A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 6

[matril]

The speeder chase scene offers some intriguing imagery to compare and contrast Master and Padawan. Both of them jump rather abruptly into the dizzying depths of Coruscant, using their uncanny Jedi instincts to aim for a particular target, but consider how they are framed. When Obi-Wan loses his grip on the assassin droid, the viewpoint of his fall sets him as above us.



Meanwhile, when Anakin leaps after Zam's speeder, prompting the delightful I hate it when he does that from Obi-Wan, we get shot of him far below, falling and falling farther. Not only does it create a stronger sense of Anakin being beneath his Master, it also foreshadows the metaphorical descent to the Dark Side.



It helps that the cityscape they're navigating evokes a sort of neo-noir, futuristic version of sleaze and excess, providing an apt visual for the corruption that will engulf Anakin. Prior to this we've only witnessed the top levels of Coruscant, the shiny surface of Senatorial life and the Jedi's pristine tower. In Episode II, we get a look at the underbelly, and it is not pretty.

Next time, editing plays a trick on our expectations....

Comments

[krpalmer]

I remember seeing comments some people had discussed "scenes of falling" in Attack of the Clones, but not the actual discussions themselves, which does make this interesting. Contrasting Obi-Wan's and Anakin's falls and mentioning how Anakin's foreshadows a much bigger one to come had me thinking how the first had been involuntary while the second was deliberate, but I do wonder if that's "too obvious," somehow...

[matril]

Definitely there are some interesting similarities and differences in Anakin and Obi-Wan's jumps. Obi-Wan leaps out a window, but he's aiming for something right in front of him and only falls when Zam shoots him. Anakin's jump straight into the void contains much more showing off, as it were.