[disgruntled spice miner of naboo]

Star Wars: Episodes I-VI
The greatest postmodern art film ever.
Slate online Mag.

http://www.slate.com...29225/?nav=tap3


thoughts ?

[Chefelf]

thoughts ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just disagreement.

As Star Wars works to make us aware of its own narrative structure, other odd things about the films start to come into focus. Most significantly, we start to notice that the films are an elaborate meditation on the dialectic between chance and order. They all depend upon absurd coincidence to propel the story forward. Just what are the odds, in just one of near-infinite examples, that of all the planets in that galaxy far, far away, the droids should end up back on Tatooine, in the home of the son of the sweet (if annoying) boy who had built C-3PO decades before? Throughout all six films there are scenes of crucial serendipity. Such dependence on unlikely coincidence isn't unique to Star Wars. As literary critics have long pointed out, the arbitrary yoking together of events in the service of storytelling is one of the fundamental characteristics of all narrative. R2-D2 needs to hook up with Luke on Tatooine, just as Prospero's enemies need to wash up on the shores of his island, and Elizabeth Bennet needs to marry Mr. Darcy, for the narrative requirements of those stories to be fulfilled. The audience's willing surrender to narrative coincidence is demanded by the story's need to conclude itself.

I find these 'absurd coincidences' to be nothing by frustrating distractions. It is indeed absurd that Luke should end up on Tatooine but it's equally absurd to think that no one thought to look for him there.

[barend]

especially using the same surname as his father....

[DarthTherion]

This is a well written and interesting article. I especially like the interpretation of the Force as plot. It puts a nice spin on Obi-wan's comment that the Force both controls your actions and obeys your commands.

Chef, the article wasn't talking about the absurdity of Luke's presence on Tatooine, but the absurdity of the fact that the droid and Luke encounter each other. It's a big planet...what are the odds that the little droid would be purchased by the family of the new hope for the galaxy? Yet that ridiculous improbability is what sets the entire plot of the movie into motion.

[On a complete side note, why would anyone be looking for Luke anyway? No one in the Empire knows that Vader's child survived]

That's the way narration works. It is the way of the Force....

[jariten]

Just disagreement.
I find these 'absurd coincidences' to be nothing by frustrating distractions.  It is indeed absurd that Luke should end up on Tatooine but it's equally absurd to think that no one thought to look for him there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and especially because all those millions of people, including his father, knew that he existed.

oh, wait...

[Despondent]

Well of course no one would expect it. The force clowns everything.

[Chefelf]

and especially because all those millions of people, including his father, knew that he existed.

oh, wait...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That would be a good argument except how the hell does Vader realize that Luke is his son between ANH and ESB? If he didn't know in ANH, what happened to make him become obsessed with finding Luke?

[arius]

That would be a good argument except how the hell does Vader realize that Luke is his son between ANH and ESB?  If he didn't know in ANH, what happened to make him become obsessed with finding Luke?

I think it was the blowing up the Death Star thing.

Only a Strong with the Force pilot could do it so Vader wanted to learn more.
Once he found out his last name was Skywalker that was the clincher.

[Chefelf]

1.) I think it's a stretch to think that Vader would have just assumed that the guy that blew up the Death Star was his son.

2.) Yeah. Naming him 'Skywalker' was as good an idea for keeping Luke safe as hiding him on Tatooine.

[Darth Player]

1.)  I think it's a stretch to think that Vader would have just assumed that the guy that blew up the Death Star was his son.

2.)  Yeah.  Naming him 'Skywalker' was as good an idea for keeping Luke safe as hiding him on Tatooine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope Super Special Edition:

Owen Lars (at Mos Eisley, piicking up spare parts for moisture vaporators): "I'm, Owen Lars, this is my wife, Beru, and our Nephew Luke SKYWALKER...."

Stranger: "Skywalker? You related to the kid who beat Sebulla and won his freedom, only to return here to slaughter a bunch of Sandpeople which accounts for the increased troubles we've been having with them to this day?"

Luke: "No, my father was a navigator on a spice freighter....."

[DarthTherion]

1.)  I think it's a stretch to think that Vader would have just assumed that the guy that blew up the Death Star was his son.

2.)  Yeah.  Naming him 'Skywalker' was as good an idea for keeping Luke safe as hiding him on Tatooine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We're getting pretty far afield of the point of this thread. But since digressions are fun:

Between ANH and ESB, Vader investigated the destruction of the Death Star and learned that the pilot who successfully destroyed it was named Luke Skywalker, a new recruit from Tatooine. So now the wheels of Vader's mind begin turning -- that blond haired boy who screamed "Noooo" when Vader killed Obi-wan, the same one who was strong in the Force during the battle of Yavin...could it be?

Finding out that the name was Skywalker must have come as a huge shock to Vader, which is probably why Obi-wan allowed Luke to keep the surname: to shock and unnerve Vader, reminding him painfully of what he once was, driving home the point to him that he was battling with -- essentially -- a noble and successful version of his younger self.

The book Shadows of the Empire takes place between ANH and ESB and delves a bit into Vader's psychology. I read it a long time ago, but I remember enjoying it. Maybe you want to check it out.

[jariten]

That would be a good argument except how the hell does Vader realize that Luke is his son between ANH and ESB?  If he didn't know in ANH, what happened to make him become obsessed with finding Luke?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're bringing up a seperate issue here though. Yor original complaint was "why did no-one think to look for Luke", to which the answer is "no one knew he existed".

As for this new one, its all to do with those pesky midichorians we all laughed at (yes even me...) back in 1999. If all the Jedi are dead, how could "the Force be strong" with this kid? I'm not saying that Vader knew there and then that Luke had survived Padmes death (but its not too much of a stretch to imagine that he did between ep 4 and 5), but the fact that all the jedi had indeed not been wiped out would easily be just cause for his obsession in finding him.

If these films were made in order, presumably the line "the force is strong with this one" wouldnt been followed with something to indicate Vaders shock. but come on, he made these films 30 years apart. I'm willing to grant Lucas at least that much slack.