Storytelling in Star Wars (1977)

Today people is what this blog, and ALL blogs, are actually for - I had a random thought in my head that the whole world needs to know about.

I have dabbled in writing, published nothing, but I have a few novels under my belt and I'm working on a new one that has really deep world and lore, but to make the story actually good, I wanted to take what I call the Star Wars (1977) approach.

See, the interesting thing about the original Star Wars is that it's a complex galactic war, but you only ever get exposed to it through the eyes of Luke Skywalker. You never really see anything that he doesn't see. You're just following him throughout the whole story, learning as he learns, and it makes for a remarkably tight narrative. The only narrative bit without him is the inciting incident, which happens immediately as Vader boards the Tantive IV looking for the stolen Death Star datatapes (sure, there are bits that don't feature Luke like Han talking to the Imperials over the intercom, some of Obi-Wan's fight with Darth and sneaking around the Death Star, but none of these have narrative importance to the story the movie is telling).

It wasn't until I was crafting my own work that I realized how gnarly it is that they pulled this off without the use of a ton of long exposition scenes. You get a bit with Obi-Wan both in his hut and on the Falcon, but it's such a simple story that you can get it and then hop on Luke's journey. This both opened up Andor to show a lot more of the nuance and grays within the black and white journey (and on a meta level, it totally ruins Star Wars because all the sacrifice of dozens of rebels in a real fight and spy game doesn't matter as much as this hick farmboy flying in and blowing it up and getting a medal. Where's Kleya's medal?!).

For nearly fifty years I also believe that people misunderstood this style, because it only works if the storytelling conventions are still solid. You don't necessarily need backstory, but you do need motivation. When you look at The Force Awakens (2015), it falls apart because we don't have backstory or motivation. JJ Abrams thought it was enough that people look cool and menacing. Vader is cool and menacing but we know immediately that he is searching for the stolen plans for the Death Star, and that's important because it's the Empire's new, super-powerful battlestation and if it's blown up their plans for domination are ruined. More importantly, the battlestation can blow up all the Rebels so they are fighting for existance, too!

The Force Awakens sucks for many reasons, but most of all, we have weird mysterious folks in masks and weird faces like Snoke and the Knights of Ren, but we also really don't know their motivation. The Emperor's motivation in the first two movies is a bit obscure, although from the Board Room scene with just one bit of dialogue: "The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away....The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station." You get all of what the Emperor is trying to do from that. Again, the motivation and stakes are clear for both the rebels and the Empire.

The First Order's motivation is....something? They built a bigger Death Star and use it to blow up...some random planets that aren't personally connected to anyone either in the Resistance or otherwise. I thought it was Coruscant. They aren't established, they aren't a thorn in anyone's side, they're just...there and then blown up. It makes me so angry to think about, not because it ruined Star Wars but because it's just bad storytelling.

You can also get away with a blanket evil Empire without a ton of backstory, like I get that that's bad. But it was destroyed, and we all know that, so I don't think you can pull that trick twice and reset everyone back to where they were with the First Order and Resistance just being the Empire and Rebellion again. No, that makes no sense, like you skipped a lot of beats there about how that happened. I think there are artful ways to do this, probably without the moronic idea to never have the original big three of Leia, Han, and Luke united on screen at the same time, because I think it's important to acknowledge that while the universe may have shifted, their friendships remained solid, because ultimately that's what the original trilogy was all about. Luke had friends and the Emperor didn't. Wah-wah Emperor! Man these movies are bad.

Anyway, this is all ten year old territory now and nothing new but I do like articulating why this stuff doesn't work instead of just saying "It's lazy writing!" It's actually not lazy writing, it's just really bad storytelling.