Might as well savor this moment, folks because it won’t happen very often. I actually agree with Matthew Yglesias.
…it occurred to me for the first time that a new generation who watches the six movie cycle starting with The Phantom Menace is going to wind up with a very different perception of the story than the original audience got. This is true in terms of a few big plot points, like that whole thing about Darth Vader being Luke’s father, but also in terms of some broader atmospheric points. The beginning A New Hope is cloaked in a sense of mystery. For all we know old Ben Kenobi really is just a crazy old man and Han Solo’s skepticism about “hokey religions” is justified. The audience rides along with Luke throughout the film, learning to trust in the power of the Force. New audiences won’t have that experience, they’ll already know much much more than Luke does…
I must say that, as I watched A New Hope tonight, I has to intentionally suppress any memory I had of the prequels. Darth Vader’s first entrance, complete with minor-key fanfare, isn’t important once you’ve known him at “little Ani”. His cruelty with the Rebel commander on the blockade runner or with the Imperial officer on the Death Star looks like petulance once you’ve seen him whine and pule his way the prequels. Once you know how Luke and Obi-Wan got to Tatooine, their meeting in the desert doesn’t make any real sense (like when Obi-Wan tells Luke that he hasn’t used that name “since before you were born” even though we know darned well that he didn’t just adopt the name “Ben” while attending the twins’ birth and I’m pretty sure someone used his name before Yoda split the twins up).
Han looks really foolish in his skepticism, since we know that Jedi Knights are darned-near superheroes. The fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader looks like a broomstick dance between two nursing home residents compared to the Matrix-like duels we saw in the prequels. His line to Vader that he will become stronger than the Sith can ever know is ridiculous considering what Anakin had to have known about Qui-Gon Jinn. The end battle over the Death Star is…well…old and boring once you’ve seen the CGI-fests of Revenge of the Sith.
Ross Douthat has the right approach. When I’m ready to introduce my children to the wondrous world of Star Wars, he prequels will be cinema non grata.
(via memeorandum)
Tags: Star Wars
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