A Thousand Stars: Episode IV, Part 2
Sep. 12th, 2024 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilA truly extraordinary aspect of Star Wars that I didn't fully appreciate until recently is its linear storytelling, as explained in this video. We're never dropped into a scene without some sort of line connecting us to the previous scene. In the case of the original film, the opening crawl establishes the battle straight off, and we don't have to guess who's flying the plucky little ship and who's pursuing in the sinister giant ship. Rebels versus Evil Empire, yup, we get it. This continues as we enter the battle within the Rebel ship. The droids might be strange characters to focus on, but Threepio's worried dialog tells us enough of what's going on. Most of the storytelling continues in visual form.
These are the good guys. We can tell because we see their faces, their determined courage to defend their ship. And these must be the bad guys because their helmets strip away any individual human features, and they attack our heroes relentlessly, without mercy.
Then this sinister figure enters. He doesn't need to say anything. A dark towering form with a mask like a skull. Everything about him speaks of menace, danger and death. Here is a worthy villain for our scrappy Rebel heroes.
Now, the remarkable thing about the saga is how these simple good/evil tropes will eventually be subverted and flipped till we have sympathy for the Dark Lord and pity for the mind-controlled clones who once fought alongside Jedi. But first they must be firmly established as the antagonists.
Next time, a hero's introduction...
These are the good guys. We can tell because we see their faces, their determined courage to defend their ship. And these must be the bad guys because their helmets strip away any individual human features, and they attack our heroes relentlessly, without mercy.
Then this sinister figure enters. He doesn't need to say anything. A dark towering form with a mask like a skull. Everything about him speaks of menace, danger and death. Here is a worthy villain for our scrappy Rebel heroes.
Now, the remarkable thing about the saga is how these simple good/evil tropes will eventually be subverted and flipped till we have sympathy for the Dark Lord and pity for the mind-controlled clones who once fought alongside Jedi. But first they must be firmly established as the antagonists.
Next time, a hero's introduction...
