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A Thousand Stars: Episode IV, Part 27
Someday Thursday came and went without a post, but here we are just a day late.
This is a bit ironic coming from someone who obsessively analyzes these movies, but I believe that Star Wars offers up continual reminders not to take anything too seriously. That's part of why I love it. Great Big Important Cinema that serves up Deep Themes and Serious Messages -- that's okay in small doses, I guess, but if I'm going to return to a movie over and over again, it's got to have FUN amid all the meaningful stuff.
So we have Han charging blaster-first into a room full of stormtroopers -- and just as quickly running away when he realizes he's in way over his head. We hear the frantic command "Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors!" hastily switched to "Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!" as Han just barely escapes through the closing door. And we have a swooping, over-the-top moment with Luke and Leia worthy of any classic Errol Flynn movie: swinging over a chasm to safety.
Is it realistic? Nah. Is it integral to the plot or deeper themes? Eh, not really. Is it delightful? Absolutely. It's a nod to the over-the-top heroics of the aforementioned Flynn movies and of the old serials, and of fairy tales and of every kind of wildly fantastic, imaginative story that humans have told from time immemorial. We love this stuff. It's fun, plain and simple.
Next, old friends...
This is a bit ironic coming from someone who obsessively analyzes these movies, but I believe that Star Wars offers up continual reminders not to take anything too seriously. That's part of why I love it. Great Big Important Cinema that serves up Deep Themes and Serious Messages -- that's okay in small doses, I guess, but if I'm going to return to a movie over and over again, it's got to have FUN amid all the meaningful stuff.
So we have Han charging blaster-first into a room full of stormtroopers -- and just as quickly running away when he realizes he's in way over his head. We hear the frantic command "Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors!" hastily switched to "Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!" as Han just barely escapes through the closing door. And we have a swooping, over-the-top moment with Luke and Leia worthy of any classic Errol Flynn movie: swinging over a chasm to safety.
Is it realistic? Nah. Is it integral to the plot or deeper themes? Eh, not really. Is it delightful? Absolutely. It's a nod to the over-the-top heroics of the aforementioned Flynn movies and of the old serials, and of fairy tales and of every kind of wildly fantastic, imaginative story that humans have told from time immemorial. We love this stuff. It's fun, plain and simple.
Next, old friends...