Re: Salinger turns to the Dark Side

Jim Rovira (jrovira@juno.com)
Wed, 30 Jun 1999 18:22:05 -0400 

Well, that's an intelligent reply.  Yes, Lucas is creating myth.      

Jim Rovira
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On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:58:59 -0400 (EDT) jason varsoke
<jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com> writes:
>> Ok, all this is pretty good, but the idea of "redemption" is only
>> meaningful within the context of a black and white distinction 
>between
>> good and evil.  To my knowledge, you don't really have redemption
>> described in, say, the Upanishads.  Just enlightenment.  Luke has to
>> undergo this enlightenment himself, and that much seems consistent.  
>In
>> the first movie he learns to believe in The Force and realize that 
>all
>> nature is One.  But the redemption facets of the film seem alien to 
>this.
>>   It's really more sensible to me to interpret the films' redemption
>> symbolism within the context of Christianity than something like The
>> Force.  I would see Luke's "black clothing" and the fact that he 
>started
>> becoming "mechanical" as symbols of taking on his father's evil to 
>redeem
>> him.  
>> 
>> The mere fact that you have to turn from one side to the other side 
>of
>> the force indicates that it's not the same thing on both sides.  
>When
>> Thor was saying that the difference between good and evil is 
>essentially
>> non-existent, that's consistent with my understanding of the Vedas 
>too. 
>> But there's no acknowledgment of this in the film.  Lucas seems to 
>blend
>> Christian ideas of good and evil and redemption with an essentially
>> Eastern ontology.  It works in the film, but as an intellectual 
>edifice
>> in its own right it's shallow and stupid, and demeaning to both 
>Vedic
>> theology and Christianity.
>
>   I don't think Lucas was espousing religious doctrine.  I don't 
>think he
>was presenting a theory of existence that had any external value.  I 
>don't
>know of anyone who has joined the "Church of the Force."  I also don't
>believe the films can be read as a disertation on Vedas (something I 
>wish
>you'd explain in detail) or Christianity.  It's a synthasis.  Lucas
>borrows from both and like any good writer, uses what works, sheds 
>what
>doesn't.
>   What Lucus is promoting, more than anything else, is Mythology.
>(Bethany, feel free to chime in.)  I'm sure you can look at Homer's 
>Iliad
>and find that the theory of the Gods is pretty callow compared to
>Christianity.  And many of the characters within the text are stock
>(though it could be argued that Homer forged the originals which 
>became
>stock.)  Both stories take a certain amount of suspension of disbelief 
>to
>really understand and marvel at.  How could a silly arrow, severing 
>one
>tendon, destroy a nearly invulerable warrior?  Wouldn't you hear the 
>men
>inside the big horse?  Stuffing wax in your ears hardly makes the 
>world
>silent, especially if someone is singing your favorite song.  And 
>there is
>no way you'd prop your eyelids with splinters, even if everyone else 
>was
>fat and drunk.  And what the heck is with a 16yo hero? (Odyssius).
>   The thing is, Lucus was creating Myth.  Myth is something you 
>believe
>in but know is not the truth.  It explains aspects of life, though
>fiction.  It gives you heros to worship, villians to hate, people to
>emulate, and others to dispise. 
>   More than anything, the test of the Epic is that the characters are
>larger than life.  Test of the Myth is that it permeates our culture.
>   But I think the true test of SW as genius is the way it rapped us.  
>10
>years after the last movie you still saw things like the Rebel Assault
>video game.  You still read things on the internet like, "how to know
>you're a redneck jedi."  Our love of SW has never vanished.  Parents 
>told
>their children the story.  I remember brat sitting for a few kids and 
>they
>were entralled, had figures, and bed sheets.  I asked which movie was
>their favorite.  They didn't know there was more than one (Return).  
>But
>they still identified with the characters.  Still roleplayed being 
>luke
>and Vader.  14 years after the last movie you have people lining up 
>around
>the block to see a movie released 20years ago, but with a few more 
>special
>effects.  16 years after the last movie and you have droves lining up 
>at
>the theaters.  And the truth is, it's not just the 20 somethings who's
>entire life has been influenced by SW.  My parents were almost as 
>exicted
>as I was about the release of E1.  It's probably the most quoted movie 
>on
>record.  You can chalk this all up to a juggernaut of a marketing 
>machine,
>but no marketing campain could ever hold the fickle intrests of the
>American public for 22 years.
>
>> But whaddya expect from Hollywood? :)
>
>certainly not that.
>
>-jason
>

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