Buckeyegrad's Official Review of the entire Star Wars saga or Defending Lucas’ Masterpiece:<O:p</O:p
I viewed RotS Saturday afternoon and thought it was brilliant. A few more viewings will be necessary before I make a final judgment, but I would have to put this one as second only to Empire Strikes Back.
As I have argued on other threads, the reason Star Wars has near-universal appeal and such success is its story. (I recommend Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces to everyone who wants to get into the psychology of why). RotS does an excellent job with completing the overall story arc of Star Wars, which is important since it is the story’s primary focal point. This is especially in Star Wars’ primary conflict: predestination vs. free will. As we all know, Anakin is the chosen one to fulfill an ancient prophesy of bringing balance to the force. This is a destiny he cannot escape and which he fulfills in Return of the Jedi. What we see in the prequels, but especially in RotS is that although Anakin is predestined to a certain fate, he has the free will to determine the path in which his fate will be achieved. This is why Anakin's decision to save Palpentine and turn on Mace Windu is the most dramatic scene in the movie, the prequel trilogy, and only second in the entire saga to Vader's opposite choice in Return of the Jedi.
Also wrapped in Anakin’s decision is the primary moral question in the movie and saga: does the end justify the means? In RotS, this question is phrased through Anakin’s question of is embracing the power/knowledge of the Dark Side justified if it is to save Padme and his children’s lives? Anakin’s answer is yes! We learn from the story that the correct answer would have be no. Anakin’s decision ultimately is the cause of Padme’s death, allows for the rise of the Empire, the decline of civilization, the destruction of Alderaan, etc.
The other major theme in Star Wars is the tension between when one is acting out of love for others and love for self, and how the two are easily confused. Here again, the conflict’s focal point is in RotS. Anakin believes he is acting out of love for others when he seeks the knowledge and power of the Dark Side, but in fact he is pursuing the love of self. It is not really for the well-being of Padme and his children that he makes his decision; it is for the selfish reason of not wanting to lose her. It is not until Return of the Jedi that Anakin finally acts for the love of others, specifically Luke. It is at that moment when he sacrifices himself in order to save Luke, thereby fulfilling his destiny and justifying the end through the means.
As for why people are critical of the prequels despite the quality of the story, I believe there are three primary reasons. The first reason is that many of the older viewers remember the old trilogy through the nostalgic lenses of childhood. Now that they have grown-up and their views have matured, they are unable to enjoy the story and special effects because of the poor dialogue and bad acting. The second reason is that Star Wars is not a modern or post-modern story in that its primary focus is something other than character development. Modern and post-modern story telling revolves around the personal development of characters. It explores the psychology of individuals in order to explain their actions. However, Star Wars is told in a mythological style, where character development is non-essential and the events of the plot drive the story. For example, we are not given the psychological reasons Beowulf wishes to kill Grendel, Aeneas seeks to found <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><ST1:place w:st="on">Rome</ST1:place></st1:City>, or Frodo suffers to destroy the Ring. Similarly, the focus of the Star Wars story is not to tell why Anakin chose the Dark Side. It is the event of choosing the Dark Side that is important and what occurs as a consequence. This is why many feel Anakin’s choice to submit to Palpantine appears shallow and too quick. They expect to see a greater exploration of Anakin’s character and motives, but the story is not told in that manner.
The third reason, the so-called inconsistencies, why people are dissatisfied with the prequels can be divided into two sub-categories. The first sub-category consists of those who generally don’t appreciate fantasy/science-fiction. These people are easily dismissed because they expect the story to fit within our own reality. However, a general rule of fiction is that as long as there is a consistent, internal logic within the story then the mismatch to our reality is not a problem. The second group of people who expect everything to fit perfectly within the internal logic of the Star Wars story forget what type of story they are witnessing. Here again, the modern mind requires one thing, but the mythological story does not deliver it. Specifically, moderns expect consistency between every fact of a story. The problem is that mythology is not concerned with facts, but with truths. If you study different mythologies you begin to realize that the facts of the story are secondary to the truths that are being conveyed. Mythologies contradict themselves quite often in facts, but not in truths. Hence, two facts in Star Wars might appear to contradict each other on the surface, but they convey the same truth. (Of course, the post-modern mind does not worry about the contradictions either since everything depends on “a certain point of view.”)
Personally, I only see one contradiction in the saga that cannot be resolved using simple logic and this is Padme’s death! How can Leia have any memories of her mother when she died giving birth to the twins? I have tried to come up with explanations, but none of them are legitimate. However, this does not take away from the story since it does not contradict the truths Star Wars conveys.
As for some of the common “contradictions” often mentioned between the old and new trilogy, here are the simple explanations:
1) In Empire Obi-Wan claims Yoda trained him, yet he is the Padawan of Qui-Gon Ginn in Phantom Menace. This is explained by the scene in Clones where we see Yoda leading an entire class of Younglings. Obviously, Kenobi belonged to Yoda’s class as a Youngling and then was assigned to Qui-Gon when he became of age to be taken as a Padawan.
2) Why didn’t R2 say he knew who Yoda was? Someone needs to tell me how he would have told Luke this. Luke never tells R2 that he is seeking Yoda until after the crash on Dangobah and the X-Wing ends up buried in the swamp. As far as I can tell, Luke doesn’t understand the literal beeps and whistles of R2, so how is the droid suppose to communicate that he knows who Yoda is with the translating device on the X-Wing? Perhaps R2 did tell him after the X-Wing was raised and he had access to the translator, but who cares at that point since Luke already knew Yoda by that time.
3) Why are the Jedi so easily defeated when Vader says the power to destroy a planet is insignificant to the power of the Force (Important note, Vader says the Force is more powerful not the Jedi or Sith). Well, let’s think about this. Do we ever see the Jedi or Sith use the Force in a manner that would surpass or even come close to the power of the Death Star in the entire saga? No, we don’t. So, our option is to consider if there is another meaning to what Vader said, and there is. The Death Star destroys, but that is it; whereas, the Force can actually create life! So, taken in light of everything it appears that Vader is saying the power to create is greater than the power to destroy and I am proof that the Force is greater for I am a creation of it. Now of course this statement is meaningless to the Imperial elites Vader it telling and hence they dismiss the comment as part of his antiquated religion.
If there are other contradictions which you think exist, please let me know as I will be glad to help you sort out the missing links.
A final observation about the Star Wars saga:
I have spent the last couple of days over on the message boards at
www.theforce.net. Here you will find some of the most devoted Star Wars fans and fan boys out there. Reading their comments, you quickly begin to see that one’s age has a large impact on how they view the prequels.
Those who remember seeing A New Hope in theatres back in 1977 and 1978 are generally the most critical of the prequels. Those, like myself, who remember seeing either Empire or Jedi first and who cannot remember a time not knowing that Vader was Luke’s father are the most supportive of the entire saga fitting as one piece. There is even a segment among these people who believe A New Hope is the movie that doesn’t fit with the others because it is too slow and small in scope. Finally, there are those who were introduced to Star Wars through the prequels. These fans love the prequels, but are split on the original trilogy. Some love the older trilogy while others think they need to be entirely remade to better fit the style and atmosphere of the prequels. So in the end, when looking at the entire Star Wars saga, perhaps Obi-Wan is correct and everything does depend on one’s “certain point of view.”
