We’ll be coming back to this idea a bit later. He thinks the murder of his own father is going to set him free, but it only results in more emotional damage and even more anger. Han’s death is the inverse of that-he doesn’t know it yet, but this is the point where Kylo Ren (Ben Solo, the erstwhile son of Han and Leia) breaks. The deaths of Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace ( Episode I), and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope serve the same function in that their deaths allow our heroes (Obi-Wan and Anakin, and later Luke) to take charge of their destiny, no longer in the shadow of their father figures. By the time The Force Awakens rolls around, it’s almost a joke. The emphasis in the narrative changes with each version of the same story-the Death Star was the point in A New Hope, it was the thing to be defeated.
It’s repetitive, to be sure, but I’d prefer to describe it as iterative. Time and again in Star Wars we revisit the exact same plots-the evil Empire has built a Death Star (three times, and yes, The Force Awakens ’ “Starkiller Base” is just a Death Star with a new lick of paint), a reluctant hero has to bravely return to save his friends (Han Solo saw a lot of himself in Finn for a reason), and mentors and fathers and father figures have to die again, and again, and again. Functionally, though, the three blur into each other. And the climax of Attack of the Clones ( Episode II) takes place in a gladiatorial arena. The climax of The Empire Strikes Back ( Episode V) occurs in much the same way, but it’s not in a forest, it takes place in a city in the clouds. Why did I spend so much time describing the climax of 2015’s The Force Awakens ( Episode VII)? Because “it’s just us now.” The fairytale setting wasn’t lost on me when I first saw the movie, but it’s that line that has stuck with me. It’s what makes these movies so much fun. The confrontation quickly descends into a duel: the boy is injured, and the girl wrecks the monster, finally leaving him bleeding in the snowy forest as the ground splits and the monster is left on the other side of the chasm, where he can no longer follow his worst impulses and hurt the girl and boy.Įventually, the forest blows up, and our heroes fly away on spaceships because that’s what happens in Star Wars -space explosions, overblown emotions, and strange magics. They’re what matters to the universe at this moment.
Instead, our heroes, a boy and a girl-young, brave, and devastated over the death of their mentor-turn to face their monster.īut the monster’s just a man, bleeding and furious and deeply miserable. There’s no way that they’d ever be able to outrun his anger.
They’re trying to get away from the monster chasing them, but it’s no use. Our heroes are running through a black forest, snow on the ground.
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