A Thousand Stars: Episode V, Part 23
Oct. 30th, 2025 12:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilTill now, the only Jedi training we've seen is a brief session with Obi-Wan teaching Luke with a lightsaber, a floaty ball remote, and a helmet. What does it look like for Yoda? An intense physical routine, to start with. Not only is Luke expected to run through the swamp, swinging on vines and executing flips through the air, but he's carrying the Jedi Master on his back the entire time. How does this bodily exercise provide a spiritual training? It's not that unusual if you look at various religious traditions which require some process of exerting the body in order to achieve higher awareness.
All the while, however, Yoda is teaching Luke vital doctrine as well. The difference between the Dark Side and the good, the crucial importance of being mindful of one's emotions and the weaknesses that can lead to darkness. Yoda emphasizes a certain stillness of mind even while the body is in constant motion. You will only have discernment, he tells Luke, when you are calm, at peace. Luke is trying his best to achieve this state, but it's so counter to what he's used to. He's always been energetic, impulsive, eager to act and move forward, impatient with waiting. While those inclinations aren't evil of themselves, they can be twisted into temptation.
His first test occurs when he senses something unsettling nearby. (Note how his face is half shadow, half light.) Yoda explains it is a place of the Dark Side, and Luke must go there. Curiously, when Luke asks what it holds, the Jedi Master replies Only what you take with you. This is a journey of the mind, not the body. Yet even when Yoda tells Luke he won't need his weapons, he misses the warning and takes them anyway. He practically scoffs at the notion of danger that can't be fought through physical means.
We're given multiple visual clues that this isn't a place of grounded reality. A descent into the underrealm, a cave of mist and shadows. Then most tellingly, the action shifts into slow motion, I believe the only instance in the entire saga. This is a personal preference of mine, I admit, but I have very little patience for frequent use of slo-mo. It's heavy-handed, unsubtle and practically ubiquitous in most action-oriented movies nowadays. In contrast, when it shows up so rarely as in these films, you can be sure there's a very deliberate reason for it.
This is a dream. Whether it's all in Luke's head or some outward manifestation that the cave creates, I don't know and I don't really worry about it. The metaphor is the meaning. The important thing is that when Darth Vader himself shows up, we quickly realize it's not real. The Imperial March that has played at his every appearance in the film is now decidedly absent. Everything feels odd, like it's being viewed through water or a blurry mirror. The clashing lightsabers seems more like a dance than a battle. Then, if anyone is left doubting, Luke beheads the Sith Lord. No one would expect such a towering villain to be taken down so quickly and easily.
And of course he wasn't. Instead, a baffled Luke watches as the helmet bursts apart to reveal a chillingly familiar face. The symbolism of this image is perfect because it works on multiple levels. Luke is in danger of becoming the very monster he despises. Lashing out with violence destroys himself just as much as his enemy. And then there is the foreshadowing of his secret parentage.
It changes the stakes dramatically. Didn't we want Luke to kill Vader? Isn't that how we get a happy ending? Now we have to wonder if it's possible to vanquish evil without becoming evil yourself. Luke is no longer facing just a straightforward battle against the bad buy. He must battle with his own inner darkness as well.
Next, a bit of scum and villainy...
All the while, however, Yoda is teaching Luke vital doctrine as well. The difference between the Dark Side and the good, the crucial importance of being mindful of one's emotions and the weaknesses that can lead to darkness. Yoda emphasizes a certain stillness of mind even while the body is in constant motion. You will only have discernment, he tells Luke, when you are calm, at peace. Luke is trying his best to achieve this state, but it's so counter to what he's used to. He's always been energetic, impulsive, eager to act and move forward, impatient with waiting. While those inclinations aren't evil of themselves, they can be twisted into temptation.
His first test occurs when he senses something unsettling nearby. (Note how his face is half shadow, half light.) Yoda explains it is a place of the Dark Side, and Luke must go there. Curiously, when Luke asks what it holds, the Jedi Master replies Only what you take with you. This is a journey of the mind, not the body. Yet even when Yoda tells Luke he won't need his weapons, he misses the warning and takes them anyway. He practically scoffs at the notion of danger that can't be fought through physical means.
We're given multiple visual clues that this isn't a place of grounded reality. A descent into the underrealm, a cave of mist and shadows. Then most tellingly, the action shifts into slow motion, I believe the only instance in the entire saga. This is a personal preference of mine, I admit, but I have very little patience for frequent use of slo-mo. It's heavy-handed, unsubtle and practically ubiquitous in most action-oriented movies nowadays. In contrast, when it shows up so rarely as in these films, you can be sure there's a very deliberate reason for it.
This is a dream. Whether it's all in Luke's head or some outward manifestation that the cave creates, I don't know and I don't really worry about it. The metaphor is the meaning. The important thing is that when Darth Vader himself shows up, we quickly realize it's not real. The Imperial March that has played at his every appearance in the film is now decidedly absent. Everything feels odd, like it's being viewed through water or a blurry mirror. The clashing lightsabers seems more like a dance than a battle. Then, if anyone is left doubting, Luke beheads the Sith Lord. No one would expect such a towering villain to be taken down so quickly and easily.
And of course he wasn't. Instead, a baffled Luke watches as the helmet bursts apart to reveal a chillingly familiar face. The symbolism of this image is perfect because it works on multiple levels. Luke is in danger of becoming the very monster he despises. Lashing out with violence destroys himself just as much as his enemy. And then there is the foreshadowing of his secret parentage.
It changes the stakes dramatically. Didn't we want Luke to kill Vader? Isn't that how we get a happy ending? Now we have to wonder if it's possible to vanquish evil without becoming evil yourself. Luke is no longer facing just a straightforward battle against the bad buy. He must battle with his own inner darkness as well.
Next, a bit of scum and villainy...
