Re: Salinger turns to the Dark Side

jason varsoke (jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com)
Tue, 29 Jun 1999 17:32:08 -0400 (EDT) 

On Mon, 28 Jun 1999, Jim Rovira wrote:

> I appreciate your appreciation for the Star Wars movies, but I think
> Perfection is a bit of an exaggeration :)  The characters all seemed
> "stock" to me.  Luke, the young hero, is blonde haired and blue eyed and
> dresses in white.  Darth, the bad guy, is half man and half machine and
> dresses all in black.  Han is your typical rogue character, and Obi-Wan
> your typical sage.  What's the difference between a "typical, stock
> character" and an archetype?  One word is meant as praise and the other
> as criticism :)  That's the main thing.  

   Let's look at how Lucas's characters play with and are deviations from
your normal stock characters.

Luke - our hero.  Whines like hell thoughout the movie.  Clearly immature.
Yet saves the universe.

Leia - our princess.  Sarcasatic, whitty, assertive, confident, empowered.

Han - our rogue.  Cunning, confident, has all the moves, yet things just
don't go right for him sometimes.  "It's not my fault."  All out for
money, yet turns around with a moral consciousness.  In the end, even
questions his atheism, "Hey Luke. . . may the Force be with you." (hanger
seen before Deathstar assult.

Darth - our evil.  Damn evil.  Yet very religious.  "Your lack of faith is
disturbing."

Obi-wan - our sage.  Well, yes our sage.  He doesn't really get
interesting until after the first movie.  But then again, he does die half
way through the film.

   Look I just started on this.  I'm not even breathing hard yet.  But I
don't have time to really dive into this stuff at this moment.  Suffice to
say the above characteristics are all present in the first movie, SW.
After that they become much more complex.  And in some ways in the other
movies they become much more stock.  But you should see that there are at
least two things happening.  For example, in the second movie, you get the
impression that Obi-wan, our sage, is kinda immature himself, or at least
not as mature as Yoda, not as wise.  He too has a master, yoda.  For a
Western Medival tale, it certainly has a lot of Shogun blended into it.
   
   You have to remember, Lucas is playing with the Epic, he's playing with
the classic story of G v. E, in the middle age fairy tale.  He has to
start with the stock characters.  This in some ways a stock story.  Good
v. Evil, save the princess from the evil tower, small, untrained, but good
hearted few defeat elite, many, black hearted many.  But then again Mobey
Dick is about a guy trying to kill a whale.


Let go Luke.
-jason