I have to admit (again) to looking forward to this post, due to a bit of teeth-grinding in the past week over some bog-standard anti-prequel complaints run into unexpected (including a specific jab at one of the Revenge of the Sith lines leading into this very line). Anyway, I shouldn't complain too much myself about the hostile viewpoints of others.
This might be a little tangential to "having to retcon," but not that long ago I came across a (scanned) copy of a science fiction/fact magazine from the people who published "Starlog" from 1978, with a news item about "Star Wars II" that said there'd either be "a young, handsome Darth turning rogue Jedi, killing Luke Skywalker's father and being pushed into a pool of molten lava by avenging angel Ben Kenobi," or "Darth as being, in reality, Luke Skywalker's father"... I suppose "shocking revelations" didn't spread quite so far and fast back then. In some ways, revealing "the wise old mentor" to be not quite as honest as first expected seems more interesting to me than "setting him from the beginning to avoid having to explain something away later."
Your take on the later scene is a good one to consider, although I'm stuck imagining accusations that "things have to work on the most basic inside-the-story level before we'll permit deeper interpretations." Still, there'll be another chance to discuss that later.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-05 01:30 am (UTC)This might be a little tangential to "having to retcon," but not that long ago I came across a (scanned) copy of a science fiction/fact magazine from the people who published "Starlog" from 1978, with a news item about "Star Wars II" that said there'd either be "a young, handsome Darth turning rogue Jedi, killing Luke Skywalker's father and being pushed into a pool of molten lava by avenging angel Ben Kenobi," or "Darth as being, in reality, Luke Skywalker's father"... I suppose "shocking revelations" didn't spread quite so far and fast back then. In some ways, revealing "the wise old mentor" to be not quite as honest as first expected seems more interesting to me than "setting him from the beginning to avoid having to explain something away later."
Your take on the later scene is a good one to consider, although I'm stuck imagining accusations that "things have to work on the most basic inside-the-story level before we'll permit deeper interpretations." Still, there'll be another chance to discuss that later.