Poor Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru... Oh Well!

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Well, I believe that such a scene wasn't necessary. I looked down, thought about it.. but, the story, being the archetype of the adventrue, needed to expand at that point rather than stop for reflection. The narrative was picking up momentum, and following ht beats along that path.

I think that's what I hate the most about the prequels, is that Lucas didn't pay enough attention to the how the stories are paced, and how you can build momentum from emotional and narrative landmarks and move forward. He was nearly able to achieve this at the end of ROTS, because the Order 66 really takes the narrative and thrusts it forward.

[Kelthaz]

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

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He was nearly able to achieve this at the end of ROTS, because the Order 66 really takes the narrative and thrusts it forward.

And then they refer to the children killed as "younglings" and the whole moment is lost.

[sojourner]

Yeah, the use of the word "younglings" was a strange choice there. It dehumanizes the tragedy (and the power) of the moment in a way that saying "you killed the children" would have brought.

[RJDiogenes]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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I like to think that Luke and Leia were demonstrating the lack of empathy and underlying selfishness that you would expect of sithspawn. Great foreshadowing, George!

True. Their father was a psychopath and their mother was a necrophiliac-- the nuts don't fall far from the tree.

[Gaith]

The fact that he calls them "Uncle" and "Aunt", rather than "Mom" and "Dad" or even their first names, suggests to me that they may never have been terribly fond of each other.

Heck, for all we know from ANH, Luke spent most of his childhood in the care of a larger, warmer family, and only started living in the isolation of the homestead when he became old enough to be useful there. Kinda like professional apprenticeships in the days before formal education of children became the norm - not as tough as slavery, but nowhere near as loving as parenting as we think of it today.

[Set Harth]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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their mother was a necrophiliac

Clearly I'm WAY behind on my Clone Wars viewing...

[teacake]

lurok wrote:

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Didn't Family Guy cover this?

First time I saw SW, I did find the charred bodies a bit: woah there, George!

That was actually my first movie gore. It still resonates the emotional impact it had the first time when I see it today.

[Temis the Vorta]

Set Harth wrote:

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Clearly I'm WAY behind on my Clone Wars viewing...

Urk. It's a kid's show people! Maybe I should just skip the current season?

[Temis the Vorta]

sojourner wrote:

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It was the effect of the blue milk. Little known fact: The empire distributes blue milk to every citizen free of charge. It's been engineered to keep people in "good health" and is a major part of the state run medical plan.

That would explain this:

[stj]

Owen and Beru have to die so that Luke is an orphan Hero. Also, because it's why Luke is instantly a die hard rebel with a cause. Also, because someone who matters has to die horribly so that we understand the Empire is evil. This is the US, there are lots of people who prefer Empire and find great satisfaction in seeing its enemies slaughtered, so this had to be dramatized so our sympathies fell right.

As to why it is right and proper that Luke be so unfeeling, well there was a severely compressed time frame,. Pausing at all, much less pausing to indulge a downer moment for personal loss, wasn't really in the cards.

Nonetheless when all is said and done, the writing for the first movie simply wasn't that good. Any perceived deterioration for the prequel trilogy is imaginary.

[arch101]

This has probably been discussed in another post, but, when you take into account the total deaths from Alderaan, the Death Star, Owen and Beru, Greedo, various Stormtroopers, Jawas and rebel pilots, this movie has one helluva death toll! And what did we all do? We sat in the audience and CHEERED! This is NOT a film about empathy.

[JD]

I can understand not stopping in the middle of the action for a scene of Luke and Leia grieving their loses, but it would have been nice if there was something maybe at the end showing them paying tribute to those loses.

[sojourner]

stj wrote:

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Owen and Beru have to die so that Luke is an orphan Hero. Also, because it's why Luke is instantly a die hard rebel with a cause. Also, because someone who matters has to die horribly so that we understand the Empire is evil.

Or to put it in modern action movie vernacular, "Shit just got real".

[TV's Frank]

I think some of you guys are missing the point of what the original STAR WARS was. It is a brilliant distillation of Heroic mythology plus 30's film science fiction tropes with a dash of Eastern philosophy. In much of the myth I have read from several cultures, there is death of parents/family for the main character(s) and once this occurs and acknowledged, the story moves on because it has to. It is being exactly what it is supposed to be. The hero is put through his trials and doesn't stop to internalize much or have conversations with side characters about struggling with the loss of his parents. The story and the hero's journey are key and the whole point of what the audience should be focused on, not his internal emotional state. STAR WARS is mythical archetypes writ large on the big screen and in space and it does exactly what it needs to follow this model on purpose, not due to some oversight or failing by Lucas, and to ask the film to be something else is your misunderstanding, not the film's fault.

STAR WARS also is a personal story as it mirrors and plays out on the feelings Lucas had as a kid in Modesto wanting to escape to a more exciting life. Luke is his avatar and the loss of parental figures is indeed the springboard required by the story (and the mythological basis) to get him out of town and onto exciting new places and adventures. This was also the late 70's and STAR WARS was pivotal in bringing a sense of fun back to the theaters when the country was in the doldrums following Vietnam and the recession. Movies are ALWAYS a product of the time in which they were made, you cannot look at them in a vacuum or without this context and compare to how movies are presented today.

If STAR WARS was made today, you can bet there would be more lip service paid to the character's emotional state following the loss of his parental figures, as most movies today want to divulge and discuss their hero's emotional and psychological motivations openly. Sometimes this works and sometimes you see complaints of it being unnecessary, slowing the film down, awkwardly handled, etc etc. But, you know as saying the goes, the Internet does not know what it wants.

STAR WARS could have included more discussion of character's feelings after losing family, but then it wouldn't have been the movie it is today. I feel like it's akin to asking a sibling or a best friend to be a different person instead of just accepting them as they are and appreciating the qualities they already possess. If STAR WARS doesn't have everything that you want in a movie, then find another movie, but don't blame STAR WARS for somehow being something it's not meant to be.

[Turtletrekker]

^ Well stated.