Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Contact
Ace:aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com Recent Entries
Dog Days Cafe
Democrat Criminal Fundraising Organization ActBlue Allowed Foreigners to Donate To Biden and Kamala Throughout the Past Election Cycle Kerry Picket: Sources Say Christopher Wray is Promoting Regime Loyalists in the FBI to Thwart Trump's Efforts to Reform the Criminal Organization IG Report on January 6th Admits That Fed Agents Entered the Capitol, But Denies That the FBI Urged Them to Commit Illegal Acts or Encourage Others to Commit Illegal Acts Fire Them All: The Democrats' Manueverings Have Granted Trump the Power to Fire Anyone He Wants MSNBC Shrieks at Trump's Promise to End Birthright Citizenship The UK Bans Puberty Blockers for Minors Indefinitely, Citing Unacceptable Risks Time's Person of the Year Is Donald Trump... Obviously The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Mid-Morning Art Thread Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Saturday Afternoon Chess Thread 12-21-2019 |
Main
| Saturday Overnight Open Thread (12/21/19) »
December 21, 2019
Saturday Evening Movie Thread 12-21-2019 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison]World Building in Star Wars
Maybe it’ll drive more clicks to the site and Ace will get more ad pennies for more advanced shelving equipment that spins in the right direction. So, racking my brain for a topic about Star Wars, I started thinking about the narrative successes of the first film in the franchise contrasted with the narrative failures of the prequels. There are several big reasons, but one of them is definitely the approach to building the world around the story at play. In short, the world building is details that fill in the edges of the story and screen, igniting the imagination, while in the prequels they come center stage and squeeze out anything that could be called drama. Anyway, let’s dig into it. The Original Trilogy
You could take the Star Wars story and just plop it into any setting because it’s a tale as old as time, to coin a phrase. Around that simple story, though, is a new world. The setting of the film seems to spill over on every side. Yes, we have the Empire and the Rebellion, but we also have hints of the Old Republic, a Senate, the Emperor, an ancient religion called the Jedi (or the Force), and a host of new species that all look different and sound different. There are droids that speak English and those that speak their own clicks and beeps. The key to the opening up of the world is the cantina scene. Up until that point, we’ve mostly seen humans and droids. There were also jawas, little hooded scavengers, but it’s felt almost grounded. And then, the cantina opens up and we see a sampling of the host of new creatures that populate this universe. None of them are explained, and they seem to just be in the middle of their own stories (there’s an Expanded Universe short story collection that details at least one of their lives completely). The lack of explanation and the simple look at what’s out there ignites the imagination. It sets us off in completely different directions of our own making, using these new creatures as starting points. We know we’ve gone from the familiar to the fantastical. The rest of the trilogy follows the same basic model. The Empire Strikes Back actually decreases the visual scope of the film as it goes along, starting as a big battle on a snow planet and ending with two people in a lightsaber duel in a series of rooms. There’s little concern for definitions like who the Emperor was before he was emperor, what the governing philosophy of the Empire is, or even what the mechanics of the mining operation on Bespin are. We’re just carried along with the fantastic sights and sounds, focusing, once again, on the human centric journey at the film’s core. Return of the Jedi ends up taking a step backwards a bit (repeating the Death Star visual, but at least giving it a different, unfinished look) while introducing us to ewoks (there is really only one of those who carry any great worth, and he’s well-known around these parts) and giving us the first good look at Jabba. It’s really our first introduction to the gangster side of the Star Wars universe. It doesn’t talk about how he functions with other gangsters, just showing us as he rests and enjoys what seem like a series of easy days ruined by some pesky wannabe Jedi. The world building was never the point of the story across the original trilogy, it was just the stuff that got painted into the edges, and it ignited imaginations for decades.
It is my estimation that Lucas wanted to make, not just new Star Wars movies, but important Star Wars movies. He had a thematic goal. He wanted to contrast the fall of a republican form of government into tyranny with the fall of a good man into evil. Given that goal, it’s obvious that the setting becomes a lot more important to the story itself than it was in the original trilogy. The Republic needs to fall, not just exist in the background while people have adventures. The problem was that Lucas didn’t really understand how to strike the right balance between storytelling and making the fall of an inefficient republic compelling. In The Phantom Menace the world building gets very tedious very fast. Just mentioning trade routes in the opening crawl is eye roll inducing. Stepping back from the purpose of drama, it feels like a good place for the beginning of an end to a republic (something rather anodyne that gets blown out of proportion), but what follows is even more dull. Lucas felt it was necessary to show, in rather excruciating detail, how the Senate can’t get anything done. That becomes the central focus of the “drama” a big Senate hearing where nothing happens. It’s like reading a Wookipedia article about a boring parliamentary maneuver from another country. You don’t know the people, the stakes, or the result, and you find it hard to care. The second film, purely in terms of world building (the movie is worse), does it better than the first. In Attack of the Clones, Lucas introduces us to new worlds, aliens, and technologies. We don’t get detailed histories of them (like the cloners on Kimino), just a view at their methods. Perhaps it takes a step too far in showing those details (or perhaps the visuals just aren’t that engaging), but it’s a definite step in the right direction. Instead of copying the Wookipedia article, Lucas just read it over and placed the characters there. The characters are still dumb and make curious choices, at best, but at least the world they inhabit feels less stolid. Revenge of the Sith is where things really come together fully. The point is the fall of Anakin and Obi-wan’s powerlessness to stop it (mirrored by the Jedi as a whole being powerless to stop the rise of the Emperor). We get new worlds and new aliens, but they never dominate the screen. We even get the dramatic fall of one system of government into another (done with a parliamentary speech) and it’s contrasted with physical action (Anakin taking over the Jedi Temple). The world is largely built by the point, but the setting does go through rather large changes, and the changes progress in interesting fashions, combined with the fall of an individual.
The Last Jedi does it both well and poorly at the same time. Canto Bight, the casino planet, is a narrative sore thumb that sticks out, and it includes a lot of dialogue explaining why everyone is there. It’s an interesting idea (that weapons manufacturers have their own casino planet to hang out on), but it’s divorced from the rest of the story and just doesn’t fit. On the other hand, the planet of Crait, is great. It’s visually interesting (the thin white layer of salt covering the red ground beneath) with a big old Rebel base lodged into a cliff face, is a great starting point of an idea, but the history of those things aren’t that important to the story right then. So they sit there as drama and action play out in front of it. Why is the base there? What are the red crystals beneath the surface? Why is there this perpetual layer of salt over everything? Nothing gets answered, just like who the aliens were in the cantina never got answered. The Rise of Skywalker does setting and world building better. Freed from trying to replicate A New Hope, JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio were able to set their eyes on creating new things, so we got Kijimi, a planet that Poe Dameron once lived on and scraped a living together. There is talk of his life as a spice smuggler on the planet, and the gang he used to grow up with. It’s another view at the sort of world that Han Solo lived in before he was introduced to the franchise, and again, it just invites the sort of speculation about what things mean and where they came from. My point being that world building can never be the point. When it becomes the point, it can often feel like reading Wikipedia articles. Sure, there’s detail, and it can be exciting to freeze frame things and point stuff out, but ultimately when it becomes the point it distracts from the story itself. I’ve been thinking of this because I’ve read quite a few very positive reviews of The Phantom Menace and they all seem just so excited to get more detail about the Star Wars universe. Across the board, they’re about how they know so much more about the Jedi and the Senate, while the rest of the world watches the movie and sees a boring, meandering mess of narrative without a discernable point. Anyway, to distill this whole thing down: I saw The Rise of Skywalker.
Opening in Theaters: Movies I Saw This Fortnight:
Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com. Follow me on Twitter. I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ. | Recent Comments
Bertram Cabot, Jr.:
"
[i]Where can you hide 3 million children's bodie ..."
Deplorable Minion: "Commenter 217 is right on the marker. ..." NaCly Dog: "Anna Puma Is the airframe too worn out to use f ..." Maj. Healey: "[i] "The correct legal terminology is "Illegal Ali ..." runner: "I can't believe I have to explain this, but demand ..." rhennigantx: "They are fucking the boys. They are fucking the g ..." Planned Parenthood: " Where can you hide 3 million children's bodies? ..." Dr. Claw: "193 'Paging Air Pinochet to the white courtesy ph ..." Anna Puma: "Salty Dawg Did you see that the JRM Mars 'Phili ..." rhennigantx: "Not even 1% of Illegal Aliens have a valid claim t ..." illiniwek: ""The correct legal terminology is "Illegal Alien". ..." NaCly Dog: "Where can you hide 3 million children's bodies? ..." Recent Entries
Dog Days Cafe
Democrat Criminal Fundraising Organization ActBlue Allowed Foreigners to Donate To Biden and Kamala Throughout the Past Election Cycle Kerry Picket: Sources Say Christopher Wray is Promoting Regime Loyalists in the FBI to Thwart Trump's Efforts to Reform the Criminal Organization IG Report on January 6th Admits That Fed Agents Entered the Capitol, But Denies That the FBI Urged Them to Commit Illegal Acts or Encourage Others to Commit Illegal Acts Fire Them All: The Democrats' Manueverings Have Granted Trump the Power to Fire Anyone He Wants MSNBC Shrieks at Trump's Promise to End Birthright Citizenship The UK Bans Puberty Blockers for Minors Indefinitely, Citing Unacceptable Risks Time's Person of the Year Is Donald Trump... Obviously The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Mid-Morning Art Thread Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |