Swank
and debonair
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2022
- Messages
- 1,625
Speaking of the first film and its sequel Empire, there is a common perception that these films are very likeable and fun but unsophisticated adventure intended for children. And that is certainly the way even Lucas has described these films - as throwbacks to Flash Gordon and "science fantasy", rather than the dystopian or highbrow stuff that came before it.
What Lucas seemed ultimately unaware of (if subsequent films are any guide), is that the collaborative product he headed up was possibly the most immersive SF work on film, to date or since.
Film is audio/visual storytelling, and genre films in "built" worlds lean on what is seen and heard to communicate their most important elements. We like to think of "story" as plot, but the story is whatever the author thinks is most important. Over and over, Star Wars and Empire convince the audience this alien future-scape is entirely different from our world, but the characters' excessively downplayed interactions completely belies their exotic world and subsequent actions. The suspension of disbelief is so total that the audience doesn't question when American schoolboy Luke takes on an army like Wolverine.
The visual creation of SW offers design-in-depth. There aren't just spaceships, but spaceships with at least four different drive systems and design elements that hint of different cosmetic trends. None of the clothing has familiar button, snaps or laces. The seemingly unlimitedly powerful Empire has Storm Troopers ride lizards because it must be more practical in the desert - or easier on the Empire's all-too-real fiscal budget. Weapons appear real because they are actually functional firearms. Physics is different, but completely consistent and reliant on a few invented principles. Even the Force appears to grant powers very similar to the technologies in use, like tractor beams and anti-gravity, keeping the altered physics of the SW universe to a tidy bundle.
As we watch gravity switch 90 degrees in the gun ports of the Falcon, the characters are mum. They never remark on the remarkable; never offer any exposition on technology, alien behavior or the shocking lack of handrails or safe closing doors. Luke's "normal teenager" uses fightercraft and grappling hooks with familiar ease, even while being shot at. The characters are not stand-ins for a transported audience member, but fully embedded in their world - having their own tolerances for violence, fear and change that bear only passing resemblance to ours.
By Jedi, Lucas started to break the fourth wall by winking to the audience with cute Ewoks and musical dance numbers unrelated to the plot. From there the prequels engaged in a lot of "hey, look at how cool this is" scenes that had nothing to do with moving the plot and more characters that forced the audience to think about what they were watching. The pace slowed, the exposition increased massively, the backstory Easter Eggs exploded and the authenticity of the visuals went to hell.
Other films have given this sort immersive realism of a try, but are usually either too closely connected to our time and troubles (2010, Alien, Blade Runner, Minority Report) or focus so much on style that you can't just watch the future play out (Dune, The Matrix), or is just plain winking at the audience (5th Element, Guardians of the Galaxy). SW/Empire are utterly unique in filmmaking for depicting a far flung and disconnected future in a serious and realistic manner. Being well removed from our time but played straight by the central characters, the films allow the audience a greater level of escapism - bolstered by immensely realistic special effects, made-to-order sound effects and an emotional musical score that raises the story stakes without reference to heroics (Superman, Raiders).
There is some light comedy in the form of Han's roguish behavior, Yoda's hijinks and C3P0's inappropriate fretting, but real life has its light moments as well. These touches are more than balanced by the deep moments of horror that punctuate the real stakes of the characters lives - strangulations, multiple scenes of torture, burnt bodies, callous cremation, mutilation, genocide, disemboweling, loss of loved ones, battlefield sacrifices and even robots that experience real pain.
As immersive escapism, no other live action original SF film comes close in both realistic depictions of people and scenery with no real connection to our daily lives. Of original works (rather than book adaptations), the closest effort in my mind is the excellent 1981 Dragonslayer, a beautifully constructed fantasy movie set in an unconnected period with real stakes for its characters. It seems that part of the failure to properly duplicate the impact of SW/Empire in modern times comes from both a deep misunderstanding of these films effect on audiences, and a nostalgia-like tendency of modern genre films to make the audience participants in the filmmaking with Easter Eggs, inside jokes, genre deprecating comedy and the least realistic element: hip style.
What Lucas seemed ultimately unaware of (if subsequent films are any guide), is that the collaborative product he headed up was possibly the most immersive SF work on film, to date or since.
Film is audio/visual storytelling, and genre films in "built" worlds lean on what is seen and heard to communicate their most important elements. We like to think of "story" as plot, but the story is whatever the author thinks is most important. Over and over, Star Wars and Empire convince the audience this alien future-scape is entirely different from our world, but the characters' excessively downplayed interactions completely belies their exotic world and subsequent actions. The suspension of disbelief is so total that the audience doesn't question when American schoolboy Luke takes on an army like Wolverine.
The visual creation of SW offers design-in-depth. There aren't just spaceships, but spaceships with at least four different drive systems and design elements that hint of different cosmetic trends. None of the clothing has familiar button, snaps or laces. The seemingly unlimitedly powerful Empire has Storm Troopers ride lizards because it must be more practical in the desert - or easier on the Empire's all-too-real fiscal budget. Weapons appear real because they are actually functional firearms. Physics is different, but completely consistent and reliant on a few invented principles. Even the Force appears to grant powers very similar to the technologies in use, like tractor beams and anti-gravity, keeping the altered physics of the SW universe to a tidy bundle.
As we watch gravity switch 90 degrees in the gun ports of the Falcon, the characters are mum. They never remark on the remarkable; never offer any exposition on technology, alien behavior or the shocking lack of handrails or safe closing doors. Luke's "normal teenager" uses fightercraft and grappling hooks with familiar ease, even while being shot at. The characters are not stand-ins for a transported audience member, but fully embedded in their world - having their own tolerances for violence, fear and change that bear only passing resemblance to ours.
By Jedi, Lucas started to break the fourth wall by winking to the audience with cute Ewoks and musical dance numbers unrelated to the plot. From there the prequels engaged in a lot of "hey, look at how cool this is" scenes that had nothing to do with moving the plot and more characters that forced the audience to think about what they were watching. The pace slowed, the exposition increased massively, the backstory Easter Eggs exploded and the authenticity of the visuals went to hell.
Other films have given this sort immersive realism of a try, but are usually either too closely connected to our time and troubles (2010, Alien, Blade Runner, Minority Report) or focus so much on style that you can't just watch the future play out (Dune, The Matrix), or is just plain winking at the audience (5th Element, Guardians of the Galaxy). SW/Empire are utterly unique in filmmaking for depicting a far flung and disconnected future in a serious and realistic manner. Being well removed from our time but played straight by the central characters, the films allow the audience a greater level of escapism - bolstered by immensely realistic special effects, made-to-order sound effects and an emotional musical score that raises the story stakes without reference to heroics (Superman, Raiders).
There is some light comedy in the form of Han's roguish behavior, Yoda's hijinks and C3P0's inappropriate fretting, but real life has its light moments as well. These touches are more than balanced by the deep moments of horror that punctuate the real stakes of the characters lives - strangulations, multiple scenes of torture, burnt bodies, callous cremation, mutilation, genocide, disemboweling, loss of loved ones, battlefield sacrifices and even robots that experience real pain.
As immersive escapism, no other live action original SF film comes close in both realistic depictions of people and scenery with no real connection to our daily lives. Of original works (rather than book adaptations), the closest effort in my mind is the excellent 1981 Dragonslayer, a beautifully constructed fantasy movie set in an unconnected period with real stakes for its characters. It seems that part of the failure to properly duplicate the impact of SW/Empire in modern times comes from both a deep misunderstanding of these films effect on audiences, and a nostalgia-like tendency of modern genre films to make the audience participants in the filmmaking with Easter Eggs, inside jokes, genre deprecating comedy and the least realistic element: hip style.
