Wednesday, February 4, 2015
The darker, more serious Star Wars
There is no doubt that Star Wars became increasingly dark and serious as the series progressed. This may have come as a disappointment to some of the original Star Wars fans, who liked the fun, sillier movies of the 70's. But I think that the progression towards darkness in the series makes sense for two reasons. One, the prequels are really the story of Anakin's life, and his descend into evil. Anakin's personal struggles and the losing of his way and turning into Darth Vader is naturally going to be more serious and dark than the story of Luke, a teenager who is given the quest to save the world and kill the bad guys. That seems obvious to me. Secondly, I think the prequels represent a generational change too. Our culture had, in a way, stagnated in naivety after the end of World War 2. Silly, popcorn movies became big. I think 9/11 did a lot to open up our eyes to the darker realities of the world, and it's reflected in movies like the Star Wars prequels, which revolve around a darker, more serious plot.
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I agree with your supposition. Star Wars undoubtedly became darker after the "fun" initial trilogy, and 9/11 might have played a role in this. I however believe that our culture probably played a larger role. It is always more interesting to see the darker character since they usually posses more depth than the lighter always victorious, and Lucas probably tapped into how much Vader was loved, giving him a prequel. The latter might have forced Lucas to create a darker hero, but I believe that the current culture played a larger role, much like how the popcorn boyhood films of Lucas's day played a large role in shaping his first Star Wars film.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a big difference between the tone of the two trilogies. Episodes 4-6 definitely seem to be more about entertainment and fun with explosions and victories. Aside from the reveal that Darth Vader is Luke's father at the end, there really aren't any dark secrets or plot twists in these films. While in Episodes 1-3, the tone seems to be a lot darker and everything seems to revolve around how all of the characters have dark secrets that slowly become known through the trilogy.
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