In The Force Awakens a black man is tasered twice, drinks putrid water from a trough alongside an animal resembling a pig, and - in his own words - states that he used to work in sanitation. OK. Let's let those details slide. Call me politically correct. A Cambridge lefty. I can take it. By the way, that black man is the film's male lead. Does that make everything okay?
By now everyone pretty much agrees that there are no major surprises, aesthetically or narratively, in The Force Awakens. OK, maybe the aerial dogfights have a few more twists and turns than last time, and what happens to Han Solo is, well, something of a surprise (though we all saw it coming). But everything from the film's color palette to its chase-scene structure (where's the map? C'mon people!) smacks of deja vu all over again. Of course, it's supposed to. You don't make a billion dollars on a $350 million investment (that's some cabbage right there, folks!) innovating. You make it by playing to your base. This dumbed down installment of the franchise is sorely lacking in the great political intrigue and back room negotiating that took place in so many of the other Star Wars films. Let me remind everyone of the diplomatic brinksmanship that took place between the empire and the resistance in previous entries. We enjoyed watching Sith leaders, republic princesses, Jedi knights, and lost family members moving as if on a chessboard, trying to outguess, outfox, outdo each other. I do not see any of that in The Force Awakens. Once it sets up its formula it's basically an inter-galactic game of "tag, you're it" and nuance, intrigue, or mystery be damned. But, okay, we can let that slide as well. After all, if in Jurassic World we wanted to see "more teeth" (bigger dinos), in The Force Awakens we want to see "bigger bangs", larger death stars exploding, though the screen size is still the same!
Is it unpatriotic to not have enjoyed The Force Awakens? Everyone seems to be so gaga about this movie that to dissent may be the kiss of death. OK, call me a rebel here. Sure, I'll reject The First Order and say I did not particularly enjoy watching The Force Awakens. Hang on, however: I do marvel at the technical virtuosity as well as the visual splendor of those early scenes in the desert so reminiscent of earlier Star Wars films as well as David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (not to say Elaine May's underrated Ishtar!). And the space opera family dynamics appear to be laid out in a way designed to engage me, emotionally speaking. But when those intimate, personal exchanges take place, notably between Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, I leave the Star Wars galaxies and find myself in a soap opera set in the San Fernando Valley called As The Universe Turns. Schmaltz Wars, I say.
Additionally, I'm kind of concerned that, in the battle between the good guys and the bad guys, Americans may see themselves too much on the side of the good guys, the rebels (maybe so during America's revolutionary years?). Yet, if you look at the imagery in The Force Awakens, while the bad guys are visually equated with the Third Reich (always a reliable bad "other" - as in not us - guy), there are also images reminiscent of our military's actions in Vietnam. In one sequence we get the First Order sending in air power to decimate a village and storm troopers using blow torches on people and thatched huts. Maybe it's me. I got to watch the final years of the Vietnam war on television so I could not help but draw parallels. We know our government has a dark side. It has more than once engaged in warfare where there was no military parity with the other guys whatsoever. We have a well documented history of taking a sledgehammer approach against our enemies, no matter how weak they are. To my eyes the Pentagon does indeed bear some resemblance to the First Order's arsenal of people and weapons. Now that's probably an unpatriotic idea. Hard to admit, but it's true. And, who knows...maybe we are watching our complete selves up there on that screen. Part light, part dark, our conscious selves aligning with the rebels, our unconscious selves with the First Order.
As unappetizing as this movie was, I concede: I went and saw it, wanting to see it, eager to see what these characters had been up to. And here's the thing: we all want to see it because - regardless of quality or the true nature of its moral compass - it is the only example of collective, shared myth making that everyone consumes at one moment. What's bigger? Not Batman, not Jurassic, and not Pixar. Star Wars is the tale told round the campfire writ globally. Today you can chat about The Force Awakens with anyone anywhere. How's that for your small talk at the airport terminal check in line? Refuse to see it at your own peril. And, uh, may the force be with you.
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