(no subject)

[matril]

It's been half an age since I've been here, but it matters little, since no one reads this. For all the imaginary readers, here's an update: I gave birth on April 26 to a baby girl, Emma. She is a wonder! She delights me as much as Luke, and the two of them together are my greatest joy. My husband and I are so glad to have such blessings in our lives.

And, being the fannish freaks that we are, we took the both of them, a newborn and a 2-year-old, to the premiere of Episode III, the midnight showing, all of us in costume. Crazy? Absolutely? But it's our last chance to do something so geekish for a STAR WARS movie. (weeping) It's all over! I don't know how I'll stand it! And yet, being as brilliantly completed as it is now, I don't want to see EUish garbage trying to "expand" (i.e. stretch painfully thin) what doesn't need expanding. So I'm kind of painfully content.

Obviously, I loved the movie. (We're seeing it again today, though we'll have our son baby-sat this time - he just can't sit still that long, though he definitely has developed (inherited?) a love for SW). A few things made me raise my eyebrows - Padmé's death felt out of character considering her strength beforehand, and how did Leia remember her? - but those things are far outnumbered by the excellence of the portrayal of Anakin's fall, of the Emperor's horrific skill in bringing about all his plans, in so many things being neatly tied up, right down to the droid's new owner and Threepio's memory wipe. So many parallels - Padmé pleads with Anakin just as Luke does, and he offers her co-rulership of the galaxy just as he offers Luke - everything Palpatine says echoes (or is echoed by?) lines from ROTJ - and so much more. I must see it again; there's too much detail to take the first time through. And I admit I didn't cry as much as I thought I would - I was more numb than grief-stricken, more open-mouthed than teary-eyed. Afterwards, though, I watched select scenes from the original trilogy, those regarding Vader, Luke, and Obi-Wan, and by the time Anakin reemerges to rescue his son and is unmasked, well, then I was bawling. It felt right, cathartic or whatever. When I talk to people about the movie and they seem surprised when I say it was hard to watch, I'm confused at first - how could they think the fall of everything good, the rise of evil, could be anything but brutal to watch? - but then I realize just how emotionally involved I get with things, much more than most people. And I'm glad I do - I can't abide complacency. Thank the Maker for my husband, who feels precisely the same - we talk about SW in all seriousness where most people I talk to eventually say, "Well, it's just a movie, after all." Yes, but...it's art, and art is a window into the human spirit.

My time on the library computer is running out, so I'll just say - one of my favorite lines, one that does get me teary-eyed, is Obi-Wan's - "You were my brother. I loved you." While Ani writhes in disfigured agony - oh, Ani! Need tissues, please.

Comments

[owl]

Congratulations on little Emma!

I don't buy Padmé's death either. Seems OOC. Broken heart, huh. Have you seen fernwithy's theory that she's just using her decoy ploy again?

[matril.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it's believable...though there is something very poetic and symmetrical about Padmé dying while Vader is born - those two scenes are intercut very nicely. I think she kind of needed to die, but there had to be a more believable way of doing it. I don't know. I'm so pleased with the movie over all I feel like I can almost tolerate the weirdness of Padmé's death. But it's fun to think she could have survived without really disturbing actual movie canon.

[sreya.livejournal.com]

I was definitely squirming all through the movie, although everytime I was on the verge of tears, or stopped breathing, my mother ruined the effect by leaning over and whispering "It's just a movie!" Gah! Let me get sucked into the story, woman!