The sixth and final episode in George Lucas’ epic STAR WARS series is about to descend on us, but, asks novelist Rodge Glass, does its appeal lie in anything stronger than nostalgia?
came to Slur IIUH late. on the night
of tlie 2()()l general election. hack in
the days when .lar-.lar Binks had only recently been (‘(}l‘d into ahominahle creation. I was \ isiting a friend and we were preparing for' a long night of Peter Snow‘s sw'ingometer. htit our plans were quickly abandoned when the conversation suddenly turned from politics to lilm. My friend was shocked when I proudly claimed never to have seen Slur ll'iirs. and there was something of the Dungeons & Dragons in his expression as he struggled not to boil oyer with horror. He immediately hegan r‘ilIing through old dttsty piles of tapes and. without even consulting Peter Snow. ptit an old. hattered copy of the liliii on. talking agitatedly all the way through ahout wliy Stormtroopers were ‘tinswcryingly loyal to the Iimperor". pointing at the screen. developing theories. We didn‘t recognise each other any more I was a memher of a rare. strange breed that had somehow managed to ayoid this critical cultural landmark. and he was frotlting at the mouth. The election was pretty mtrch a re-rtin of l‘)‘)7. and there was none of the misplaced euphoria of that night. so we didn‘t miss much. But the Star lliirs' argument went on for hours. The .\'ew Order. it seemed. was hriefly more important than whether Tony got another term.
I didn’t get it at the beginning. 'I.ooks like a had late-night (‘hannel 5 lilmf I said. ‘Remind me. who's the hig hairy dog guy 1" ‘\\'liat‘s The I-'orce'.’ And can more than one person have it at once'." But four years later I have heen won oycr from the Dark Side. Sort of. My perspective is similar to most popular opinion first three films very good. last two (and trailers fora third . . . go to w w w.starw ars.coin if you want to he disappointed) \ery. very had. The original was a low budget. spirited thing nohotly wanted to fund -- yet it made a real impact and spawned fan-cluhs worldwide. So why have the multi- million dollar follow-tips w e’ve seen in recent years failed so spectactrlarly'.’ tllaye you ever heard anyone quote .'\II(lt'/\' (i/‘i/ie ('lniies apart from to laugh at it'.’)
lior what it's worth. here's my theory: the magic of the lil‘sl three lilms killed
any realistic possibility of the newer
ones being any good. \Vhy'.’ Because when a phenomenon like Slur ll'ui's unexpectedly grips the puhlic imagination. ey'ery'thing that comes with it makes that virtually impossihle. The once-mocked creator hecomes rich. famous. idolised. and ultimately helieyes his own hype. lians verge on
the obsessive. (‘onventions are horn. Plastic dolls are made. Speculation parallelling Darth Vader's dialogue with spookily-similar political speeches in Sotith America in the mid-l98()s is somehow taken seriously. ()nce films have permeated every part of society in this way. follow-ups eun't succeed artistically. And anyway. the attitude to the new ventures seemed to he: bigger! better! faster? more! Which missed the point entirely.
Star Wars was the ultimate story of
good against evil. It was a classic comhination of all the things lilm fans want: escapism. loss. betrayal and love -— with plenty of political stihtext in there too. for the sci-ti fanatics to get excited ahotit. .‘illlllit’ lIu// may have heert the critical success of the year. nahhing the hig ()scai's. htit Slur Hit/iv heat the lot with six gongs and went on to he one of the highest—grossing lilrns ever. It was a rare. true. unexpected pltenornenon. As (ieorge Lucas said. it
demonstrated ‘an old—fashioned sense of
right and wrong‘ attd that was a welcome relief in 1977. Modern teenagers may lind it hard to believe.
EVERYONE IS TOO BUSY LOOKING BACK, SAYING ‘COOL', TO MAKE THE NEW
STUFF GOOD
httt there are still perfectly sane. capahle people all over the planet who turn gooey when descrihing their lirst Slur lliirs experience. The hairs standing tip on the hack of their neck the lirst time they saw a light sahre or heard the
words. ‘I am your father". The cries of
‘I love you!’ directed at (‘arrie I’isher from the hack of the cinema. That's how special it seemed to them. This month. those same people will ohediently
trundle in to watch the new lilrn. out of
loyalty to the original. only to come otit complaining that l)artli Vader‘s ears don‘t look right. It‘s a long way from overnight queues around the hlock to liwan McGregor sighing deeply when Michael Parkinson asks him whether his kids will he proud their dad was in Revenge (i/‘I/Ir‘ SIT/I.
In that same Parkie interview. alter a few seconds umming and aalting ahout whether he was sad or relieved that his commitment to Slur lliirx would soon he over. .\Ic(iregor descrihed how uninspiring it is to stand in front of a hltie screen for ten hours a day
pretending to light — and you can tell when you watch the scenes. The early films offered a fantastical htit crtrcially helievahle universe that was not dependent on quality of explosion. htit on strong heroes and villains. and a simple hook. Instead of remembering this. people like McGregor‘. who loved Star Wars- the first time round as kids. have grown tip. become famous. and got caught tip in the myth. Samuel L Jackson has been repeatedly quoted saying he didn't care much for being Mace Windtr. he just thought it would he cool to say he was in a Star Wars lilrn »— and that‘s part of the problem. Nostalgia. Iiveryone is too busy looking hack saying '(‘ooll‘ to make the new sttiff good. ()n 1‘) May we may he proved wrong (an early. embargo- htisting review on Variety.com is surprisingly positive) htrt it‘s unlikely.
Strangely. enthusiasm surrounding the release of Revenge (if the Sit/I doesn't seem to have heert dampened greatly by the last two lIops. ()n the contrary. their ayerageness suits devotees and casual ohservers alike: ‘Yeah. well. I'm only interested in the early stttff.’ we can say. renewing our adulation of the originals. complaining about the new. Iiight scenes in Iipisode VI. for example. are made all the more special hy the painful memory of Yoda‘s latrghahle one in Attack oft/1e (Tones. When the poor television series appears (and yes. it‘s coming) the sales of the old lilrns will prohahly go tip. not down. and most people will watch the new series anyway. if only to criticise.
This month. (ieorge Lucas said: ‘Power corrupts. and when you‘re in charge. you start doing things that you think are rigltt. htit they‘re actually not.‘ Perhaps he should have moved to the hoardroom and let sortiehody else take over: someone who didn't care for the myth. Iiveryone thought the second trilogy was a guaranteed success — and perhaps it has been. if you count success only by hums on seats rather than chatter on the way otit. So they’ll keep milking the legacy. right tip until no-one can rernernher what it all meant. whether it meant anything at all — in anniversary hox-sets. and dissection of every line. every (‘hristmas until the end of time. We recycle past glories. instead of trying to create new ones. Let McGregor play—light on hltie-screen to empty cinemas. If nobody watched. they might think again about the Iipisode XXII cartoon series.
General release from Thu 19 May. Rodge Glass’ novel, No Fireworks, is published by Faber on Thu 7 Jul.
WHAT HAS STAR WARS EVER GIVEN US?
Mark Robertson explores the real legacy of Star Wars.
5’ Movie merchandising Lucas had the balls to sell kids an empty box. an ‘early bird package' which enabled fans to get their hands on act.on figures the moment they were made. spawning a billion--do‘ilar industry of Wooxie cookie iars and Yoda pyjamas.
5/ CGI
Industrial Light and Magic. the company set up by Lucas. pioneered every kind of special effect known to Holiywood.
s/ Harrison Ford
It was a toss-up between him and Nick Nozte. but Ford was plucked from me workbench the was a carpenter by trade'i to play Han Solo. the blueprint tor every CelltiIOid rogue since.
./ Work for ‘Iittle’ folk Lucas" unive se was pOpuiatc-d \‘.’|ili roles for the more diminutive end of the acting spectrum. Dwaryes rather than midgets were employed as Lwoks as their proportions were less like little men.
V Phill Jupitus
This rottind mirth—maker managed to sustain an entire stand-up career On his love of the 'Wars and its ensuing cultural detritus.
I/ Upping the ante Star l/l/ars set the sei-ti scnpting benchmark so high that subsequent filmmakers had to create something so big and convoluted — eg Dune and The Matrix ~ that it took a brain the size of a planet Just to work out who w; s lioni where.
I/ Jon Bon Jovi
I'he 'Iegendaiy' Star ‘i'i/ais Christmas album centained the debut of iB-yearold Jon Beiigiovi. singing a duet With H902 on 'We Wish You a Merry Christinas'.
Qt?» May L/K‘Uii THE LIST 17