By Wei Han Wong It was by all means the most peculiar company ever to have gathered – the evil Darth Vader, his armor a stretch of perfect black outlined by the white of his loyal Storm Troopers, elbowed his way through the bustling crowd outside Hollywood’s ArcLight Cinema. Just a few yards away, as if undisturbed by such imminent danger, a number of Jedi warriors, a.k.a. the protectors of the universe, clustered around Princess Leias, posing for a passerby’s camera. Could this be the moment long anticipated by the galaxy? That peace and harmony finally settled in between the good guys and the baddies? Well, yes and no. As fans eagerly anticipated the grand opening of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith on 10 March 2005, they knew what they were in for. After two years of waiting, these Star Wars junkies, whether inspired enough to wear costumes or not, were all strapped in for what would not only be a box office hit, but also the beginning of the long goodbye, as the long-running movie series reached its climactic end. Peace and harmony would be the last thing on their minds. Star Wars tells an epic struggle that will decide the fate of the galaxy. At its heart lies the insoluble conflict between the Jedi, a warrior order of strict conduct striving for peace and balance, and the Sith, power-hungry despots plotting their reign of terror at every turn. Armed with a superhuman power called the “Force,” the Jedi and the Sith remain in uneasy balance.
“Every Saga Has a Beginning” were the words across the poster of Star Wars I : Phantom Menace (1999), the very first of the prequels to backtrack the story to a time before all hell breaks loose. In reality, it all began 28 years ago, in year 1977, when George Lucas, then a moderately successful movie maker, came up with Star Wars. As one might imagine, the 70s were not exactly the heyday of cutting edge innovation. During the film’s production, many dismissed it as a lackluster effort. They could not have been more mistaken; the movie turned out to be an international phenomenon that has practically broken all box office records, and the snowball kept rolling for the next three decades. The three prequels (Phantom Menace, Clone War, Revenge of the Sith) cover the portion of the story prior to the original Star Wars. In short, they depict the downfall of Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi-turned-Dark-Lord, who is also the father to Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the original series. What George Lucas and Star Wars have achieved, however, cannot be comprehended as mere profit. Unwilling to surrender to the limitations of filmmaking at the time, Lucas started his own visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, and took the challenge into his own hands. When he started it was the stone age of special effects in the film industry, back in the days when all the revived dinosaurs, earth-shattering meteors, and waves higher than the Statue of Liberty were not even dreamt of. While some of the younger generation proclaim that we have “seen it all” in recent productions (and in truth we have), the rest of us who are old enough to remember that things were not always so know by heart that George Lucas is the progenitor of it all, and that Star Wars is the first chapter. But are these technical achievements simply visual feasts that provide two hours of mind-numbing entertainment? To many they are; but to many more, Star Wars are what science fiction movies essentially should be – something that doesn’t overload itself with archaic symbols and twisted plot lines, but rather an accessible yet unique dimension that forgets neither entertainment nor the fundamental subject of humanity. Simply put, Star Wars combines style and substance with equal success. The story evolves around some of the most ancient dilemmas that have beset our kind since the dawn of humanity – good against evil, order against chaos, life against death, obligation against ambition, and ultimately, reason against passion. What truly puts these symbolic standoffs above mere theatrical devices, however, is that the narration has kept in mind that in between bipolar ideologies one must not assume there runs a clear line, nor that choosing a side automatically protects one from an eventual downfall. Prevalent everywhere are somber discussions such as this one: Anakin Skywalker: The Jedi use their power for good. Palpatine: Good and bad is a point of view, Anakin. The Sith and the Jedi are similar in???????? almost every way…including their quest for greater power. Anakin: The Sith rely on their passion for strength. They think inwards, only about themselves. Palpatine: … and the Jedi don’t? It turns out that they do, just as, all too often in reality, humanity finds itself to be the exact replica of what it swears to repel. And looming high above all these perplexities is one absolute fact: one side can never prevail over the other, as Destiny is forged only through hammer and anvil. The quest into the Star Wars universe is yours for the taking. As we stumble upon the threshold of a new age, Star Wars leaves a legacy to remind ourselves of the force that has always been there, in one of the most eminent cultural icons of the late twentieth century. a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|