The Magic of Movies: A Star Wars Exegesis, Part Two

The small scene of stormtroopers combing the desert (taken literally in Spaceballs, I think, having never seen it) has a famous weird long pause after a stormtrooper says “Look, sir! Droids!” I, like many, have wondered what that was about. On the other hand, this is a good point to note the famous Star Wars wipes, one of Lucas’s more direct swipes from Kurosawa. Like many things in Star Wars, it’s impossible to do now without the audience thinking, “Hey! Like in Star Wars!”, which is a shame because it’s an endearing move that reminds us this movie is supposed to be fun.

When Artoo and Threepio are sold by the Jawas, we finally meet Luke Skywalker, our hero of the piece. I forget where I read it, but I think one of the first piece of literary criticism I was ever aware of was the idea that Luke wears white because he’s the good guy and Darth Vader wears black because he’s the bad guy, with Luke’s wardrobe evolving over the course of the original trilogy as his character does. And yeah, that’s really basic symbolism that even a five year old could understand, lifted right from the cheesy cowboy serials Lucas grew up with.

I also dearly love the ‘used future’ set design we see. Just at a glance, we know that Luke and his family are really poor and just getting by. I also enjoy that the dialogue between Luke and his aunt is downright gibberish technobabble, treated completely offhand. Despite everything in the original trilogy being given an explanation in the Expanded Universe, the original movie knows that what they’re saying is significantly less important than why they’re saying it. Luke works with technology, and in a really hands-on kind of way.

Threepio has a new variation on his comedy act here, cheerfully accepting Owen’s criticism of him and then smoothly shifting to why that doesn’t matter, not because he’s trying to sell himself but because he’s automatically helpful and polite. Owen (played by Phil Brown), in turn, is automatically irritated and exasperated by him but jumps straight into work. This leads us into an infamous scene, where Owen tells him to clean the new droids and Luke immediately whines that he was going to do something else.

Luke is often dismissed as a whiny protagonist, which is one of those audience things that always puzzled me. His whole journey is going from teen wannabe to hero; there’s no journey if he’s completely likeable and cool at the start. Admittedly, Mark Hamill leans in on whining for that particular line, but honestly, most of the time, I think general audiences and I have very different expectations of stories; most audiences seem to itch around the slightest bit of ‘unlikeability’.

The scene of the red droid that explodes, forcing Owen to buy Artoo, has one of the funniest bits of EU media, with a comic explaining that the red droid is actually a Jedi in disguise that willingly sacrifices itself with the Force so that Artoo can be allowed to go with Luke and get to Obi-Wan. It’s a bit of a parody comic, and it’s a parody that gets at two fundamental truths: one, that EU writers and fans would try to explain everyone and everything in every frame of these movies, and two, that this is provoked by Lucas’s sometimes bizarre decisions. This moment does nothing to push the story forward; indeed, it slows the story down for a scene.

If it has an ‘explanation’, it’s that it creates a little bit of life in an otherwise mechanical scene and at least tries to make it a little less of a cheat that Owen happens to buy the two droids that are desperately needed to get the plans in Obi-Wan’s hands. Certainly, we can see how desperately Artoo wants to go with Luke. It also gives us yet another variation on Threepio’s comedy act, when he acts high and mighty about helping Artoo and actually kind of deserves to, even if he doesn’t realise it. This movie holds up very well on rewatch, especially for children, who get the opportunity to feel smarter than Threepio.

Threepio getting a bath is a little moment of triumph for the golden bot, after complaining the entire movie up until now, and it’s a funny little detail that Luke is playing with a toy version of a ship we’ll see later. I almost think this is Lucas anticipating just how much money he’s going to make from the toyline. We get a lot of verbal confirmation of Luke’s motivations in this scene, as he complains about being stuck in Tattooine – a motivation that is, if anything, even more sympathetic to me as an adult. We also get some of Lucas’s trouble with emotional dialogue with some truly wooden lines (“If there’s a bright center of the universe, you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.”).

That said, I think his immediate and unshakeable excitement as soon as he finds out Threepio and Artoo were with the Rebellion is immediately sympathetic; he’s practically geeking out on the details. One thing I found funny on this watch is that, while Threepio is always bemoaning the danger he’s in, he seems to take it in stride that he’ll be owned by many people and moving from job to job. There’s something oddly sympathetic about that.

The iconic scene of Luke accidentally activating Leia’s message to Obi-Wan is a really great ‘magic of movies’ moment. His fall back is funny, and the grimy CRT look of the hologram Leia is wonderful, and John Williams’s soundtrack sells it as an immediately eerie moment, and Marcia Lucas cuts from a wide establishing the situation to close-ups of Luke and what appear to be (or at least are suggesting) POV shots of Luke’s view of the hologram as he sits on the floor. Little bits of emotional investment are what separate soulful works like Star Wars from its lesser imitators.

This gives us my favourite moment of unintentional silliness in these movies: Obi-Wan Kenobi having apparently hidden under the name “Old Ben Kenobi”. I’m glad George Lucas went into filmmaking rather than working for, like, Witness Protection. Thinking about it, this whole scene is driven by Artoo more than anyone; he has the most information of anyone in it, and he tricks Luke into taking off the bolt preventing him from having, uh, free will.

When Luke goes for dinner, he shares some (but not all) of the information with his aunt and uncle, who share a significant glance and try to downplay it. This is a great example of the movie sparking imagination; what do they know? How much connection do they have with Obi-Wan? This is a world with intense history, and one that drives the emotions forward. They’re not exactly playfully keeping a secret.

Luke storms off, and this is where we get the most sympathetic expression of Luke’s motivation, and perhaps the most cinematic moment of the film (though not of the trilogy). It’s the only part of Star Wars played even remotely straight in the Family Guy parody, because it’s simply too good to ruin. Luke looks out at the twin sunsets, and John Williams brings out a sad, simple expression of longing that suddenly overwhelms, and to my surprise, I found tears in my eyes when I got to this part. Everyone has, at some point in their lives, felt the longing to be anywhere other than where they are. If there’s one thing about storytelling I’ve learned from this, it’s that the best way to express a motivation or emotion is through something visual, even an action as simple as choosing where to look.

Luke returns to the garage, and I always loved the shot of Threepio suddenly popping out – he’s just spooky enough for the moment to be eerie, but he’s still, you know, C-3PO. As Luke goes looking for Artoo, Threepio comes up behind him, acting like a tattling child. One thing that makes these movies work as children’s movies so well is how they operate on a child’s mentality; most kid’s media is positioned as adults passing on lessons, whereas these look at the world from the perspective of a child. (Related to this: Owen announcing he’s turning the power off reminds me of camping with my parents when I was a kid)

The next morning opens with another example of the movie livening up a plot-moving scene with a weird visual, as Beru puts vegetables in a weird machine as she and Owen talk about Luke leaving. We then get to one of my favourite special effects as we see Luke and Threepio driving around in a hovercraft. Oddly, Luke tells Threepio to hit the accelerator – you’d think Luke, as the pilot, would have control over that. Not sure what motivated Lucas to write that particular line.

Cleverly, we see the Sand People eyeing off Luke on his speeder; I enjoy the shot of them observing him through a sniper, which does recall a specific shot in The Hidden Fortress. We see them assemble to go after him, creating tension when we go back to Luke a scene later. We even get a massive, unnecessary, but extremely cool puppet of a giant mammoth-like creature with a goofy mouth; they do factor into the plot in that Luke is distracted by them when he (arrogantly) decides to go look for them.

The moment a Sand Person pops up in front of Luke is a great moment of cinema; the guy triumphantly waves a stick, Threepio makes the wackiest scream as he falls backward, and Luek reacts quickly but not quick enough. This is the kind of thing that would be much more tightly choreographed these days, but to its demerit; Luke genuinely comes off as Just Some Guy rather than a stuntman.

In a great moment of editing, we follow some wide shots all the way to where Artoo is hiding; I love this as a creative and very emotional way to connect the two scenes, like we’re looking around in a panic as we search for Artoo. We then watch from Artoo’s perspective as Luke is captured, unconscious, by the Sand People; rooting us in a sympathetic character heightens the emotion. This is followed by a great moment of sound design, with a strange yodel-scream thing coming from a little hooded figure that scares off the Sand People. 

We constantly cut to Artoo reacting to this, even making his cute little noises (strategically poor, emotionally necessary). We’re invited to be nervous; we can’t see this person’s face as he looks at Luke and checks his health. Then he seems to hear Artoo, looks up, and as he removes his hood, John Williams gives us just a whiff of music to tell us it’s alright. Hello there!