For better context on the following post, please see Part 2.
So last time, we talked about how Star Wars ’77 (yeah, I’m still calling it that) and the small amount of expanded material that initially resulted from it stuck pretty closely to the franchise’s primary inspiration of ongoing serialized space adventures with lots of focus on friendship and fun (and very little on family or darkness). ’77 and it’s book, comic and animated counterparts from the late 1970’s also made sure to keep the “force” conflict fairly separate from the “politics and war” conflict, allowing for the world to feel a little more spaced out, and therefore breathe a little better…
And then The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, and for better and for worse, nothing was ever the same again… To put it simply, the mainline Star Wars movies have felt like “oil and water” ever since Empire (yes, including Return of the Jedi). Suddenly, our “light-heard space opera” was now also a “dark family soap opera.” Luke no longer felt like one of many. Remember how I said last time that, for all we knew in 1977, he coulda been one of many Jedi orphans whose parents were killed by Vader? Now he’s only special because he just so happens to be Vader’s kid. Everything suddenly became too personal to be relatable in the same way that ’77 was. And just as another reminder, no, Lucas did not have this all planned out from the start like he claims to have (don’t worry, we’ll get there still).
Empire didn’t just distort things thematically, with too much emphasis on family and all. It also distorted things in a tonal sense as well. Lucas likes to say that all of Star Wars is for children, right? If that’s the case, can you think of a single moment in Empire that feels like it’s “for children?” Perhaps a few, yes, but not many. Empire wanted to “grow with its audience.” Thing is, once you do that, there’s no going back to the “for children” thing. Now you’ve crossed the line. If Lucas always wanted Star Wars to remain a kid’s thing, he should’ve never allowed a movie like Empire to happen. Or, if he did want Empire to happen, he should’ve stuck to it’s “grow with your audience” mindset for the movies to follow. Instead, he tried to do both, and you can’t do both! It. Just. Doesn’t. Work!
Haven’t you ever noticed how all of the movies since Empire feel like they’re trying to be two things at once? That’s because they are. That’s what I meant by the whole “oil and water” thing. Think about it! Return has us cutting back and forth between the throne room duel (which feels like a natural progression of Empire), and fucking Ewoks. The Phantom Menace has trade politics that are too complex for even an adult to understand, and fucking Jar Jar Binks. Attack of the Clones has Anakin slaughtering an entire village of “women and children” (talking about it with pride), and fucking C-3PO being dragged around the droid factory like he’s some kinda cartoon (because he literally is a cartoon there!). Revenge of the Sith has Anakin literally being burned alive in front of our very eyes (seriously, did that really need to be on screen?), and fucking R2-D2 making droids slip on oil like they’re The Three Stooges.
The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker don’t actually have these tonal inconsistencies, but they have problems of their own (don’t worry, I’ll get to JJ too). The Last Jedi, on the other hand, goes from a prank call to a yo mama joke to BB-8 doing some Looney Tunes thing to fix his ship. Which would normally all be fine, but then in the same movie, we see Luke literally trying to kill a kid in his sleep before he’s even evil. And look, I don’t actually have any issues with that whole subplot, like most people do, I’m just using it as yet another example to point out all of the tonal issues that run so deep in this IP. And, as I explained in my last post, ’77 didn’t have these issues. Furthermore, while I understand that tone doesn’t always have to be the same throughout a movie, can you seriously think of any other film with tonal fluctuations this jarring?!
And I’m not the only one who’s been saying this! In the last year or so, I’ve come across blog after blog and video (3:15) after video (parody but valid) showing that I’m not the only one who’s starting to see things this way. Hell, I even met a fellow reddit user who shares these thoughts as well, even going as far as to rank Empire as his least favorite in the entire series (I wouldn’t go that far, but to each their own).
Now, there was a time when Star Wars almost went the route of “keep growing with the audience.” The early script draft of Return, which was called Revenge of the Jedi, was very much in line with the “feel” of Empire, and ended on a cliffhanger that would’ve led to immediate sequels that would’ve shown Luke continuing to grow gradually as he faced darker and more daring challenges. This would’ve worked for a while, yes, but it would’ve still eventually hit a brutal dead end. See, had Star Wars gone this route, it would’ve experienced what I like to call “the Harry Potter problem.”
What’s that, you may ask? Well, back in the 1990s, JK Rowling had the idea of creating a middle-grade book series that turns into a young adult book series. Basically, as the characters get older, the situations they find themselves in become “darker” and/or “more adult.” The problem with this is that it only works for one audience, and that’s the generation that actually grew up with it. Have you ever noticed that millennials seem to be the only ones who look back fondly on the Potter books and films? People older than them never cared, and present-day kids don’t really seem to be latching onto it either. If a ten-year-old kid picked up those books or films today, they probably wouldn’t be able to relate to it much past the fourth installment. Conversely, if a fifteen-year-old were to pick the books or films up today, they’d probably be too bored by the first couple to even get any further than that.
Those current Fantastic Beasts films are trying to appeal to adults, since that’s how old the Potter generation is now, but I’m pretty sure the characters in those films still say spells with childish names like “wizzidy dizzily,” or whatever the fuck the spells are called. In short; the world of Harry Potter just wasn’t built for “adult stuff.” It’s missing the right “DNA” for that sorta thing, and Star Wars has a similar problem. If Revenge of the Jedi and the planned sequels to it had happened, this is the sorta conversation we’d be having about it.
So if the way things actually played out doesn’t work and the old Revenge of the Jedi plan doesn’t work either, then what does work? The answer is simple: Maybe, Empire should’ve never existed, and Star Wars as a franchise should’ve remained light-hearted, childish, fun and episodic (as in each installment is just kinda it’s own thing), with little-to-no emphasis on crap like family, darkness, etc.
Still not convinced? Here’s something else: We are shown in Empire that the Emperor just so happens to also be a force-user himself, and also the one who swayed Vader over to the dark side in the first place! You may think this isn’t a problem, but it is. ’77 felt like it was just a small part in the middle of a massive serial that could stretch as far back as the beginning of time and as far forward as the end of time (or at least as long as Luke’s lifespan, if you wanna look at it that way too). But now, we’re told that all the heroes need to do to resolve the force conflict and the political/war conflict all at once is to simply kill this one person. Suddenly, the story becomes finite. There’s an endgame at play. Why’s this a problem? Because, for better or worse, Star Wars was never destined to have any kinda “real ending” like that. The moment ’77 hit theaters and became a cultural juggernaut overnight, any chance of a definitive “ending” of any kind went out the window. People were always going to want more of some kind, or at least back then they did (I’m not so sure about now).
Star Wars is currently thriving in the TV format, which makes total sense, since the franchise itself was originally inspired by old film serials, which have more in common with modern-day TV than they do with modern-day movies. On the actual movie side of things, however, all of the recently-announced post-Skywalker Saga films feel pointless, or at least they do to general audiences. While the pandemic might change everyone’s future feelings on Star Wars, and movies in general, I still can’t help but feel like there’s at least some truth to this. When Skywalker was coming out, many “casual” movie-goers asked me “So this is the last Star Wars movie, right?” And when I explained to them that there would be more “spinoff films,” they all rolled their eyes in annoyance…
This whole Skywalker Saga “trilogy of trilogies” crap has made any future films feel like nothing more than an afterthought now. This could’ve all been avoided if Star Wars was just Star Wars, and if that whole Skywalker trilogy of trilogies idea was never a thing. And what movie started that? Empire! Again, I know Lucas says otherwise, but all of the documents that have leaked over the years show that this wasn’t the plan until the very moment he and his pals came up with “I am your father.” Starting to see the problems, now?
Yes, I know Lucas had some kinda “rough plan” when filming ’77 (he called it “episode six” on set), but supposedly that plan involved the prequels stretching as far as back as the origins of the Jedi itself. The idea of the Skywalker family dynasty being the throughline didn’t come until Empire. And yes, it’s true that crap like the “chosen one prophecy” from the prequels and Rey being a Palpatine in Skywalker and whatnot has all only served to make matters worse. But nevertheless, it all started with Empire.
Two more things Empire ruined were lightsaber fights and the Force… Yes, I’m serious. As far as ’77 was concerned, the Force was only a mental thing (mind tricks, talking to the dead, etc.). Yes, Vader choked a guy, but for all we know, he did something to that guy’s brain that made him forget how to breathe, and the guy was just reaching for his neck cause he couldn’t understand what was happening. Then Empire comes along and suddenly the Force becomes a superpower that allows Jedi to manipulate the physical world too (Splinter also had this issue, to be fair, as does the original Star Wars comic adaptation). And the powers have only been getting even more ridiculous with each film since! Same can be said for the saber fights. The duel in ’77 was simple. Then Empire comes along and shows our heroes and villains flipping around. In that movie in particular it wasn’t too bad (it’s actually still my favorite saber duel of the whole franchise), but it set a bad standard that has only been getting worse ever since. Awakens actually tried to bring some “charming simplicity” back to the saber fights, but then Jedi and Skywalker brought them back to near prequel-levels of ridiculousness.
So I bet right now you’re saying to yourself “Yeah, man. But, like, who cares how Empire impacted the later films? It’s still good on it’s own, you know!” No, it’s not actually. For starters, AT-AT’s make no logical sense. I know Rebels and other expanded material explained later on that only things that physically walk can penetrate invisible shields, or whatever, but as far as I recall, Empire itself never explains that, so the point still stands. Furthermore, Han has, like, zero character arc in Empire. As a matter of fact, his character arc regresses. He starts off the movie having already forgotten the lessons of friendship he learned in ’77, acts like a jerk for the rest of the movie, and then gets frozen for reasons beyond his own control. Hell, he doesn’t even have the audacity to tell Leia he loves her back (I know people love the “I know” line, but let’s face it, a cliche but simple “I love you too” would’ve at least shown some character development). I know he tells Chewy to “protect the princess,” but at that point, he was under the impression that they were both gonna be imprisoned for life on Cloud City. So like, yeah, no shit he’s gonna ask Chewy to protect her there…
Then in the next movie, after Han gets unfrozen, his buddies blow up the entire crime syndicate that was forcing him to have to choose between his old life and his new one. He doesn’t even get the privilege to make that choice on his own anymore. Instead, the choice is made for him, and then he and Leia proceed to do pretty much nothing for the rest of Return… Come to think of it, they didn’t really do anything of much significance in Empire, either. And funny enough, Finn and Poe don’t really get much to do in the second and third installments of their trilogy as well (funny how history repeats itself). In any case, as much as people like Han (myself included), if they weren’t going to really do anything new with him, then maybe they should’ve written him out (like Splinter did).
On the subject of Leia, her character arc is botched in Empire too. She kisses Luke just to make Han jealous (so much for her being the “professional” one), then proceeds to fall for Han anyway, even though he’s an even bigger douche now than he was in the last movie. The only reason their romance works is cause of the real-life chemistry between the actors (they had an affair before filming this movie). On paper, Han comes across as not only a jerk but, quite frankly, kind of a creep. He gets a pass though, cause he looks like Harrison Ford… And if you wanna try to tell me that Leia’s feelings for Han weren’t as superficial as I’m making it sound, then let me ask you this: Why did she kiss Luke on the lips again near the end of the movie, after Han was frozen? Yes, she kisses him when he’s lying down inside the Falcon, after being rescued from his ass-beating by Vader. It happens really fast. If you literally blink, you miss it, but it’s there. It’s almost as if Leia is thinking “Oh, my cool, tough, real boyfriend is gone at the moment, but you’ll do for now, side guy!” I get that the Han and Leia romance is supposed to be very “old Hollywood” (and “old romance” in general), but after how progressive and self-sufficient Leia seemed in the last movie, it’s still kind of a shame to see her portrayed this way now. A more “balanced” romance of some kind could’ve worked, me thinks.
I’ll say this much for Empire, though; I love pretty much everything involving Luke and Yoda on Dagobah, except for the fact that he says “Jedi don’t crave adventure and excitement.” Isn’t this franchise supposed to be all about adventure and excitement? And aren’t the Jedi the characters whose eyes we usually see this whole universe through? Starting to see the disconnect? The whole complaint about the Jedi being too stoic is another thing that starts with Empire, but again, nobody wants to admit that.
Speaking of Dagobah, it’s also a little weird how Luke goes from being tubby and having thin arms in the capsule on Hoth to suddenly being lean and having toned muscles here on Dagobah. It implies that Luke has been training with Yoda for months, but his story is supposed to be taking place at the same time as Han & Leia’s, which as far as we know only happens over the course of a few hours, or days at most. The fact that the two different storylines are constantly cutting back and forth between one another throughout the movie makes this pacing issue even more jarring. Funny enough, The Last Jedi has this exact same problem. Maybe time runs differently on different planets? Or different parts of space?…
And, just like with almost all of these movies, I still love the “technical” aspects of Empire. It has my favorite music of the entire film series, by far! The cinematography is practically timeless. The acting is top-notch (given the material the actors all had to work with). Plenty of memorable quotes (courtesy of Larry Kasdan). And so on…
I still have a few more loose thoughts jotted down for this subject that I want to get out there, so I’ll try my best to wrap this all up next time.
Peace!
Click here for Part 4.
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