Re: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I've mostly stayed away from this thread, trying to keep myself from getting too optimistic or developing too much of a preconceived notion of what the film will/won't be. That said, allow me to engage in the following exercise to try to buoy the spirits of those who see the title as being weak.
Suppose, for a moment, that the title is actually telling you what's gonna happen (kinda like The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). Suppose we attach that title to a story that genuinely follows it, and turns out to be interesting.
For example, let's figure that, with the death of Vader and the Emperor, and the apparent final fall of the Sith (no new apprentices to carry on the tradition, and it's implied in ROTS that the Sith don't really "do" Force ghosts), the dark side has effectively left the galaxy or become incredibly unfocused.
As a result of this, with no incredibly strong practitioners OTHER than Luke, the Force has, in a sense, atrophied. It's diminished over time, to the point where Luke basically no longer feels a connection to it, after 30 years. You've got to figure this would be EXTREMELY difficult for him to take, as his entire identity and life has been built around the Force to some degree or other. People are still "force-sensitive" or "force-capable" or whathaveyou (we won't get into the "midichlorian" nonsense to explain it), but very few people feel connected to the Force in a way that lets them manipulate it effectively. And nobody knows why. It's like the Force has, over the past 30 years, basically slipped away, and Luke is totally baffled as to why. He searched for information initially, but gave up after a while and simply secluded himself out of depression. After all, what's a Jedi with no Force abilities? Just some crazy old wizard spouting mystic-sounding phrases. (Sound familiar?)
This is the state in which we find our characters at the start of the film. Luke's a hermit, Leia's busy trying to rebuild the Republic/establish a new one. Han's...I dunno...feeling at loose ends and maybe a drunk. Chewie is watching Han's back. The droids follow Leia around, althogh maybe R2 went off with Luke and 3PO stayed with Leia. And Lando? Well he's just the smooooooothest mofo to ever...wait. No. Sorry, Lando's not really in this.
ANYWAY, the Force is basically dormant in the galaxy...until the appearance of a mysterious new player. Put simply, things start going WRONG, and nobody can figure out why, until one of the new, younger characters puts it together that this is because of the Force. Maybe he or she "senses" something, in a way they never did, and it only starts up when the bad things begin. So, we end up with three parallel storylines:
(1) Things are going wrong in the galaxy because of this evil/malevolent "presence" behind the scenes. Can the Republic survive? Will war break out? Will this new enemy unite disparate factions to challenge the fledgling Republic?
(2) Our young hero is discovering that he/she is connected to the Force, but doesn't know what that means. How do they hone their abilities? What IS the Force? Can Luke provide the answers? Connected to this, why is it happening all now? Can Luke and his new apprentice discover the cause of the "awakening" of the Force?
(3) A new evil is rising. But in what form? Driven by what or whom? What are its goals? How is it connected to what's going on in the Republic, and the awakening of the Force?
As the film series progresses, we discover that the Force actually always exists in a state of dualistic balance. Good can never fully triumph over evil without crippling itself in the process. The Force has apparently ebbed and flowed at times in the galaxy's past, as well, as the light and dark sides saw ascendency. In essence, the period beginning with the fall of the Jedi and ending with the fall of the Sith was a "reboot" of the Force, and now we're seeing all that play out. And the new "evil" character....actually isn't exactly "evil," per se. They're not Palpatine, grasping power for its own sake. They want, instead, to return the Force to the Galaxy, and they understand that this can only happen by creating a dark presence. They believe the galaxy needs the Jedi, and if it's gonna have them, that means it needs dark side Force users, too. In essence, the one cannot exist without the other, so if one disappears, both will. As a result, they view their "evil" actions as, at their core, good. Motivated by good ends, if not executed by good means. But, as with most dark side users, they view it that the ends justify the means. And so, we get a nice little moral question for folks to ponder as they watch this adventure unfold.
I have no idea if that's what this movie will be, but when I heard the title, that was what came to mind. I think that'd actually be kinda cool, if it was done well, and the title would "fit" the story. Maybe it'd be done poorly, too. Or maybe some other story will be done. But I'm saying that I think the title, if attached to a good and relevant story, will end up being swept into the "cool" aspect of the film. Ultimately, I think the title's neutral, and it'll depend HEAVILY on the film itself to make it either retroactively cool or crap.
