a opening crawl like the old-time serials, describing a civil war between an evil empire and a group of rebels. We have mention of a princess, a Death Star, stolen plans, and sinister enemy agents. Other than that, we are dropped straight into the action and left to figure things out on our own.
So, after some jaw-dropping effects of a giant starship attacking a scrappy little craft, our first dialogue exchange involves....a golden metal man and a domed box that squeaks and chirps an electronic language. The next exchange after theirs is between a towering, ominous masked figure and the man he is questioning by way of strangling. What I'm trying to point out is that this movie is weird, okay? From the very start it tells you that we are watching something completely new, unfamiliar and bizarre. Yet somehow, rather than being incomprehensible, it is weirdly accessible, immersive in a way that trusts the audience to figure out what is going on.
As an example, let's look at one of the earliest lines of dialogue.
"We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who knows what!"
What the heck is Kessel? What kind of spice do they mine there? It doesn't matter. The movie doesn't provide an explanation, nor does it need to. It's masterful worldbuilding, dialogue that lifts a curtain onto a glimpse of the wider galaxy, then drops it again. No unnecessary, turgid passages of info-dumping. The important thing is that we're in a place where mechanical men have taken on the role of the lowliest caste, and they live (mechanically exist?) in fear of harsh punishments by their masters. Somewhere there's a planet or colony called Kessel. Later we'll learned of places like Tatooine, Alderaan, Yavin IV -- harsh deserts with moisture farms, peaceful havens vulnerable to tyrannical attacks, and hidden jungle bases where rebels plot to overthrow empires. The galaxy is a vast, wide space where anything could happen. All of that we can intuit from Threepio's brief, frantic speculation.
We're in for a wild ride. I can't wait.
Next time, an exchange of insults...
