If you'd read the previous article about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I paradoxically called it, “almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Star Wars” and “the exact same story as A New Hope”. I dealt with the latter issue, expanding my claim that the plot of both Episode IV and VII were not a variation, but a copy.
Yet, while the replication showed they
didn't care about the fans, there could be something worse. They
didn't understand the details of the Star Wars universe, in spite of
creating a movie, which mirrored the original in story and visual
effects.
Let's start with the small stuff, and
it's not all small stuff.
Did you notice all the good characters
(especially Finn and Rey) are competent in any situation the writer
places them in? When Poe and Finn escape in a TIE fighter, Finn
effectively shoots pursuing TIE fighters, even though he is not a
gunner. He is a Stormtrooper, not a TIE pilot. The First Order has
different branches of its Forces. It would be like a Marine acting
as bombardier aboard a B-2
Spirit. Finn shouldn't have this skill.
He displays it again when he and Rey
are flying across the desert of Jakku. Only this time the armament
is even more complex, and yet he still shoots down professional TIE
pilots. But if anything, his skill pales in comparison to Rey's.
She lived as a orphan and semi-slave on Jakku her entire life, yet
when forced to escape she is able to pilot the Millennium Falcon the
moment she is at the controls. The rational provided is she knows
machines very well, but a mechanic does not a pilot make. All she
has ever piloted is the speeder she built.
Before we continue, no, you can't use
her latent force powers as an excuse for everything. Luke wasn't an
exceptional pilot because he was force sensitive. He was excellent
because he practiced piloting on Tatooine with his T-16
Skyhopper.
Finn
and Rey also demonstrate skill with a lightsaber they shouldn't have.
Finn explicitly says he has never used melee weapons, but holds off
a stormtrooper with a Z6
Riot Control Baton.
Later, he challenges, though is eventually beaten, by Kylo Ren. In
both these examples he uses a lightsaber with a proficiency that he
shouldn't have. Rey demonstrates the same skill only on a larger
scale. She is especially quick in her ability to use both a pistol
and lightsaber. She defeats Kylo Ren in her first battle wielding a
lightsaber. He is an semi-experienced Sith and soldier. She is a
scavenger and mechanic. Her skill cannot come from her force powers.
In the same way that being force sensitive does not grant the
ability to pilot a spaceship, it also does not confer an ability in
the use of lightsabers. That would be like claiming that being
excellent at math automatically makes a computer programmer. It
doesn't follow. Being skilled with the force enables a Jedi to be an
superb swordsman, but it still requires training. Luke does not beat
Darth Vader in a duel until the end of the original trilogy. He had
to train, lose, and train some more. Ultimately, being skilled with
the force allows one to use the force. Nothing more.
When
the actors were announced, some were upset that they cast a man with
dark skin as a stormtrooper. The original stormtroopers in the Star
Wars mythos were all clones of Jango Fett (father of Boba Fett).
That's why Episode II is called Attack
of the Clones.
However, the movie does a good job explaining why they are no longer
using clones. No, the real problem with Finn is not the color of his
skin but how his behavior changes the Star Wars Universe.
Finn
was stolen from his parents before he was old enough to create
memories. He was raised in the elite training system of the First
Order, and conditioned to obey unconditionally. Yet in his first
mission he balks. As the massacre on Jakku is interrupted by the
blaster fire of Poe Dameron, FN-2187 watches a fellow stormtrooper
bite it bloodily. As his comrades gun down unresisting civilians he
muddles about with crimson remains on his helmet. It's not clear in
the movie which is the cause of his confusion; the death of a single
stormtrooper or the murdering of innocents. Searching around online,
Wookipedia
expands on FN-2187's background and explains that the particular
stormtrooper that died was a friend of his. This death was the cause
of FN-2187's stupor. A viewer should never have to go to an outside
source to understand a key moment in a character's development. And
ignoring the fact that it would have been more sympathetic to link
his distress to the executing of noncombatants, the First Order is
clearly inept at indoctrinating soldiers.
They
have FN-2187 from birth, and not only does one friend's death cause
him to flinch, it causes him to question the whole program, free an
enemy, and plot a daring plan of escape. The two events don't make
sense together. He later says “I'm done with the First Order,”
as if he hates them, but there is no event that explains this
character development. He hates them because his actions only make
sense if he hates them.
There
are further oddities to this problem. He is distraught when a friend
of his in the First Order is slain, but as the movie progresses he
guns down a significant number of stormtroopers. Quick change of
heart.
That's
a singular oddity that can be waved off as unimportant but there are
still two significant problems with Finn. His training, as mentioned
before, is extensive. It's probably impossible to imagine the
hellish, disturbed existence a stormtrooper lives, but you should.
What do they do during their free time? Do they even have free time?
How do they behave around one another during this hypothetical free
time? The questions are important because of Finn's behavior. From
the first he is able to interact in a perfectly normal manner with
normal human beings, like Poe and Rey. A man that has undergone
training, brainwashing, and living in a barracks from birth can not
act as Finn does. It would be impossible for him to adapt to normal
conversation (which he carries on with Poe and Rey). And this leads
to the final problem about Finn.
One
may not like it, but Star Wars is about a simple, dualistic mystical
power that also functions as an ethical system. Character's are
clearly good, evil, or neutral. They can transition, such as Anakin
Skywalker into Vader, and then back (Good to evil to good), or Han
Solo (neutral to good), but at any one point they are clearly one of
these three.
Stormtroopers
are irredeemably evil, just like the Orcs in the Lord of the Rings
are irredeemably evil. It's not their fault. The original ones were
clones and the newer ones are abducted from their families, but both
are brainwashed, manipulated, and controlled into becoming avatars of
evil. Part of what makes LOTR and Star Wars enjoyable is that the
audience can watch the heroes slay hundreds of enemies and feel no
twinge of guilt because these villains are beyond redemption. Yet by
introducing Finn the whole idea is destroyed. Now the audience can
imagine hundreds of thousands of thoughtful stormtroopers mixed in
among the malicious millions. They become thousands of innocent men
and women, kidnapped from their parents and forced to murder and die
for the Empire.
This
is a thematic change that obliterates the underlying structure, as
the Death Star obliterated Alderaan . It invalidates the audience's
enjoyment by introducing ambiguity into an enemy that doesn't need
it.
With
enough material to talk about for Star Wars forever, there will be
one more article next Teusday. Video Games return on Monday.
Star Wars VII
Series
Comments
Post a Comment