Movie Musings: Star Wars Déjà Vu
In our first ever Movie Musing, we examine how A New Hope Awakened The Force
A quick intro — Movie Musings is a monthly installment where we will be exploring relevant trends, themes, our thoughts in general on popular cinema. These aren’t meant to be strictly movie recaps or spoilers (though to discuss our chosen point we may have to reveal a few things so, probable spoiler alert), but more to delve further into topics we find interesting. With that settled, here we go!
As I was watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it became clear that a lot of the movie is extremely similar to Star Wars: A New Hope, a.k.a. the original. Since The Force Awakens marks the official start of new movies being added to the famous space saga, we thought we’d do a bit of compare and contrast between the latest episode and the one that started it all.
The Framework — Both movies have very similar skeletons. A member of the Rebels/Resistance (Princess Leia/Poe Dameron) travels into enemy territory to find a Jedi who is crucial to their current fight (Obi Wan Kenobi/Luke Skywalker). Adventures ensue. The bad guys are building a circular weapon to kill those that get in their way (The Death Star/Starkiller) and in the end, the good guys blow it up and thwart evil plans. So far, we’ve seen this movie before.
Luke Skywalker and Rey — Both characters start out on VERY sandy planets and encounter a droid that starts their involvement in a whole mess of space shenanigans. In both movies, Luke and Rey come across Han Solo, who’s looking to just live his life and not get involved in their antics, until he finally has to. By 3/4 of the way into each movie, both come to realize they have some connection to the force to be explored later.
The Bad Guys — Original bad guy Darth Vader and new bad guy, his grandson Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver, best known from HBO’s Girls), both sport uniforms of black capes and masks while working through their daddy issues. But it’s worth noting that while Darth Vader was a relatively competent commander, Kylo is clearly a kid learning how to lead.
Grandpa and grandson both work for a higher being (Emperor Palpatine/Supreme Leader Snoke). But while in the original movie Palpatine was clearly a human man, so far Snoke only appears as a 40-foot tall… thing. And in a nice surprise, Kylo takes off his mask in The Force Awakens so we’re not left wondering for 3 movies what’s underneath, like the world did with his grandfather. This already makes Adam Driver’s character more human, more emotional, slightly less intimidating.
The Nazis Are Back — In both movies the bad guys evoke a level of Nazi-ness (ex: style of uniforms, vertical banners, etc.).
The First Order’s uniforms are admittedly more stylish than those of the Imperial Officers in the original. Nuff said on this point.
The Biggest Change — It’s hard not to admit that as viewers, we’re looking for who’s going to take over the key good guy roles of Leia, Luke, and Han (portrayed by Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford) for a new generation. There are no clear successors in The Force Awakens and instead the new kids on the block Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron (Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and newly minted Golden Globe winner and Guatemalan hottie Oscar Isaac*) fill the roles in refreshing ways.
*Side note: Seriously, we should now all be aware of Oscar Isaac. I’ll admit to a minor obsession but I present this Vanity Fair article as proof that I’m not alone.
Poe Dameron has flashes of Han and Luke, and could easily be a future General Leia in that he’s already a very confident and ranking member of the Resistance; Rey more definitively fills the gaps left by Luke and Han (channeling the force within her, while also literally taking over for Han in the Millennium Falcon); Finn is a totally new type of a character (he’s a freaking ex-Stormtrooper!) who so far has some Han-like attitude, but with the potential to be a leader like Leia given the intel he has to offer.
Why It All Works — Some fans of the series have called The Force Awakens a “rip-off” because of the similarities (see director J.J. Abrams’ response here), but I think it was a great idea to, on one hand, tap into the nostalgia factor by using the same plot from the original and bringing back the original actors we love, and at the same time giving it a fresh feel by letting the new actors make the latest episode in the series their own. The timeless themes of good versus evil, the effects family and friendships have on us, having faith in yourself, are all still present and enjoyable. The special effects are definitely great but in the end, it’s still all about these characters and their journeys.
If you haven’t seen either, I highly recommend seeing both, or ALL in the series (For those thinking about a marathon, here’s an interesting blog post by Rod Hilton on the best watch order.).
Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977)| Rating: PG | Category: Action/Adventure/Fantasy | Directed by George Lucas
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)| Rating: PG-13 | Category: Action/Adventure/Fantasy | Directed by J.J. Abrams
