Sat in the theatre watching Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for the first (and still only) time, I felt my stomach lurch as Grand Moff Tarkin appeared on-screen. Viewed only from behind his artificiality was immediately apparent to me - the waxy skin, stringy strands of hair and wholly unconvincing lighting had me worried. Still, seen from behind only at a distance I could argue that I was merely over-reacting, that it wasn't as noticeable as I perceived it to be, and, so long as he never turned around, I could avoid letting it interfere with my ability to appreciate the movie. But I was afraid he was going to turn around, trained as I was on cinema and the inability of filmmakers everywhere to show the slightest modicum of restraint in such things. Hence my stomach lurched. And then, Tarkin turned around.
Star Wars and Adjusted Expectations
Herein I use Star Wars to refer to the entirety of the franchise (the films and ancillary media) rather than the original film from 1977.
When I first learned that Disney had acquired Star Wars from George Lucas I was incredibly excited. Finally the films could break new and unexpected ground free from the shackles of Lucas' very flawed vision. I imagined Star Wars brought to life through the lens of my own preferences, the ideas suggested to me by the early conceptual artworks from the original trilogy. I imagined a dark contemplative fantasy, perhaps exploring the question of why the dark side of the force was seemingly so much more powerful than the light side, hinting at an ultimately evil order at the seat of power. I imagined a minimalist musical score, perhaps haunting electronica, juxtaposed against technology so advanced and ancient that its purpose has been long forgotten. I let my mind run wild, and then I realized the ridiculousness of my thinking and reigned in my imagination. As I reflected on the Star Wars films, I recognized that I did not appreciate them so much on their own as I appreciated what they brought to life visually and what those visuals suggested to my own imagination. I didn't care for the narrative or even the characters, I wanted something closer to Dune perhaps, with some of the aesthetic and production values of Star Wars (or rather, the production values that a Star Wars film could afford). It occurred to me that if those at Disney felt as I did they would not have purchased Star Wars at all. If all one is interested in is the promise of Star Wars then one can go ahead and make their own take on the thing, keep it original and avoid all criticism of straying too far from the proven formula. To purchase Star Wars is to signal a keen interest in what Star Wars is and what it promises. What it is may be many things to many people, but to most certain things are common: a throwback pulp-serial adventure, a pastiche of genres, a classic good vs. evil story, wrapped in the latest filmmaking spectacle and technology. Realistically I had little interest in Star Wars as understood by most of the audience and therefore little reason to be excited by it. So I adjusted my expectations and came to expect little other than repetitions of what had been done with the property before.
When I first learned that Disney had acquired Star Wars from George Lucas I was incredibly excited. Finally the films could break new and unexpected ground free from the shackles of Lucas' very flawed vision. I imagined Star Wars brought to life through the lens of my own preferences, the ideas suggested to me by the early conceptual artworks from the original trilogy. I imagined a dark contemplative fantasy, perhaps exploring the question of why the dark side of the force was seemingly so much more powerful than the light side, hinting at an ultimately evil order at the seat of power. I imagined a minimalist musical score, perhaps haunting electronica, juxtaposed against technology so advanced and ancient that its purpose has been long forgotten. I let my mind run wild, and then I realized the ridiculousness of my thinking and reigned in my imagination. As I reflected on the Star Wars films, I recognized that I did not appreciate them so much on their own as I appreciated what they brought to life visually and what those visuals suggested to my own imagination. I didn't care for the narrative or even the characters, I wanted something closer to Dune perhaps, with some of the aesthetic and production values of Star Wars (or rather, the production values that a Star Wars film could afford). It occurred to me that if those at Disney felt as I did they would not have purchased Star Wars at all. If all one is interested in is the promise of Star Wars then one can go ahead and make their own take on the thing, keep it original and avoid all criticism of straying too far from the proven formula. To purchase Star Wars is to signal a keen interest in what Star Wars is and what it promises. What it is may be many things to many people, but to most certain things are common: a throwback pulp-serial adventure, a pastiche of genres, a classic good vs. evil story, wrapped in the latest filmmaking spectacle and technology. Realistically I had little interest in Star Wars as understood by most of the audience and therefore little reason to be excited by it. So I adjusted my expectations and came to expect little other than repetitions of what had been done with the property before.
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