brainstorms

Sunday May 22, 2005

random notes: revenge of the sith

to borrow a line from dennett: must we talk about star wars? apparently we must. so i saw the sith as i must; i had seen the new hope in theatres a long time ago in a life far far away. for this installment, awful dialogue is a mere detail [i realised this later while watching a silent chaplin piece] and may as well be in a foreign tongue - the raw power of deceit and murder in brilliant digital imagery and color carries the day. i think the only bothersome detail is how fast one changes permanently from an angry and confused young man deeply in love to a murderous nutbar with remnants of some identity and especially of that love. lucas thinks past displays of weakness and difficulty of letting go of things somehow prepares us for this nearly instant change, but i would argue it does not. there is no falling into a dark side vortex here, but willing service. we are supposed to evaluate this change for someone who has gone (and going) through tough mental training. i guess i have too much respect for a good mind to surrender it easily to cheap storytelling.

i did read anthony lane's hilarious new yorker review. he has some good points, but i think resorts to too much ridicule, and not enough analysis. alas, right on the money in general, when he writes: break me a ****ing give.

related reading: harlan ellison, luke skywalker is a nerd and darth vader sucks runny eggs in harlan ellison's watching, underwood-miller, 1989.
anthony lane, nobody's perfect: writings from the new yorker. [good cover design for the paperback. probably not immediately obvious that it was inspired by saul bass cover and poster art. see anatomy of a murder.]

star wars has no people. - ellison

[image: an 1.5in lego lightsaber, running out of power. oz/05]