Watching Star Wars With Bean: A New Light
Good lord I’m yawning. I’m stretching. I’m scratching crust out of my eyes. Why? Because I was up SO LATE watching the first film in the original STAR WARS trilogy with kiddo. I absolutely promised her I would watch them with her this weekend.
It feels so good to be home. I have done so much traveling these past few weeks. It’s like all I’ve literally done is work and drive to and from LA. So I’m home, and last night Bean kept telling me, “Mom, I’m so happy you’re home.” And we hugged each other TO DEAF as I am fond of saying. At one point, we were talking about all my trips to LA for my art show, and we were talking about my drawing of George and my letter to George that is in my book and which I read at my show and which Bean loves, and kiddo just burst out with, “I’m so glad you’re my mom. I’m so glad you’re an artist. I’m so proud of you.” BIGGEST SMILE ON MY FACE AND IN MY HEART EVER.
Then we got down to the business of watching STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE. Now I gotta tell you, when I watched the movie when it first came out and I was fourteen years old, I was BORED TO TEARS. The only scene that caught my eye was the trash compactor. But I’m so much older and wiser now. Watching the film with kiddo last night, here are some of the things I noticed.
The movie looks really beautiful. The cinematography is great. The scenes are perfectly composed, and the LIGHTING is spectacular. Of course, part of the reason the lighting is spectacular is because the movie was shot on FILM which I pointed out every five minutes saying, “You can’t achieve that kind of lighting with digital filming.” Which is TRUE! For example, the lighting inside the Death Star which is mostly black, white and gray absolutely glows, and there are myriads of textures and degrees of lighting on the minimal surfaces. It’s quite beautiful.
Bean pointed out and I agree that the old computer special effects look awesome and not cheesy, and that it’s really great that in the new movie they used the same kind of effects even though this is the 21st century. Continuity is important! I noted Lucas’s brilliant use of spot color. Little red lights and green lights etc are often the only color within a scene. This is the kind of stuff I wouldn’t have noticed when I was fourteen though Bean would have because I’m her film critic Mom now.
I love the bleak desert landscapes and all the industrial stuff. Bean and I were oohing and ahhing over every industrial relic mode of transportation in the film and said WE WANT ONE. I noticed things like the little trashcan droid. He is adorable.
Speaking of adorable, R2D2 and CP30 are the cutest gay couple ever. I noticed how brilliant George Lucas affects emotion in his droids. For example, whenR2 is pissed, he tilts his head down, the camera shoots from below, and his little red light blinks. Bean and I ascertained that most of R2D2’s bleeps are probably cuss words, and he’s probably spending most of the film saying “fuck you” and “shut the fuck up.”
The movie has cool explosions. Lots of shit blows up and looks really neat! Not to mention pink smoke is awesome.
The Storm Troopers are also so gay. They run gay, and they die gay. This makes them more cute than menacing. This is in no means stereotyping.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, those little hooded guys who live in the desert and wear hooded robes (I forget what they are called) look like they came straight out of the Joy Division video for my favorite song Atmosphere:
Click to viewBean and I paused the movie to watch the video and compare. Bean sang along to the song with her beautiful voice. She agreed that the video looks just like Star Wars. Who woulda guessed? The movie came first . . . When Bean was done singing, I asked, “How many times have you heard that song?” She said, “Thousands,” and then “I love you so much Mom.” This is because she spent the majority of her childhood listening to me play Joy Division in my Boom Box while making art. Now I listen to it on vinyl on my little record player. In other words, to Bean Joy Division is Mom and is Joy. Makes me happy!
Well, STAR WARS makes my kiddo happy so I stayed up til 2:30 in the morning watching the first movie with her, and will watch the other two in the trilogy tonight. Gotta keep my promises. She has loved the films since she was a kid. One of the things she particularly loves is the Death Star. I admit that the Death Star is cool. I regret not getting Bean the $300 Lego version she wanted when she was wee. Oh wells.
Towards the end of the film, I did get yawny, but pried my eyes open to get ooged out by the trash compactor scene and excited about the Death Star Canyon scenes. And of course, the climatic EXPLOSION OF THE DEATH STAR. WOO HOO!
Speaking of explosions, I cheered and clapped when Princess Leia’s planet got blown up by the Evil Empire, and Bean was like, “Mom, her whole planet just died!” And I was like, “I know. That’s sad. But it looked cool.”
Of course the movie ends with the Gay Wedding between Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker presided over by the High Priestess Princess Leia. It’s so sweet and utopian! Even though it’s full of evil, war and a high body count!
On a side note, Bean likes to hear my personal George Lucas story. I was at the opening of the new SFMOMA with her dad before she was born. Her dad turned to me, pointed to a man, and said, “Look. That’s George Lukas!” I was young and crass and brash and punk and said, “I don’t give a fuck. His movies are BORING.” Later that evening, Bean’s dad would go to the men’s room where he stood next to George Lucas at the urinals. George Lucas looked at him and laughed. Hahaha. He probably appreciated someone NOT CARING. It gets tedious being in the spotlight.
Well, I care now because it makes Bean happy. Our next car is going to be one of these:
We can’t wait. Now off to other things. Like RUNNING and WAKING up. Cheers. Off I go . . .
EDITED to add:
1. I just read this blog entry to Bean and it made her happy.
2. Bean has loved Star Wars since she was in preschool. AND she has loved Lord of the Rings. I have hearts that she cut out in preschool with Mount Doom drawn on them hanging in my bedroom. Star Wars and LOTR were attractive to my brilliant preschooler because they are working with classic archetypes. In first grade, kiddo picked up Harry Potter which I am convinced is a remake of LOTR. I have often said that these narratives are good for kids because they draw clear lines between good and evil, but in retrospect that is not true. Frodo and Bilbo are partially corrupted by The Ring. Harry Potter is part Voldemore, and Dumbledore is not to be trusted IMHO. Finally, Darth Vader is a VERY CONFUSED icon evil bred from good, etc.
3. As a teenager, Bean has spent many hours writing LOTR and HP fan fiction. When she saw the new Star Wars she was so excited to a) rekindle her preschool love of the films and b) to open up a "whole new fandom."
4. Last night Bean told me how much she loves the old industrial relics and machinery, and how it was repurposed into cool shit and just the overall aesthetic of post-industrial waste products. I smiled and told her she's a chip off the old block!
5. Frinally, during the scene with the climatic rebel infiltration of the Death Star, Bean said, "Look at all those white men flying the ships. Where are the women and black people?" I said, "Well, they made up for that in the new movie, didn't they?" Sho nuff. And the Gaymance of course continues between Finn and Po who are so gay, and Ray the hero girl with a boy name kicks buttocks.