Although Luke Skywalker is, arguably, the main character of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, he is also one of the characters that receives the most flack. From the moment Mark Hamill mentioned power converters and Tosche Station, Luke Skywalker seemed doomed … Continue reading Misperceiving Luke: is it whining or is it character-development?
The characters in the Star Wars Saga hardly ever show their bodies, mostly they keep them hidden under cloth and garment or armour. But when they are exposed it is never just for ‘showing off’ or to appeal to the … Continue reading The Bodies of Star Wars
A discussion that rages through the fan community since the early days after the premiere of The Phantom Menace is that about the use of practical vs. cgi effects. Often these are discussions about whether one has been used too much in the prequels or the other too little before they descent into counting ‘numbers of practical vs cgi effects. Or they are arguments about why practical effects are ‘real’ and cgi is ‘fake’. In all practicality of course this distinction is not as straightforward as it seems and as a result the discussion are often riddled with inconsistent argumentation and barely disguised ‘taste’ being represented as ‘fact’. So I want to look at a slightly different question! Practical vs CGI: what does that even mean? Continue reading “Practical and CGI … what does that even mean?”
Like many of the other Corridor Chat posts, this one could be considered to contain spoilers and therefore I suggest that everyone who does not want to be spoiled reads one of our other posts! Today the sixth installment of … Continue reading Corridor Chat: ‘Star Wars’ Comic Introduces Major Twist (Spoiler Alert)
In today’s Scene it? I am looking at a very contested story-line within The Return of the Jedi. Although I will be discussing the whole story arc, I will be focusing on the scene that brings it to an end. I am talking about ‘slave Leia’ and especially “the bikini”, which is one of the things that has been incredibly divisive within the Star Wars fandom.
The Phantom Menace is still widely considered to be the most anticipated film in history and only The Force Awakens seems to be a contender of taking that title. The Prequel Trilogy however divided audiences in a manner very different from how the Original Trilogy had. I argued that Original Trilogy had been a defining cultural moment for a new generation due to its strong resonance with the world events as well as the daily lives of young people between ’77 and ’83. For the Prequel Trilogy this is even more true. However by ’99 the world had changed dramatically since ’83 and was on the verge of further dramatic change. This not only shaped the reception of the films, it shaped the divide that ensued.
The WW2 narrative and Star Wars
From the very first instalment of Star Wars in A New Hope there has always been a clear link between its narrative and the history of Twentieth Century Europe. On the one hand there was Lucas’ deliberate use of Leni Riefenstahl‘s cinematography, as exemplified in her Nazi-propaganda film ‘Triumpf des Willens’, in depicting the Imperial menace. The shots of Imperial Shuttles landing in areas with large numbers of perfectly aligned storm troopers conveyed the sense of total control that the Empire sought to exert on its subjects. The mere facts that Imperial Officers were dressed pretty much like Nazi-officers and that Imperial soldiers were called ‘storm troopers’, a word that in the Anglo-Saxon world is almost exclusively connected with the Third Reich, already provided enough reason to consider the connections. But what stood out for me was that my parents, WW2 survivors, immediately recognised the Empire as a reference to the forces of oppression that had created such havoc in their lives and throughout Europe. The 70th anniversary of VE-Day seems an excellent moment to reflect upon this.
The Starwars Rebel Tributes of Season 1 In the fall of 2014 a new element was added to the expanding Starwars universe of stories. After the to early demise of that excellent Starwars: The Clone Wars series the anticipation for … Continue reading Awesome Tribute Videos #3: Starwars Rebels
The Starwars Saga tributes Yes you have read it correctly! After a first post in the Tribute Videos Series about The Clone Wars I now want to look to the Saga as a whole. The Starwars Saga started off with the … Continue reading Awesome Tribute Videos #2: The Saga
With the release of the second The Force Awakens teaser trailer on the 16th of April, Star Wars has once again positioned itself as a major Force to be reckoned with. I myself was swept right along by the excitement and spent the following days in a state of ecstasy while watching the live feed from Star Wars Celebration: Anaheim. In the excitement, however, there were a number of extremely bittersweet moments for me, starting during the opening panel with JJ Abrahms and Kathleen Kennedy. It seems that not a single conversation about Star Wars can occur without subtle, or not so subtle, shade being thrown at the prequel films (The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones, The Revenge of the Sith). And after mulling it over, and over, I have realized I can’t be the only Star Wars-fan who is wondering why and questioning what this will do to the fandom.
Continue reading “The Risk of Ignoring the Prequels”
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