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November 02, 2005
Star Wars: greatest postmodern art film ever?
Says Aidan Wasley at Slate, is it, yes: "Every text depends on the balance between inspiration and authorial control, and Lucas makes that tension the principal subject of his film. Lucas, like every author, is Luke to his own Palpatine—both the surrenderer to chance (as in Harrison Ford's memorably ad-libbed "I know" in response to the scripted "I love you" from Leia), and the rigorous, arranging schemer (as epitomized in the films' elaborate special effects).
"Anakin is the tension-filled creative midpoint between the two: "the balance of the Force." And if we want to critique Lucas' own text, we might do so using the theoretical terms he himself has set up and suggest that the parts that are least successful are the moments when the artistic balance tips too far toward either the Light or the Dark Sides. For instance, the much-deplored dependence on computer animation in the prequels, which opened up spectacular vistas at the expense of feeling and characterization, can be seen as Lucas tilting dangerously toward the Dark Side. There's no place for serendipity in a pixilated galaxy, since every digital detail must be planned and plotted and programmed. And similarly, Jar Jar Binks, the films' most notorious misstep and an explicit signifier of bumbling whimsy, looks like an error of unbearable Lightness. Characteristic of these films' dizzying self-reflexivity, Lucas even seems to acknowledge these stumbles toward excess within the structure of the films themselves." [Yes, there is much more at the link.]
Posted by pride at November 2, 2005 09:19 AM
Comments
Theories and guns: both should be kept out of the hands of children.
Posted by: Blackcloud ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 3, 2005 11:05 AM
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