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jackLiv and I finally watched Starwars together. I knew the plot well but hadn't seen it all the way through since I was young, and she hadn't seen it at all. I'm partly biased by popular opinion, and partly by watching it with someone who is genuinely excited and surprised by what happens rather than knowing it all in advance, but I still thought it was really excellent.
The Medal Ceremony[1][2]
One of several questions that people on the internet go on and on and on about is "At the end of the film, Han and Luke and Chewie march up the isle to Leia and the two humans get medals. A brief summary:
1. In the film, Luke and Han were main characters, so it's hardly surprising that the film ended up showcasing what was good for their stories, rather than accurately reflecting whatever medal-giving criteria the rebel military would have used.
2. It's been suggested they originally planned to give three medals, but they couldn't find an elegant way of Leia reaching over Chewie's head. This seems weak -- couldn't you fix it with camera angles? But also plausible.
3. This is probably partly because Chewie wasn't human, and the other two were, so the audience is more empathic with them. Yes, this is much less politically correct than it might be, although honestly portraying Chewie as a person was a pretty major win for non-human representation. If this is what you're worried about, think of the droids: they're clearly intelligent, but the film was apparently made in a universe when it was assumed you could have machine intelligence which was artificial and "didn't count" compared to people.
4. Thus, I think any potential in-universe justifications are not inherently meaningful, since I doubt they were crafted by auteur and have any relevance to the rest of the film. [3] However, if you accept that, it's certainly relevant to consider what those explanations could have been:
(i) Everyone in the universe unfairly saw Chewie as just Han's sidekick, not a brave soldier in his own right.
(ii) At the end, Chewie stayed behind with the rebals to fight (more bravely than Han) but when Han was leaving he suddenly changed his mind, which meant that he and Luke were at the deathstar but Chewie wasn't.
(iii) The medals were for piloting/gunning and the other was equally brave but considered less integral to the success and covered in some more general ceremony.
(iv) Chewie in particular or Wookies in general have a personal objection to wearing jewwlry of any sort, so he was there, but not with a medal.
[1] I'm not sure this is the best way, but notice how I choose to hide small spoilers (especially if I think the vast majority of people don't mind): I'll try to have the relevant information behind a cut that makes it clear that the content is related to the film, but without explicating saying "cut for SPOILERS, blah, blah, blah". I think that provides less distraction to anyone who wasn't worried, and less argument about whether it was necessary, and yet anyone trying to avoid spoilers (unlikely that anyone still hasn't seen StarWars but doesn't want to see spoilers, but there are definitely some) can clearly see there will probably be some. For recently released films or major, major spoilers, I'll write "SPOILERS" or "NO SPOILERS" explicitly. Some may quibble that even knowing there is a medal scene is too big a spoiler, but I disagree: if you don't know how it ends, you don't know which group is giving medals, or what happens during it, so you probably don't even remember the information later.
[2] Also I'm not sure this is the best way, but notice that if I have a relevant heading in a cut tag, I duplicate it inside. I find this so much easier to read, than if someone breaks a post down into separate sections, that you can't distinguish once you've opened one. (It's much better on DW, if you can expand them individually, but still.)
[3] I say this AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. If the author includes something by mistake, or for irrelevant reasons, it inevitably contributes to the feel of the characters and story as a whole, and there may or may not be a "good" explanation for why it happened in story, but there will never be a "right" explanation. If you have a massive shared universe, I think it's better to accept that there are small inconsistencies than come up with massively contrived hurdles to explain why each little niggle makes sense, and declare holy war on anyone who disagrees.
The Medal Ceremony[1][2]
One of several questions that people on the internet go on and on and on about is "At the end of the film, Han and Luke and Chewie march up the isle to Leia and the two humans get medals. A brief summary:
1. In the film, Luke and Han were main characters, so it's hardly surprising that the film ended up showcasing what was good for their stories, rather than accurately reflecting whatever medal-giving criteria the rebel military would have used.
2. It's been suggested they originally planned to give three medals, but they couldn't find an elegant way of Leia reaching over Chewie's head. This seems weak -- couldn't you fix it with camera angles? But also plausible.
3. This is probably partly because Chewie wasn't human, and the other two were, so the audience is more empathic with them. Yes, this is much less politically correct than it might be, although honestly portraying Chewie as a person was a pretty major win for non-human representation. If this is what you're worried about, think of the droids: they're clearly intelligent, but the film was apparently made in a universe when it was assumed you could have machine intelligence which was artificial and "didn't count" compared to people.
4. Thus, I think any potential in-universe justifications are not inherently meaningful, since I doubt they were crafted by auteur and have any relevance to the rest of the film. [3] However, if you accept that, it's certainly relevant to consider what those explanations could have been:
(i) Everyone in the universe unfairly saw Chewie as just Han's sidekick, not a brave soldier in his own right.
(ii) At the end, Chewie stayed behind with the rebals to fight (more bravely than Han) but when Han was leaving he suddenly changed his mind, which meant that he and Luke were at the deathstar but Chewie wasn't.
(iii) The medals were for piloting/gunning and the other was equally brave but considered less integral to the success and covered in some more general ceremony.
(iv) Chewie in particular or Wookies in general have a personal objection to wearing jewwlry of any sort, so he was there, but not with a medal.
[1] I'm not sure this is the best way, but notice how I choose to hide small spoilers (especially if I think the vast majority of people don't mind): I'll try to have the relevant information behind a cut that makes it clear that the content is related to the film, but without explicating saying "cut for SPOILERS, blah, blah, blah". I think that provides less distraction to anyone who wasn't worried, and less argument about whether it was necessary, and yet anyone trying to avoid spoilers (unlikely that anyone still hasn't seen StarWars but doesn't want to see spoilers, but there are definitely some) can clearly see there will probably be some. For recently released films or major, major spoilers, I'll write "SPOILERS" or "NO SPOILERS" explicitly. Some may quibble that even knowing there is a medal scene is too big a spoiler, but I disagree: if you don't know how it ends, you don't know which group is giving medals, or what happens during it, so you probably don't even remember the information later.
[2] Also I'm not sure this is the best way, but notice that if I have a relevant heading in a cut tag, I duplicate it inside. I find this so much easier to read, than if someone breaks a post down into separate sections, that you can't distinguish once you've opened one. (It's much better on DW, if you can expand them individually, but still.)
[3] I say this AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. If the author includes something by mistake, or for irrelevant reasons, it inevitably contributes to the feel of the characters and story as a whole, and there may or may not be a "good" explanation for why it happened in story, but there will never be a "right" explanation. If you have a massive shared universe, I think it's better to accept that there are small inconsistencies than come up with massively contrived hurdles to explain why each little niggle makes sense, and declare holy war on anyone who disagrees.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 01:56 pm (UTC)Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-08 05:02 pm (UTC)One of the reasons I like Stars Wars less now then I did at 13 is that I look that the crowds, not just the people in front and the lack of diversity really popped out at me.
Re: Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-08 06:08 pm (UTC)Yeah. This isn't something I'm very attuned to, but when I was watching it now I noticed that (although they did make an effort to have a variety of species and sexes, in the cantina and with Chewie, and with Leia being, you know, competent) there was a complete lack of anyone non-human, non-male or non-white anywhere else.
Which is not terribly surprising for the time, but I agree not good. As it happens, I'm able to enjoy what it does well, without being upset by what it does badly, but I'd agree with someone who liked it less for that.
Re: Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-09 01:16 am (UTC)Re: Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-08 09:30 pm (UTC)The really important question, though, is:
Re: Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-09 01:20 am (UTC)Re: Slighty random comments
Date: 2011-02-09 08:02 pm (UTC)