Your Boy Did A Youtubez (Patreon)

Hey everyone. SO. Thanks to your support, we've just gone live with the first video essay and it's a doozy. A whole 69 minute (nice) deep dive into the story mechanics of Star Wars, largely to answer the question of how this became so popular and meaningful to us in the first place. Sincerest thanks to editor, friend, and total fucking champ @Du_Landon - And thank you for your support. This genuinely wouldn't have been possible otherwise <3

You can watch the video right here. SMASH THAT LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE. THAT'S SOMETHING I CAN SAY UNIRONICALLY NOW. PLEASE WATCH IT OH GOD, WE WORKED REALLY HARD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TQHc9bxjzk

And because I promised I would. Here's the original unedited, un-proofread script for people who don't like video essays! But I really have to say it's written for the visual medium. More than that, there's so many great jokes that you miss out on and were added in. Plus we cut a bunch of boring stuff. So I guess it's just also here for those curious about the process????

Anyway!

WHY IT WORKS: Star Wars

Like many of you, I’ve been thinking about Star Wars.

BAM: star wars footage!

Here we are at the end of the skywalker saga. It’s been nine movies, countless books, video games, toys, and even holiday specials. Show: holiday special clip.

But we’ve probably spent just as much time loving these movies as we have spent arguing about them. Everyone’s got a take. Which ones are good, which are bad. We’ve read a million think piece essays, watched a million pedantic videos and, even then, I still just have one question… “why?” 

Why have we been talking about this franchise for 43 years? That’s a crazy long time for anything to be this damn relevant. So why did it strike a cord? Why was that first movie able to create a massive sprawling narrative universe? Why has it managed to capture our imagination for so long? Maybe we should make the question even simpler… 

Why does star wars work?

It’s so easy to take the film film for granted these days. It’s something most people have seen many many times over the course of their lives that we don’t think so much about its construction as we do it’s impact. But even then, the real answer doesn’t lie in the storied history of the film’s production, nor it’s ground breaking special effects, nor the creative inventiveness of a world full of droids, lightsabers, and space magic. 

It works because of its dedication to basic story mechanics. And no, for the last time I’m not talking about Joseph Campbell and the Hero with Thousand Faces. The truth is that book has far more to do with the commonalities of anthropological symbols than it does good screenwriting. The movie doesn’t “work” because it apes the basic tropes of genre. It works because it sticks to the tried true methods of storytelling. 

Because you have to remember, there’s a point where everyone sees this film for the first time. Where they don’t know everything about lightsabers or wookies or the technical specs of Boba Fett’s Slave I AND II (Look I was huge nerd), but looking at what the audience absorbs during that first watch is CRITICAL to understanding how we all fell in love with it. And as we go through the story scene by scene, put yourself in that place. Go back and reimagine that you are seeing Star Wars for the very first time. Because there you will discover…

TC: WHY IT WORKS: Star Wars

Now a lot of people divide films into act breaks, but contrary to popular opinions, stories can have lots of acts and they’re always different amounts. So rather than try and cram everything into breaks we’re just going break movies down by their sequences. Cool? Cool. Here we go..

TC: Sequence 1 - In Media Res

“a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.”

This first title card really is this amazing thing because it actually is communicating so much with so little. The phrasing evokes a fairy tale, the fantasy-like nature of the story. It prepares the viewer to be transported and then…

BAM - Star Wars title hit and crawl.

Immediately you are hit with grandeur and bombast. Then the title crawl comes and look, we know Lucas was trying to evoke old serials he watched as kid (show clip) but don’t think about references. Think about it in terms of story function alone. You’re are being thrust in the middle of a story or “in media res” as we call it (I have no idea how to pronounce that). But you read this opening title crawl and… well, it’s kind of seems like a lot of information, no? The first time you see it, you won’t have it memorized. So all it’s really trying to convey is 3 pieces of key information.

The first is the CONTEXT. We come to understand that we’re in space and there’s a rebellion happening against empire.

Second the MACGUFFIN - aka the thing that the two sides are fighting over. In this case there are stolen plans for a super weapon called the death star. This will be what drives the plot.

Third, is the CURRENT OBJECTIVE. A character named Princess Leia is running with those plans to get them to the rebel base. With those three bits of info, we’re ready to go…

We start with an iconic shot. It communicates so much, not just in size and scale of what we’re looking at, but characterizes the two sides in question. We have the big awful empire chasing the little guy rebellion. The odds ALREADY feel insurmountable. A lasers fires and bam it looks AWFUL. The sense of danger is immediate.

So from that explosion we make the perfect cut and go right inside the ship and see them shake. This is the kind of simple cause and effect I’m talking about. Yes, this is good storytelling. You’d be shocked how many films don’t understand this and just stack the whizz-bang shots on top of each other without even thinking about cause an effect.

So now we’re meeting our Two Droids. Man, this is such a bizarre and brazen way to start the movie. We have C3PO, an awkward talking robot that’s expressing fear and hopelessness, and we have R2D2, a tiny trash can that’s beeping out shit we don’t understand. These are our entry points to a grand epic story! 

But this choice does so much. It throws us into the weird, other-world sci-fi nature of this universe. It shows the lowly beings thrown in the middle of a massive war. And most importantly, it gives us two goofy, characters that we like immediately. Precisely because we empathize with them. These are two characters in grave danger.

Boom! The empire is boarding. The two sides ready for battle. Laser fire goes back and forth, we see people dying on both sides, which is setting a sense of danger and stakes. And so, we worry more for our two droids.

They’re first goal? It’s so simple: they have to get across a hallway. That’s it. And they get through with this hilarious shot of them SOMEHOW not getting hit by gunfire. Now, don’t just dismiss this - think about what it’s doing her in terms of setting the tone. It’s establishes a notion of odd luck with these two, but it’s also telling you something about the people making this story. That there’s a sparkle of wit and humor and awareness of convention. It seems little, but it’s important.

But just when our two droids make it through, the empire wins the gun battle and enter DARTH VADER. Now. Understand, in 1977 no one knows how this guy is. He’s not an icon and we certainly don’t know how he’s related to anyone. So all we have is the immediate information. So right now he is just this huge towering bad guy in a black leather outfit coming through the fog, he has a deep machine-like voice and bossing people around. [clip] - For the new audience, he immediately reads BAD GUY IN CHARGE. And their sense of fear grows.

We cut to a hand putting in plans into R2. Now, this is where the opening title crawl becomes critical because now we have enough information to guess at what it means. We see a woman in white and know that this is probably princess hiding the plans in R2- Thankfully, we don’t have to stop and explain. We can just movie at the pace of the story and use visual language alone. 

Now, this also achieves a really important thing. Which is transforming “the death star plans” into an actual character: R2D2. Which is smart because the best macguffins are always people. Instead of being some meaningless passed around (MI3), like a dagger or a wayfinder, the object itself is effectively now this little inscrutable goofy ass droid. Which is perfect because you want to get conflict out of dialogue and behavior.

And to finish this sequence, we have new objective: R2 has to get the plans to safety. Luckily, they barely escape from gunfire as Leia is taken hostage. They will have to find a way forward… somehow… someway…

Sequence 2 - On Their Own

So after all that, we finally get our first big dialogue scene and conflict. This is our first “tête-à-tête” where two characters face off against one another and more importantly, have conflicting objectives. Vader thinks he has what he wants: which is Leia captive and the death plans within grasp. Meanwhile, she is denying and lying, trying to buy her droids time…

Believe it or not this is the core of Drama. Most of the scenes in this movie are just someone is trying to convince someone to do something they don’t want to do. I can’t tell you Backbone of so many good stories. It’s why every legal show or chamber drama works. It’s also why suspense and popcorn movies work. But in this scene, Leia isn’t going to budge, so Vader has her taken away.

This is what we call a moment of “dramatic impasse,” and its where two characters reach a state of disagreement - and thus one character’s going to move on and try to solve it another way. Now be aware, that if you have to many moments of dramatic impasse it creates a grating feeling because your just playing the same conflict again and again without any real change (this is why man of Netflix’s marvel shows didn’t work, they never shifted dynamics enough).

Now, the scene could have ended there, but it’s going to follow up on the conflict to further the audience’s understanding of the sitiution. “holding her is dangerous!” This arguing officer lays out the idea the empire is currently doing things that could have grave consequences. He also lays out the empires understanding of her commitment to the rebellion, “she’ll die before she tells you anything!” But Vader’s not worried, showing his character’s hubris. And when he learns that an escape pod was jettisoned, he realizes she must have hidden the plans inside and thus he has a new target.

We therefore transition right back to our “plans” aka the droids themselves. But now we also know someone is hot on their trail. Now, this scene may seem inconsequential, but we actually get two little important beats. First is in C3PO’s characterization: “we seem to be made to suffer, it’s our lot in life.” At this point we get his general ethos and sense of self-pity. Meanwhile, R2’s determined to go off on his mission, certain of himself and heading toward the rocky place. But 3PO is mad at R2 for the whole damn situation, so he decides to split up and go off the way he wants to. Again, we’ve already changed the nature of the conflict.

But 3PO’s decision immediately sucks! He doesn’t take his own bad decision well, “this is R2’s fault” which is, of course, not something R2 did. But there’s no time for moping, hey a transport, he think he’s saved!

Meanwhile, R2’s decision does indeed seem to be the wrong one. The scary tone creeps in with a real lost in the woods vibe. Maybe 3PO was right we wonder? The little yellow-eyed creatures stalk him, and it’s outright like a horror movie. Then they jump out and shock him! Oh no!

Freeze: But then the scene does a really interesting thing: it complete changes tone. First with R2’s reaction [falls over] But then note the way the scene suddenly feels lighter and sillier, especially with the music. With that moment, we realize these little goofy guys are just capturing him.

These sorts of tonal changes are actually important. Because you don’t want to hit the audience with the same constant feeling over and over again. You can’t just have EVERYTHING in a tense rush as people just crack wise and run across the screen [insert tros?] You want them to go through feelings that really change. More importantly, you want them feeling what the characters are feeling. So even in these short scenes, you are changing what the audience is feeling and why really quickly. They are these positive or negative exchanges that guide the emotion of the story.

And then the emotion changes yet again. R2 is dropped into what feels like robot purgatory. An island of misfit droids, all lost and alone. I love how little about this scene is explained, because we don’t need to explain it. We just have to feel what R2 feels and then, the feeling changes again… 3PO is here! And they’re just so happy to see each other again. 

You may wonder. What’s the point of this? They separate and get put back together in like two minutes of screen-time? Well, it not only lays the foundation for an important moment that comes later. It demonstrates that even tho these two characters disagree they realizes it’s important to stick together. And it’s something that will pay off.

We call this moments of “dramatic synthesis” and they are the opposite of a dramatic impasse. It’s when two characters resolve their conflict and make a deal that effectively pushes them into a new, different form of conflict, but now with better understanding. The fact that the two characters don’t have to verbalize this understanding is the entire point. We understand it through the dramatization itself, which is far better than anything told to us through mere lip service.

Remember: Dramatization makes the audience understand a character’s behavior far, far more than if they explained it.

And the fact this conflict and synthesis are done so quickly is important because you don’t want to belabor it or hang onto it. You want them to get to their point of dramatic synthesis so the movie can press on. Especially because…

Stormtroopers are still hot on their trail! Complete with bad 90s effects! God, the special editions are just… blurgh. But still, the important thing about this scene is that it leads to the empire understanding that 1) someone was in the pod, and 2) “look sir droids.” Now the enemy has a new objective. 

Back with 3PO and R2, things look bleak. The droids prepare to be lined up. They fret being melted down, the fret the empire, they fret everything, the dread creeps in: “we’re doomed.”… but little do they know they’re about to meet their salvation.

Because they’re about to meet a goofy farmboy.

Sequence 3 - The Homestead

At 17 minutes, we are introduced to the great Luke Skywalker. Note the way the way we haven’t been introduced to him before hand. There was no cross cutting to this farmboy waiting for something to happen. But that’s ineffective storytelling because all it does is make the audience go “Gee, I wonder how he’ll end up being involved!” which is usually super boring for an audience. Instead, we’ve been following the action of the story itself. And now, Luke simply shows up when organically comes across the droids.

Which means he actually get’s the best introduction possible. Ask yourself a question, “How does Luke Skywalker become the icon for millions of young children?” How is he immediately so important to us? Is it because he is brave? Super strong? Endlessly cool? Does he save a cat? No.

He’s told to do his chores. [quote, “waste time…]

That’s right. People make these kinds of false assumptions all the time, thinking that you need to demonstrate “likability” or some other nonsense - but empathizing with a character’s cruddy situation is far more powerful in getting an audience to relate to a character. It’s having someone get stuck in traffic, or spill coffee on themselves. It’s looking at those situations and going “man, I’ve been there!” And for kids? there is nothing more than we could possibly empathize with then having to do chores when you want to hang out with your friends. Clip: “but I was going into toshi station to pick up some power converters!”

Stupid adults!

But this scene is also doing other great stuff because it’s also playing at our heart strings rather effectively. We JUST demonstrated that we don’t want R2 and C3PO to get separated and it quickly makes us believe they will. But because of what we just saw, C3PO now sticks his neck out for R2 - and so the two of them are safely in the care of Luke.

Even on a plot level, it also demonstrates the logic that these droids can be stopped with those little power thingies. But also think of what we’ve seen in this film so far with it’s deep sense of world building. We’ve seen starships and princesses and lords and now we’re with junk traders and moisture farmers on the other side of a barren world. We’ve seen the highs and the lows of the galaxy, and more importantly, we’ve seen them in organic fashion through the eyes of these two goofy droids.

Also this part always slays me: [the jawa saying “what.”]

Okay, we immediately start the next scene with Luke being a kid’s surrogate because we are literally watching a high schooler play with his model fighter as if he’s a toddler.[zoom] But it’s not just kid like enthusiasm, it’s the fact that he feels stuck on this farm. Luke: “biggs is right, I’m never going to get out of here!” Again, we feel for his situation. He’s impatient, yearning for so much more. Like the young kid who wants to leave his small town and go somewhere, but it all feels so far away this cruddy place: “if there is a bright center to the universe you are on the planet that is farthest from”

But then the tenor of the scene turns to a little bit of hope. Luke learns these two droids were part of the rebellion and even stumbles into the main core part of the MacGuffin when R2 plays the message: “help me obi wan kenobi, you’re my only hope.” Get it…a little bit of hope? Because she… the movie’s called-nevermind. It’s fine.

Okay, this is where the story has to get a little plotty, but the film does its best to juggle the comlexity of it. First because R2 is not playing the entire message. This is largely because the audiences doesn’t need all that info right now and neither does luke. But they at least ingrain his wanting to hear more, which is a curiosity that will hopefully sustain another 15 minutes or so. The only important part of the message is how it is meant for “obi wan Kenobi,” who might be related to someone luke knows, enough of lead for them to go. 

But what would convince Luke to go out on his own? Surely curiosity isn’t enough alone. It’s just not urgent enough. This is where R2’s cleverness comes into to play. He convinces Luke to remove the restraining bolt just before dinner, and now could theoretically get away. Everything we’ve just seen is quick and complex, but it’s all important table setting for later.

Now, we get a quieter scene character work, but notice it’s still grounded in argument and characters trying to convince each other. Luke wants to leave this year, but Owen wants to keep him there for practical needs. They also talk about Ben Kenobi and there’s so many things going on here: knowing looks, allusions that set up a sense of history. They set up of the belief that ben is just some crazy old man, a sense of yearning to know more about Luke’s father. The scene ends with luke wanting to go off to the academy, but instead, his uncle just gives him another chore. It’s another moment of impasse. All Luke can do is storm off.

But the following four line scene is so important too. Owen and Beru have just a moment to show they’re not monsters in the slightest, but humans who care about Luke. Beru muses that he’s stuck, that most of his friends are gone, Owen listens and it even promises to make it better, just later on. But A feeling lingers he, “just not a farmer, too much of his father in him.” / “That’s what I’m afraid of. With all those emotions and feelings lingering in us… we transition get one of the most iconic moments in cinema history.

The twin sun shot, complete with the perfect music cue. This is the real power of cinema, because there’s no words I can offer that would be so achingly beautiful. We just have the music and the emotion and the performance. But there’s a reason it’s so iconic beyond the beauty of its execution. It works because in the scene prior, we just got all the information we need to understand his “interiority,” that is his emotional and psychological space at the moment. He’s a boy who looks to the horizon of a world beyond. No, he’s not a farmer. He wants so much more. But for now, he has to hang his head, the stars will have to wait…

With the immediate transition he returns to the garage and learns that it’s all gone wrong. R2 went off by himself! Luke argues and frets with 3PO (again scene is conflict) “please don’t deactivate me” - they search the horizon, but it’s too dangerous to go at night. They’ll have to wait til morning and we worry deeply. Even the music cue tells us to be sad. [music cue] 

But think about the importance of the story sequencing here. For luke, it’s just a new droid, but for 3PO and the audience, we’ve watch this little trash can stumble forward in pursuit. Again, you can never just assume empathy. You have to dramatize the reasons for us to care. Which is part of the reason we had the separation between 3PO and R2- they’ve already demonstrated the reasons we don’t want this to happen again.

So the next morning comes and they go after him- but there’s danger! these scary dudes with bandage-wrapped-faces on their trail!! What they hell! They find R2 (by the way, I love the implication that r2 just been taking those little baby steps all night) [show steps zoom in]. But they also read that sand people may be close to. Luke thinks he’s being careful and scouting from a distance then - BAM- [It’s revealed through the binoculars} 

I love this moment, precisely because it’s the kind of thing we rarely do anymore. We’re not sitting back and just “observing cool action,” that some poor, overworked VFX artist had to construct with no real direction. These are moments constructed in the mise en scene of shooting. There’s were written and planned as great reversals and surprises and people getting the upper hand on one another for dramatic effect. And just when you think the sandpeople have the upper hand, they hear a strange noise and see the most terrifying sight in the world!

An old man stumbling! 

Okay, it’s hilarious but situation communicates right things 1) it IS an old stumbling man, but 2) even if the noise is some trick, the old man is still to be feared.

Now, also go back to 1977 and remember that his is your most famous actor in the film. Alec Guinness is a name that lends “genuine class” (simpsons quote) to the proceedings and most of the audience will recognize his stature. So he gets this great little reveal. But beyond the meta layer it’s also a great introduction to his character. He’s old, cautious, warm and kind “my little friend.” He listens and even laughs off the idea he’s not dead yet. And in terms of plot? He doesn’t know what R2’s talking about. But rather than dwell on it, they have to get 3PO to safety and go on the move. Which is smart because it allows you to divide up the exposition of the scenes. It also crystalizing something with 3PO…

“[line about leaving hm here]” Yeah, 3PO is a big ass drama queen. I love it.

So then we sit down for some exposition time! Now, looking back on this scene it’s very easy to get caught up on the “lore” and historical details and judge them on how they will become oh so important in later movies.

Yeah, I don’t care about that.

That’s because it’s “lore,” which is all history and logic and left-brain film watching. And I get that a lot of people like that and it helps in “world building,” but it’s such a small piece to building drama and often an obstacle to it. Because you have to remember in 1977 people didn’t know what these proper nouns meant. They weren’t taking notes on Luke’s father’s job or the clone wars or how and when he knew Uncle Owen. No, they felt the EMOTION of the scene. They felt Alec Guiness’s sense of warmth toward Luke. And they understood that Luke was realizing for the first time that his father was a more important part of the world. He also gets to feel sad that his uncle kept it secret from him. But now he starting to feel kindness and encouragement seemingly fro the first time. “I understand you become a good pilot yourself.”

He also gets introduced to the film’s main villain. It was Darth Vader who killed his father. He also learns of about a powerful force called “the force.” And it’s not specific, it’s vague and mystical enough that we get some idea of its scope without having to resort to science. [insert midichloridans]. And then when we have that understanding, R2 finally plays the message. Again, it’s lots of plot details. But the important part is simple, an objetive: Leia needs Ben to get the plans to the rebels on alderaan.

And immediately, Obi wan begins convincing Luke to come with him to Alderaan. Luke always dreamed of escaping, but this? No, this is too much. He wants to help, but he also doesn’t want to abandon the people rely on him. His uncle genuinely needs him. “It’s all such a long way from here.”

This is the famous “refusal of the call” you hear so much about in storytelling, but honestly, it’s something that’s often poorly used. It can’t just be some perfunctory fear thing. Because much more important to the denial itself is us genuinely understanding Luke’s struggle. We know how much he both worries and fears his uncle’s wrath. All of which has been demonstrated dramatically in the story already. So he must say no. “you must do what you think is right luke.” So we then we jump across the galaxy to…

The death star! 

Finally we see it. And note the way they introduce it to us, by showing us a sense of scale of the huge ship we saw before and now, something that dwarfs THAT ship in terms of scale. Also note the way we make it 36 minutes into the movie before they reveal it. Why? Because they don’t need to do it any earlier. 

I never understand when movies are in the rush to show us things or get bits out of the way, like that’s a way of introducing everything. That’s boring and perfunctory. Sometimes it’s way more exciting to hold on a bit (like how long before we see Jaws). You’ll often see movies trying to “excite” the audience with some big action and whiz kablammo or teasing ideas that will come later. But that’s nonsense tricks. Just guide us through goals, objectives, and conflict in a clear and dramatic way and they’ll be interested. That’s the bigger lesson.

Now we go into the board room, which is one of my favorite little exposition scenes. Exposition is only really boring when you’re trying to have one character explain something to another. Instead, here we get two characters arguing in conflict (aka trying to convince each other) about whether or not the rebellion is valid. One fearful, seeing rebellion as a threat to the station, the other ego driven and cocksure. I don’t know about you but I love these two stodgy jerkwads that we never see again. 

Now a lot of people tell you it’s “bad screenwriting” when characters never show up again, and it kind of is, but it’s not like this is ongoing habit in the movie, so it’s still better than cramming them in later for no reason. More importantly, they set up a great scene turn when Vader walks in with Grand Moff Tarkin and this is important because it establishings that this dude is kinda Vader’s Boss. Moreover, it allows us to establish Vader’s absolute calm, terrifying badassery as well as his own cababilities with the force. Clip: “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

The other reason this scene is so important is because it “humanizes” the empire. Again, that doesn’t mean making them likable. It makes them feel like a bunch of realistic people who aren’t just some a monolithic institution- they’re politicians and petty squabblers. That’s why we spent all this time talking about the senate and all these things we never explicitly saw in the movie. It’s the good kind of “lore” because it’s a something that makes the world feels lived in. Which is especially important when they start making threats: “Crush the rebellion in one swift stroke”

So right as the empire threatens carnage, we transition to seeing the carnage they are capable of! Alas, we see the poor jawas slaughtered. And again we get a version of the empire that is trying to hide it’s malice. In a way, this makes us hate them more than if they were just blindly powerful (and this is a lesson the series seemed to forget [ Show rise of skywalker). Lucas seems to genuinely care about the thematic weight of this stuff. He’s interested in the sneaky underhanded ways that fascism comes to power. And because they killed these jawas, now luke is terrified his surrogate parents are in trouble and…

He arrives and they are just some straight burned to death skeletons. It’s stark. Horrible. Costly. And heartbreaking. But more than just “sad,” it feels like such a true life moment. There wasn’t some hunky dory loving and telegraphed move before. It ended with them in a fight and angry at each other. You read all the regret right over his face. It’s not pure hate or love… It was family. And he doesn’t have to say a word that expresses it. Words often get in the way of the most important times, so that’s why the movie already did all the hard work in establishing his complicated feelings.

That’s the power of good writing: you’ll know exactly what the character is thinking in the biggest moment without them having to say it.

As Luke experiences emotional torture, we move to the literal form with Leia and the weird needle robot. It’s quick, but it’s also important because it gives a sense emotional space for what’s about to happen next. Luke returns, grief stricken. And we know what he’s feeling. We’ve been with him every step of the way. He doesn’t dwell. He doesn’t need any more convincing. He’s lost everything. So he says it, “I want to come with you to alderaan.” 

Pause: This is also big lesson in this when it comes to refusal of the call. 

If you take all of Luke’s screen time involved from when he says no to Obi-Wan, til when he says yes? It less than 2 minutes. I cannot overstate how important this is. Again, the refusal of the call is so much less about “the importance of saying no,” it’s about creating good conflict and valid reasons for hesitance. But I can’t tell you how many stories turn the “refusal of the call” into some knuckle-dragging event that takes up the entire second act of the movie (green lantern), where your character is just being a fuddy duddy who says no the entire time. It’s TERRIBLE artificial conflict. Again, sometimes it’s not even important to have a refusal. But if you do just be aware of the dramatic purpose involved in it.

Also, Look at 3PO just cold ass dropping jawas like he’s burned millions of em. {zoom] Jeez.

Anyway, we’ve reached our new point of dramatic synthesis. All four of them will go on their mission together… Now, they just need to find a way 

Sequence 4 - Hitching A Ride

Mos Eisley, few towns have ever received a better introduction “you won’t ever find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

Okay we’re going to ignore all the bad unnecessary cgi right here. Ugh, god. Blurgh. Right now we just appreciate the way they lay love R2 on top of the speeder. {show]

Now, from a conflict perspective, this is the first time they’re going to be coming face to face with enemy stormtroopers, but the characters absolutely want to avoid fisticuffs and gunfights (which will come later). This is all about the tension of subterfuge. At being good at blending in, and if it comes to it, pulling out a few jedi mind tricks if need be. And note the way the film demonstrates how Obi Wan and Vader have different personifications and tactics with the force [cut back to force choke].

Our heroes go to the cantina to find a pilot and we get a now infamous scene. Again, let’s stop and ask “why” - what makes it so iconic? It’s starts with the raadical change in atmosphere and we get all these wild, weird aliens. The music playing is jazzy, silly, weird and even a little upbeat and intense. 

But even the first shot of Chewbacca isn’t anything we’d really notice at first. We just see Ben talking to a huge hairy alien. Again, this is all part of the way we we just organically fall into story - we meet characters through the ones we already know - the movie is rarely TELLING the audience how to feel a about someone they don’t really know yet.

(Chewie goodby scene from sith). Ugh.

But right now the scene is having that prime “cowboy walks into a saloon” moment. Complete with riff raff giving our hero trouble. Enter these two knuckleheads. Now I understand it’s this is a hugely problematic thing that movies always do when they’re like “ugly people are bad!” but my GOD these two… I mean, are those balls? [zoom] But they really are egotistical dickheads looking to pick a fight with some pretty little farm boy, but luckily Ben there to help try calm them, buy a drink and when that doesn’t work-

BAM- Saber moment.

yeah, yeah, this is a badass moment, but it’s also informative. Obi Wan isn’t just tough, when he has to be tough, he’s calm and careful and looking about for more danger. There’s no posturing here or relishing in the violence. He enjoyed no part of that. And after all that hubbub…

Everyone goes right back, it’s such a funny moment that doesn’t just invoke the uncaring saloons of westerns, it works in and of itself. It shows what kind of place where no one cares if you die. No one even goes to try and clean up the arm. Hell there’s probably a pile of arms they’ve dumped out back. But after this bit of characterization, the plot of the scene kicks in: Ben’s got a lead.

joke - Also, luke come on it’s a dick move to grab a bartender’s shirt, he’s right to sneer.

So we go outside for 2 seconds with the droids and it let’s you know that that the storm troopers are closing in. Why do this? Well there’s the old adage, “When in doubt, have two guys with guns” bit they’re not actually interrupting here, nor does it feel that oppresive- this giving you more of a sense of tension because they could bust in at any point.-. They act like a metaphorical sword of Damocles, this constant threat that’s hovering in the air.  

And then we’re introduced to the legendary Han Solo!

Yup, he doesn’t show up until 48 minutes into the movie. But again, that’s okay! Just like Luke, this is when he organically comes into the needs of the story. And once again, we have a scene of people arguing and trying to convince each other of something. Han’s trying to sell them on his ship and his high price, and Luke is ready to bolt, but Ben insists it will do. But what is it about Han’s introduction that works? When do you like this guy? Well, on a performance level there’s this…

HAN’S SMILE. Right there. That’s the fucking moment. Just a micro-expression and that’s movie star shit folks and you can’t teach it. No wonder they make an unfair deal with this charmer and then go to get ready.

But! Just like before we see stormtroopers closing in on the droids. Why repeat this beat? 

Honestly, because it’s hiding a mistake in the edit. We need a reason for chewie to not see Greedo grabbing Han and by cutting away briefly, this works better. Yes, it’s a cheap editing trick, but it sometimes you need a little save like this.

Also, now that we’ve been introduced to Han, we get a perfect scene of his deeper conflict. There’s a price on his head and Greedo the bounty hunter has show up to take him in. We also learn this troubling fact that he “dropped his shipments first sign of trouble.” This doesn’t just tell us about his self-serving behavior, it’s important because it makes audience feel like he’ll drop Luke and ben, betraying them the first chance he gets.

Han and Greedo argue back and forth, and when they reach a stalemate and Han shoots him under the table. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna get into the whole han shot first thing. It’s honestly one of those details that gets overblown - it’s acting like originally Han did some cold ass shit and merked Greedo as he prayed for his life or something. But the main reason the special editions change was so unnecessary in the first place is because Greedo says he is gonna kill Han and has a gun pointed at him. The difference isn’t really that big a deal.

Greedo: Macklunkey… Okay, I have no idea what this is. 

But with that murder, Han gets the perfect exit “sorry about the mess” And after just two scenes, we instantly we like this sauntering, smiling swashbuckler! Hell, we even know everything we need to about about him. Imagine if they tried to do a whole movie trying to establish of what they do here in ten minutes! 

(solo clip - always alone). Gah. Anyway.

Now we just jump to a scene of grand moff learning that leia has resisting the mind probe and torture. She’s a tough cookie! But from this final impasse, Moff knows has to change, so now that death star is operational, Moff Tarking has decided a new tactic of persuasion. They set course for alderaan.

Guess who is also setting course for Alderaan? Gulp! As our heroes take care of last minute details - even selling the speeder at lower price- might be a problem because they don’t have enough! Always put as much conflict in as you can! Like, uh oh! Looks like we have a lousy informer for the empire that look like an old Plague Doctor. But it’s really important to keep the propulsion and tension up going into this moment because the empire’s closing in and…

[Show the Jabba Scene] Oh… oh god. Yeah, there was a reason this scene was originally cut. Not just because it slows down the pacing SO badly, not just because it already tells us information that we already know, not just because it’s kinda dumb, not just that the eyelines are a damn mess, but worst off all? This version also makes jabba feel LESS dangerous than if they didn’t mention him at all. It doesn’t work on any level. 

Look, we’ll get into it on the future in looking at the prequels and sequels, but remember that your story is ALWAYS what you are serving. I get that Lucas felt like including it after we knew who jabba was felt like a cool little “addition,” but the decision was purely about fan service and meta delights. The idea that it is the lasting addition that makes this movie “better” is an affront to everything that makes the movie good in the first place. I mean…

Joke: [show the step]… yeah let’s pretend this never happened and stick with the original. here’s where the scene originally and rightfully begins.

Right as the tension sets in, we get our huge introduction to most iconic ship! “What a piece of junk!” I want to highlight this because it’s such an important tactic for how this movie operates. Luke just appears on screen next to his uncle, chewbacca is just some alien in a bar, the falcon is just a ship in a hanger. The cinema of it - that is the camera movement and the music - isn’t trying to convince us of anything yet. It’s through the dramatization of the story that we will come to love the thing instead of simply being told we SHOULD before we’re ready.

With that, the bad guys gotta make a fast exit. “chewie get us out of here!” But little do they know, they’re on a collision course with the empire…

Sequence 5 - All Roads Lead To Alderaan

What I love about this movie is that nothing is ever easy. Of course, they’re being pursued by Star Destroyers, but what I like is that we’re about to see Han in his element and there’s a sense of fun to everything right now, I mean: “this is where the fun begins”. And of course Luke is being super helpful in the battle. 

joke - “what’s that flashing!?”

But notice how Luke’s constant questions is allowing for lots of exposition in this movie, and here it’s understanding of space travel works in these movies. Is it all delivered a little clunky? Yeah sure, but we’re getting on the fly and the audience is going to need to understand this for the rest of the story to just work without explanation. Same goes for this fun fact.

Clip: “when you nut in space it push you backwards.

With that, they fend them off long enough and hyperspace off to Alderaan!

Which is where we know the death star is… GULP.

Now, so far we’ve seen Leia is stonewalling and being badass, but suddenly things change the moment Grand Moff Tarkin (wait, what is a moff anyway?) the second we see him threaten something she actually cares about, Leia immediately lets her guard down. She begs, she pleads. her cool exterior is gone. This is important because a lot of people make this mistake of thinking a character has to have one behavior. They think cool, tough characters ALWAYS have to be icy and stoic. But no one ever is one thing. If you want to make a character who feels like whole human being, they have to show a whole range of emotions. And the truth is that vulnerability IS a strength precisely because it shows what the character cares about.

No rebellion is worth the loss of innocent people, who merely get caught in the wake, the very people they’re trying to fight for. So Leia gives in, she says the base is on dantooine… But it’s no good. Our evil Moff was planning to blow up Alderaan no matter wha. “You may fire when ready.”

I want to point out the reason we care about this moment so much. It’s not just “a bunch of people where killed and that is sad” end robot voice. I see so many movies treat tragedy like it’s math and that the more people die, the more we’re supposed to care. [TFA power to destroy a whole system] But honestly… most people don’t care about the end of the world. They don’t care about characters they’ve never seen… they care about what they know. They care about what they have come to love.

So why do we care in this moment? We care because Leia cares. She cares so freaking much about her people. We care because it’s her home and because she watches on with horror and sadness. You’ll notice there’s even this amazing detail where Vader places his hands on her shoulders, as if he understands how horrible this is for her, it echoes some kind of weird human form of compassion, that could maybe even speak to something deeper inside him. But still we stay with her face. Leia gave up everything for Alderaan and still, still they must suffer this tragedy. And because others will notice that suffering too…

We cross cut back to the falcon with a direct “THEREFORE” in the story. Alderaan is destroyed and Old Ben is immediately reacting, he can feel it through the force. This is a sad and elegant bit of consequence, one where he doesn’t know the specifics of how the force, but that he can just feel it. “cried out in terror” But rather than dwell, he tries to stay on task with the people around him.

I really love this scene, not just because it helps slow things down before all the tension that is to come, not just because of the way it expands on world building. But because it does a lot of pointed character work, once again, in the form of an argument. Luke learns about faith, feeling, and intuition with the force. Ben coaches him to trust his feelings, while Han sets himself apart as a secular average joe. He doesn’t believe in any of that stuff. We also learn the consequences of messing with wookies “arms out of their sockets” line. But the conversation will have to stop here, becuse they’re almost at their destination…

And they’ll be just in time, the empire realized that Leia lied about the base being on Dantooine. This is the final impasse. She’ll never tell them. So Moff gives the orders to kill her. We now have a ticking clock… [ticking}

Sequence 6 - The Death Star Capture

Our heroes come out of hyperspace and learn the grim truth. Alderaan was destroyed. And they soon learn by what: “that’s no moon.” Terrified, they try to run away, but they get caught in the tractor beam… oh no, there’s no where to run.

What I love about the entire Death Star sequence that follows is that it’s a perfect way to talk about writing good action. Whenever I watch modern popcorn movies it seems like this endless series of whizz-bang noises and jokes made on the fly. And I get it, it’s fun, but it’s just the texture of fun - there’s just very little tension or real sense of danger. But this entire death star sequence is full of traps, reversals, shifts in power, and thrilling situations that feel impossible. Which I hate to break it to you, IS more fun because it involves the audience more deeply. They’re not watching passively. 

And from the second our heroes are captured, they are in an impossible situation, especially when Vader sense Obi Wan’s presence in the force. They’re stuck between rock and a hard place,. and they got to figure it a way out step by step.

Starting with hiding. “never thought I’d be smuggling himself” Note that they’re not just running around aimlessly and getting lucky - instead, they immediately begin using their brains and coming up clever tricks, like posing as guards. “can you give us a hand with us”

From here they gotta figure out a way to shut down the tractor beam, which first means taking over the local station above the falcon. With this little smart misdirection {bad transmitter clip]. they surprise both the bad guys and the audience. I love that this sequence immediately shows them being good stuff, you things to go right, before they go wrong. it instills the audience with a false sense of confidence. Next they find the tractor beam and Ben insists he’ll do it but he has to go alone. Even without knowing what’s about to happen, he seems to give some words to Luke that make us feel like his words will be his last. “the force will be with you, always.” But with him setting off on that objective, our heroes find another. 

Princess Leia is in the detention center and they need to rescue her before she’s killed. But immediately Han has no interest and Luke tries to convince him (again, good conflict). The cause of rebellion? Helping his fellow man? Why should he care?! clip: “she’s rich.” Ah, which of course is they only thing he cares about, but we also get it - he has a price on his head and we empathize with that in a way, too.

Even at the end of this scene we get a smart bit of foreshadowing. 3PO asks what they should do if soldiers come: “lock the door” / and “hope they don’t have blasters.” Which is great because they’ll come and they will. 

So, they have their fake prisoner plan and they even set the seeds of doubt in our mind “this is not going to work” At first it seems like there’s a glimmer of hope, but unlike last scene, it very quickly it goes tits up. It quickly becomes a shootout, they’re hitting the cameras and barely win as the sense of danger and urgency sets in. Han comically tries to buy them time: “everything’s under control… how are you?” and I love that little grimace to the fact he’s bad at lying. But more troops are going to come. We are now stacking the odds against our heroes.  

Everything begins happening fast. We get a lovely bit for Luke and Leia’s first meeting, we see Obi Wan sneaking around trying to find the tractor beam. We have vader telling Tarkin that Obi Wan is indeed here and that he’ll find him. We have troops coming in to get 3PO, just as we have more troops coming into the detention center. 

We call this kind of action “spinning plates” because suddenly we aren’t just worried about one thing, but multiple things falling apart before our eyes (if you’re curious Spielberg was always the master of this stuff, [raiders]). Better yet, we get to see the character relationshiops and power dynamics come out immeidately. Han and leia are already sniping at each other. “what you had a plan?…” But I love the way we’re getting to see Carrie Fisher’s own announcement moment.

Like Han smiling, this moment of her grabbing the gun and firing back and going into the chute. I want you to understand this was also a big deal in 1977. There’s a reason Leia became an icon of second wave feminism and a hero to young kids alike. Leia’s so damn smart, kind, empathetic, hilarious, “aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper,” and she takes no shit. She’s a fully realized and fully confident person. A true leader. But sometimes, she’ll also lead them into danger…

We call these action moments “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Because they haven’t gotten away, now they’re trapped in smelly garbage with no escape. They try firing a laser - “could be worse!” Oh it’s about to get worse. Enter this creepy monster and god, this is the best dramatic sequence in the film. 

First Luke gets grabbed by it, but they can’t fire at it because of the beat we saw just before (of them firing the laser). It’s so scary and the speed ramping makes it feel so weird and off-kilter. I always think how the ONLY reason Luke gets out of is because… it’s about to get a whole lot worse. More out of the frying pan and into the fire. The walls are closing in. They’re going to be crushed to death. It’s edited so smartly with endless, creeping dread, like they’re always on the edge of death. How are they going to get out of this? 3PO of course.

To bad him and R2 don’t have their comm-link and are hiding from storrmtroopers. The film holds off on this delay perfectly where the amount of time isn’t too long, but it feels excruciating. Then 3PO remembers to check in at the last second. And they succeed! Yay! But I love that the most tense dramatic scene also ends in the best joke. 3PO: “they’re dying!… ” [play whole reaction]. This is the truth about set-up and punchlines. You hold tension then relieve the tension. With that, they get out - but still, they have to get off the death star itself. 

After a quick scene of Obi Wan avoiding detection and shutting down the tractor beam, we have another reset moment with the characters. It’s not just a funny scene, it establishes dominance and how they’re going to have to listen to Leia. “no reward is worth this. But it also lulls you into a sense of complacency before the action comes at you again. 

I know I keep comparing this film to modern movies but I’m doing it so because the differences are really stark. This Death Star sequence may feel like a non-stop action fest, but it’s actually taking these smart little breaks between the intense stuff. So many movies make the mistake now of firing action at you with non-stop noise, which is honestly just exhausting.

So they make it back to the hanger, but right when bad guys show up, they don’t run. Instead Han gets this amazingly silly moment of courage where he just runs at them screaming, which isn’t just funny and unexpected, it’s also the very first moment where Leia likes him “he has courage!” I’ll also fully admit, the moment where Han screams when he sees the the room full of troopers actually works better in the special editions. This is the only time I will say this. Meanwhile, Luke and Leia have got themselves into trouble.

The film just keeps piling up clear, understandable obstacles. The bridge is out and they have to get across! Again, pre-CGI you just couldn’t animate this crazy flowing thing. You had to invent kinetic feeling in the physical space itself and make it work in the edit. But this sequence gives Luke a little sweet hero moment {they swing]. But from that high, we go to a low…

Because Darth Vader has been waiting… His ensuing standoff with Obi Wan isn’t some huge argument, nor a thrilling swordfight. But it’s weighted with a deep sense of history. We understand the emotion behind their power dynamics, and how they’re both coming into this fight with confidence and certainty. Then he says the line, which changes all of it “strike me down and I will become more powerful than can imagine.” And he’s struck “Noo!!!”

Now, you can imagine that 1977 audience would feel a little confused, but that’s what you’re supposed to feel. You understand some kind of implicity tragic loss here, but we also understand pretty quickly that Ben hasn’t died so much as vanished into the either. We even here his voice just moments later. “run, luke run.” But what IS important is that we are with Luke’s angered emotions in that moment.

And more importantly, we stay with them. The film doesn’t rush past his sadness. We take a quick but critical beat of Luke being alone and Leia consoling him. This kind of stuff matters so much because it’s how you give space to honor where the characters are in their internal journey… and we need to have it, especially the enemy is still on their trail.

Four tie fighters come flying in and Han and Luke have to man the guns. This isn’t really a writing observation, but you have to say, considering the fact this is two actors are just moving in wobbly chairs against digital effects that Lucas and his team were literally inventing as they were going along, you have to say this is edited really, really well. It’s all just basic camera techniques. It’s following eyelines and using movement against the frame to give a sense of cause and effect. Even R2 has something to do in the sequence by extinguishing the fire.

There’s a reason after 43 years this entire Death Star sequence still works like gangbusters. It’s because it was all built to be functional on a dramatic level. Most people watch this kind of stuff and never think about those terms like “stacking the odds” or “spinning plates,” they just sit back and enjoy it. But when you’re writing this stuff? Or you are part of VFX people designing action? You absolutely have to think about these things in terms of objectives and obstacles and conflict. You can’t sit there and think “hey you know what would be cool?” You have to think about what the function of tension. Because that will always make the fun stuff and jokes work even better.

And im sorry, R2 laughing at C3PO struggling is never not funny to me.

Sequence 7 - Calm Before The Storm

So now our heroes have escaped an impossible situation, or have they? It seems the bad guys have put a homing beacon on the ship. Now, that is clearly meant to set up some good old fashioned dramatic irony where our heroes don’t know they’re about to be got, right?

Yeaaaaah, Leia’s already onto them. The question is why? Why make this choice for an immediate reversal of our expectation? I always ask people a question when writing and it is “what drama does the audience get out of knowing the information? And what drama does the audience get out of NOT knowing the information?” 

Because if Leia doesn’t know, then they’d just sit there and la-de-dah until the empire shows up- but that’s not what you’re building to in this climax is it? That’s more a move for an early movie sequence where you’re trying to put the heroes in an unexpected jam. No, this is the final face off between the rebels and the empire. So it works much better if BOTH sides know the stakes and what’s coming. It’s kill or be killed.

Which is exactly why Han wants to grab the cash and get the hell out of there. Leia has her thoughts on the matter, “if money is all that you love, that is what you will recieve” And luke’s telling her he feels different “i care!” Look, I’ll note that in this part of the story it feels like they were definitely setting up some kind of love triangle with bits of jealousy and understanding. But I think these beats also serve a better function about empathy and kindness. Because this movie isn’t ultimately a love story, it’s a rebellion movie - it’s about learning to give a shit and becoming a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.

A part of a cause! With that, we jump right into the rebel base, we see the x-wings, which right now in 1977 are just cool looking planes to us. We get the technical data and go right to briefing mode, setting up the objective of using small fighter planes to get a single shot through a small thermal exhaust port. We set up the difficulty of this task “impossible, even for a computer.” And we also get luke’s confidence “bullseye swamprats”

Also did he just say Princess Leah? clip

Also also, i still don’t get why this random dude is saying may the force be with you is the rebellion religious or nevermind neither of these are important.

Especially cause we now got 30 minutes before the death star show sup. A LITERAL ticking clock. But before we jump into action, there’s a hugely important scene that needs to happen… 

It’s Han’s last chance to join them, but he’s just not going to stick his neck out for them. He has his money now, so it’s over. But even here, it’s not like the experience hasn’t changed him. He likes Luke, even asks him to come along. But Luke’s all in the cause now. They’re at a dramatic impasse. Luke tries one last time, but all Han can offer is a call back of a line, something he knows will mean something to him after what happened to Ben… “may the force be with you.” And he means it. The goodbye lingers in the air and chewie growls. 

But then we get the single most important line in setting up the film’s climax: “i know what i’m doing” Yup. That’s the line. Because we can hear the hollowness in his voice. We can see that he’s trying to convince himself, we can see the doubt, just as we can see that deep down he knows better and feels guilty. Which is all so important because it allows us to believe the idea that he’d come back. So that the ending doesn’t feel like some lucky deus ex machina. It’s not fate. It’s a moment built on meaningful relationships. And this is the moment that ending is earned. Because good pay-offs can’t come without good set-ups.

From that moment, Luke feels alone, he wishes Han was coming. Just as he wishes Ben was here now. It’s such a great note and then… 

We get the special edition scene where Biggs shows up. It’s another of the famed deleted scenes that works it’s way into the story. I get the original logic of it. It should make us care about this character’s upcoming death (a character who originally had a whole introduction back on tattoine that’s never even made the special editions), but there’s a reason all these scene were taken out in the first place. It’s not just pacing, it’s that it really doesn’t do this great job on selling the audience on caring about Biggs. 

Truth is we care more about leia and han and ben and R2 and the larger cast of the movie. Putting in all that real estate just to make us care about one side character who we just know luke knows? The payoff honestly isn’t that big. That’s because they’re just demonstrative scenes mean to tug at sympathy, but there’s a huge difference between sympathy for a person we barely know and whose death will go by in a blig and empathy for the relationships we deeply care about. Which is why the much better part of the scene comes right after…

When asked if he wants a different R2 unit, “not on your life. That littlle been through a lot together.” It’s great little moment summarizing their forged relationship. A mere two hours ago, Luke would have erased the droids memory without a second thought and done his chores. Now, he and R2 are ride or die bitches. So as much as we could care about Biggs dying, we will care WAY more if god forbid, anything happened to that plucky droid… 

 *Gulp*

With that, the death star approaches…

Sequence 8 - The Death Star Run

Immediately, you feel the sense of david and goliath. “Look at the size of that thing” these tiny little ships going against a moon. Whatever could be the hope here? 

I’ll also argue that this sequence is STILL the best space battle sequence in the series to date. Again, because they couldn’t do a ton with graceful, fast moving VFX,so they had to really dependent on clear geography, creating energy in the edit, and really relying on the mechanics of realistic dogfighting planes and aerial tactics from world war II. The result is spectacular. 

We start with a gold old fashioned roll call of the actors who will direct our attention and care, note the way they basically narrate the action that is to come. But quickly we even start demonstrating the dangers of death and loss… Aw poor porkins. Then we start demonstrating cause and effect from the battle itself. The small fighters are evading the laser fire and starting to make dents in the surface.

So that means the empire is going to their enemy fighters. The battle rages and we get reversals - luke saves his friend, then his friend has to save him. Gah, even though I’ve seen it a million times, even when I’m trying to analyze it for this essay, I still just get so involved in the visual story as it unfolds.

The film spins its multiple plates. We get Grand Moff showing hubris and denying the validity of their attack, which ends up justifying their deaths narratively speaking. We also get to see the death star move closer. We get to see the incredible difficulty of the rebel ships trying to do the trench run. We get Lord Vader himself coming into the battle and seeming like an unstoppable force who is taking out the rebels one by one. All this works like a perfectly engineered swiss clock of clarity and obstacles.

 We get the impossible tension of the bad guys closing in “almost there….”

We get the impossible nature of their goal through failure “negative, blew up on the surface”

And finally, we get luke, biggs, and wedge going in as the last hope for the rebellion. Biggs dies, but there’s no time to mourn. Then Wedge gets taken out the picture “sorry” - And when things feel most dire, tragedy comes for the one we care about the most… he gets hit [R2]. We’re beside ourselves… Luke needs to get closer. He hears Obi wan’s voice, he turns off the computer. Is he making the wrong decision? No. Ben would never steer us wrong.

The port still isn’t in range, Luke is still too far out. Vader gets him in his sights… It’s over. He’s gone, He’s failed. “I have you now” So Vader fires and then-

Clip: Han to the rescue

 EVERY TIME I forget when this moment comes because i’m too caught up in the action. It’s so perfectly timed, because we spend the ENTIRE battle forgetting about Han Solo, and I’m just so involved in the tension of the moment- that my heart leaps out the second he comes over the horizon. And because they set it up so well, we know why he came back.

There’s just one thing left to do.

 Luke Fire: BOOM- they did it

Sequence 9 - We did it!

What I love about this celebration is how genuinely delirious they are. Just big grinning goofy idiots who aren’t just hugging, but falling over each other. They did it.

And now that it’s done, all that’s left to do is celebrate. There’s no other resolution needed. When you tell a story in the right way, you don’t have to keep explaining things post-script. You do all that work BEFORE the climax and if you are really good, you make it happen as a part of the climax. Like what happens with Han here.

Phil Lord always says movies are about relationships and that’s absolutely true here. We’ve seen that Han came back for Luke. We see that Luke learned to truly trust in Ben’s guidance and embrace the force. These are the climactic actions of our narrative. There’s an old adage in storytelling where you ask: what’s the thing the characters could do at the end of the movie that couldn’t do at the beginning? For leia it’s more plotty, but it’s the seemingly impossible task of beating the empire.

For Han Solo it’s caring about something more than money and himself. 

For Luke? He managed to left home, he made a choice to risk everything and become a part of bigger world. He lost family, but he made friends and a new family.

Some who will with him going forward [show R2]

Yeah the final scene feels like a victory lap, but that’s the whole point. It IS a victory lap. 

lLuke, Han, chewie and leia. - the wink. All these details are the final icing on the proverbial cake. But there’s a reason The Phantom Menace can copy the same exact celebration and it doesn’t feel nearly as satisfying or miraculous. clip “that’s a neat trick” Ugh, we’ll get to that some other time But it’s because you have to earn the satisfaction of your victory through the story itself.

And star wars earns it. It earns it by committing to the basics

When people tried to copy the success of star wars, the always made the mistake of copying the surface details. They thought audiences wanted space guns and laser beams and [insert joke] i have no idea wha this is. But it’s not about light sabers and specific iconography. It wasn’t even about the rough shape of the story. After the success of Star Wars, everyone went out and bought hero with 1000 faces thinking “here! this was the key!” but it’s just a book about tropes. And tropes aren’t story craft. A lot of times, they’re the opposite. Because you don’t want to have a character die by x page just because other movies do it, you don’t copy beats themselves. You have to look what makes beats function in the first place. In other words…

You don’t learn how to make Star Wars again. 

You learn what made star wars a good story.

And it was the basics. The relatable life situations, the simple goals, the clear objectives, the dramatic conflict, the constant attempts at convincing each other, the focus on economy and ticking clocks, stacking the odds, spinning plates, and most of all, the understanding of set-ups and pay-offs. The film is slavishly devoted to all those things and as a result? They created one of the most entertaining and enduring movies of all-time.

The same is true for all great popcorn movies. They’re built on the harmonious blending of clear characterization, plot, drama, and theme (Jaws, mad max fury road, etc). They know how to keep you focused on the story and letting all the necessary details come out of what you are already seeing on screen. 

[shots of lucas] Couple this devotion to story craft with imagination and ingenuinty? Then you have a great idea. But Lucas didn’t arrive at this final story with the very first draft. Heck no. It was part of a rigorous will to keep editing, keep shaping, and build a movie that actually worked. That’s the secret. Everyone who worked on Star Wars treated the story as the boss. It wasn’t lore management. Because in 1977, no one knew what this movie was going to be. It was just an idea. An unformed nothing. And it’s eventual success proves something so damn important.

A good story will take you everywhere.

(Even a galaxy far, far away?)

See ya next time.

STAR WARS SLAM.