Where have all the Cowboys Jedi gone?
Don’t read this if you haven’t seen Rogue One. You won’t get it. And it contains spoilers. So there.
The latest addition to the Star Wars cinematic universe, a supplement if you will, is perhaps the best addition to the series in my lifetime, even surpassing The Force Awakens.
While there are certainly elements of the story that make it feel like your classic Star Wars movie, (a hero with a less than ideal childhood, a droid that provides comic relief, the whole space and lasers thing), what sets it apart from the other films is the overall dark, grim tone of the experience.
When Rogue One was first announced, I remember being excited at the prospect of a Star Wars film without any Jedi (for the most part). Despite it being right there in the title, Star Wars movies don’t really feel like “war” movies. War movies aren’t targeted for children audiences. War movies don’t have warriors with mystical powers who come in to conveniently save the day.
A scarcely viewed teaser trailer with a haunting voice over, followed by a dark screen with soldiers screaming and yelling orders on a battlefield portrayed what kind of movie this was going to be.
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Is the Star Wars franchise primarily a science fiction series, or a fantasy series set in a science fiction setting? How you chooses to answer that question will influence how you view the series. At different points in the story, the genre seems to shift from one to the other.
In a purely science fiction story, heroes get by on their wits and technology. The world they live in is very materialistic in the sense that what you see is what you get. There is no “Force” to help them out. Only tried and true experience, grit, and determination. The strength of the protagonist is very much himself, the human spirit, while not supernatural, is the prevailing force (for lack of a better term) that moves the story ahead.
However, a fantasy story allows the story teller more liberties. He can introduce mystic elements like “the Force” and a sense of destiny and prophecy into the story and bend the established rules of the fictional universe without breaking them.
When we are first introduced to the Star Wars universe in A New Hope, we are led to believe that we are watching a purely science fiction story. There are giant space ships firing lasers at each other, stormtroopers, droids, aliens, and the all the elements of any other sci-fi movie. The movies established what has been deemed a “used space” feel. Yes things were futuristic, but nothing was in pristine condition. The worlds felt dirty, populated with people who have lived there a long time.
Then we are introduced to the Jedi Kinght Obi-Wan Kenobi, lightsabers, and this mysterious energy field that flows through every living creature, the Force. This is what made the original movies so compelling, the juxtaposition of a technologically advanced society and an old forgotten ancient religion, and how the two play off one another. How these ideas and concepts interact with one another always make for beautiful stories and mythologies.
However, over the course of three prequels and numerous animated television shows, the sense and wonder of what it meant to be a Jedi was lost. In a regrettable choice, George Lucas chalked up the ability to use the Force to microorganisms in the blood stream in Episode I. He reversed course from fantasy back to science fiction. But this alone did not dampen the mystique of the Jedi.
They simply became commonplace. The Star Wars universe became oversaturated with Jedi Knights and their stories, and with each new story the viewer is exposed to, the less powerful they appear. They are killed off in droves (surprisingly easily) in the prequels as if they were stormtroopers. They are ubiquitous in the galaxy and no one seems surprised to run into one.
Then they are swiftly purged from the galaxy thanks to Darth Vade and then in the course of 20 years, somehow they are all but forgotten. We were meant to believe that Jedi Knights in the original trilogy are myths, the whole being of their existence questioned, and the phrase, “may the force be with you,” is nothing more than an anachronistic idiom.
With the dawn of a new trilogy in The Force Awakens, the legend of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader all once again mere legends to Rey and Finn, but as the audience we all are waiting for a Jedi to pop up on the screen to conveniently save the day once again. The novelty of a new individual picking up the Jedi mantle is lost on an audience all too familiar with standard Star Wars tropes. When Rey discovers her powers, it’s fun to watch on screen but it is nothing like seeing Luke realize his potential the first time. It’s part of tried and true formula that worked for the all other movies, and a safe bet for rebooting the franchise by Disney, but this safe play was part of the perceived weakness of The Force Awakens.
Enter Rogue One. In this story, there are no Jedi trump cards to play for the protagonists. Listen to that dialogue again from an aged Obi-Wan from the original movie used in the teaser trailer. “For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Before the dark times. Before the empire.” The Jedi, the staple and convenient heroes of all the movies are no where to be found. Instead of looking to Jedi heroes, the characters in the story have only to look to themselves.
This is important to establishing the feel of Rogue One. There is no one coming over the hill (or out of hyperspace) to save the day. The success of our heroes is not based on a wise Jedi Knight, force guided proton torpedoes entering an exhaust port no bigger than a womp rat, the fulfillment of some prophecy about a chosen one or some handy lightsaber skills, but instead on human grit and determination. The protagonists are not idealistic teenage moisture farmers yearning for adventure but instead, cynical beaten down soldiers and criminals who are merely trying to survive in a hopeless war.
The characters of Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen AKA the blind Asian guy) and Baze Malbus ( the other Asian guy with the hair, Jiang Wen) symbolize all that’s left of beliefs about the Force. Chirrut has become a fan favorite, but he’s meant to be seen by his compatriots as a fool. Baze thinks his friend is silly for believing and adhering to way of life that has left them without a home and as outlaws and troublemakers on their home world. Baze believes that the Force has failed him, and has become a Force agnostic if you will. Perhaps he believes there are still greater powers at play, but he is skeptical and apathetic toward them. He has seen too much to remain as optimistic as his friend.
And so instead of a connection to the Force being what is driving our heroes, we are left with more human, perhaps more familiar motivations. A connection to a father by a mercenary (Jyn), the righteous cause of a morally compromised spy (Cassian) and a chance for a defector to redeem himself (Bodi). The element of surprise is the best weapon at their disposal in the climactic (and phenomenal) third act of the movie on the planet Scarif. For the first time perhaps in the whole franchise, the viewer finally feels in the midst of an actual war. The odds are not great with a handful of brave rebels storming a beach against an entire legion of stormtroopers. The characters are not faceless clones or droids or stormtroopers, or cute teddy bear like ewoks, but real soldiers with distinguishable faces.
But this is still a Star Wars movie. The viewer is still holding out hope for a happy ending, that somehow our characters will escape the planet Scarif amidst impossible odds. This franchise is too lucrative for a one-off movie and miraculous escapes are common place…
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One website I read regularly, proclaimed Rogue One to be the best war movie since Saving Private Ryan, which seemed hyperbolic at the time I read that, because you know WWII was a real historical event and, did he really just compare that to the fictional Galactic Civil War?… I didn’t think those two movies could be compared. But the end of Rogue One begins to take a dark turn when the comic relief, K-2, is killed (can droids be killed?), and viewer slowly realizes, this is not going to end well for these guys. The members of the party slowly are killed off, one by one much like the company in Saving Private Ryan (although definitely not as savagely or gut-wrenching). There will be no happy ending, no romantic kiss and ride off into the sunset for Jyn and Cassian, (but there is a sunset! kind of…)
But whereas in Saving Private Ryan, the point of scouring across Europe to find one soldier and holding a bridge in a middle of nowhere town seemed pointless in the grand scheme of the war, the mission to get the Death Star plans are of utmost importance in Rogue One and is the basis for A New Hope. We finally get to see the forgotten heroes, the untold story of the greater universe in the Star Wars mythology. A real sacrifice was made. A real sense of loss begets a true sense of hope.
Before the movie ends, we are reminded of the fantasy side of the Star Wars when Darth Vader steps into the battle for the most memorable 20 seconds of the movie, where the bad-assery of Darth Vader is finally realized on screen for the first time in 40 years.
This is the great irony and twist and genius of the movie. We have been led to believe there are no Jedi in the galaxy anymore. The Force has been sidelined for the entirety of the movie (aside for some moments from Chirrut, but he is not to be confused with a Jedi by any means). We have been following a story about humans and the desire to do good. But by the time Vader arrives to the scene, our heroes are dead (and would have been powerless to stop him at any rate)
The only character we are familiar with ignites his red lightsaber in a darkened hallway. He stands as a god among mere mortals. The legend of Darth Vader finally has some visual credibility. The most feared man in the galaxy makes his entrance and without mercy slaughters a hallway full of rebels. The look of fear on their faces is something to remember. We as the viewers, 2 hours into the movie and almost having forgotten about Jedi and lightsabers, are quickly reminded of the larger powers at play in the universe. The true villains are not power hungry military bureaucrats, not even a battle station with the power to destroy planets, but literal gods among men.
We are reminded that this is a Star Wars movie after all, the blend of science fiction and fantasy is complete. A (fallen) Jedi shows up out of the blue. Just not in the way we have come to expect.
Perhaps this gives the interaction between Vader and one of his military cohorts more gravitas in A New Hope
The juxtaposition, the conflict between technological and modern might with a “sorcerer’s ways” is shown here once more, this time on the dark side of the force.
By limiting the screen time of the most popular character in the series, his legend is actually enhanced and helps to reestablish some of the lost aura of the mainstays of the franchise.
Rogue One gives the little guys their moment in the sun and lets the unsung heroes of Star Wars shine. But ultimately we all know they are just a small, albeit important, part of a much larger story. Star Wars supposes that the universe is too big and vast to be purely materialistic or to chalk everything up to fate and mysterious powers. The blend of the two, the material and and the unseen, is what makes for such a powerful, and relatable story.
theordinarylayman 