Star Wars: a show about falling
Image from : https://gffa.tumblr.com
May the 4th be with you!
Or, shall I say, happy belated May the 4th?
In honor of our latest favorite hallmark holiday, celebrating our love of Star Wars, I thought it was time to write about one of my most beloved film canons.
Star Wars holds a special nostalgic place in my heart. Like many of you, I grew up watching the original films and would align my action figures (they are not dolls) up in a fictitious battle against my older brother and his collection of dolls.
It's funny to think that those collectibles are probably worth way more today than they were in 1989. Their value has not fallen over time.
Speaking of falling…
Since my daughters became an appropriate age to watch the Star Wars films, we’ve enjoyed geeking out on all bits of the series. Whether it’s family movie night or after dinner, showers, and homework, we’ll sneak in a show.
Star Wars has evolved into another vehicle for me to spend special time with my daughters. We snuggle-up on the couch and blast off to a galaxy, far, far away…together.
Once, after an episode of Clone Wars, my daughter asked: “Daddy, how come the characters are always falling?”
I thought: what a profound statement!
We proceeded to talk about as many instances that we could recall characters “falling”.
Take for instance, the following few (of many) examples:
Darth Maul is cut in half and falls down a shaft in The Phantom Menace.
Emperor Palpatine is thrown down the Death Star reactor shaft by Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.
Mace Windu falls out of a window after a failed confrontation with Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.
Han Solo falls into the Starkiller Base chasm after being killed by Kylo Ren in "The Force Awakens."
Luke Skywalker’s memorable descent in The Empire Strikes Back when he chooses to drop from the Cloud City platform after learning that Darth Vader is (spoiler alert) his Father.
Even the AT-AT walkers take epic falls during the battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.
Star Wars and falling, is akin to Seinfeld being a show about nothing.
There’s even a video game titled Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order!
This has become a running joke amongst my daughters as we enjoy each new series.
We’ve even nicknamed Obi-Wan Kenobi: Obi “Falls” Kenobi, because he’s always getting knocked off of something.
My Dad humor has been in full-effect throughout this and thank goodness, my twins (8-years old at the time of this post) still find my sophomoric humor engaging.
There is an observed literal sense of falling that we see in Star Wars, and there is the thematic sense of falling. For a deeper dive into film symbolism, check out the post Searching for meaning in film.
Anakin Skywalker’s fall from grace and becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader, is a perfect example of this.
Fortunately for the galaxy, Anakin has a redemptive arc and ultimately destroys the emperor (or so we thought).
Kylo Ren, in a completely new and original way (please note a ton of sarcasm here) has an eerily similar arc to his story line….also helping to destroy the emperor at the end…again.
ungh…..
Which leads me to my last point about Star Wars and falling.
Without venturing too far off on a rant; I’m a fan of the original three stories (Episodes 4-6).
The ensuing prequels and sequels became less and less enjoyable to me with each new iteration.
Whether it was an over-reliance on special effects or political messaging and forcing an agenda, I had a tough time digesting the new content.
Sorry, this is just my opinion and you are free to yours.
For the the first time, I felt that Star Wars fell out of my favor.
This was true until Dave Filoni came aboard. Filoni, like Luke Skywalker to Vader inspired the redemptive arc to the Star Wars canon.
Filoni is now the Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm and thank goodness for that.
Mandolorian, Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka and many of the properties that he has had a hand in have been fantastic.
These shows return to the the secret sauce that taps into our space-adventuring, arthurian legend loving souls.
Good versus evil, overcoming odds and just enough of a nod to the original stories to give us that warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia without leaning too hard on the past.
Star Wars seems to be back in a better place. If history serves, we should expect the other shoe to drop. I just hope it’s worth watching.
After all, Star Wars is a show about falling!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Filoni
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/166612036450/luke-falling-through-cloud-city
