Okay, so a major negative about Rogue One is it's characters, who feel like stereotypes (the hero, the comedy relief, the blind swordsman ect...) and have very shallow development, as well as the audience having no context for the film if they haven't (gasp!) watched the entire Star Wars trilogy (and in part, Episode III for good ol' Bail Organa).I can't deny this, and I do wish they were explored further, but there is a reason for this, and it likens back to classic War films from the 1940s and 1950s...Many liken Rogue One to a "Star Wars War Film", and this rings true in many ways beyond the obvious. The classic war film typically focuses on a certain battle, mission or campaign through the eyes of a group of easily identifiable characters who serve as vessels for the audience to view the fight through. Usually context is given through a character who is out of the loop or new to the battlefield who needs to ask questions to prompt exposition from the grizzled and experienced soldier, which is where we find Jyn and Cassian.Jyn may not be new to the battle against the Empire, but she is the one who prompts the most exposition in my opinion. She's the subject of the Rebel briefing which sets up the story, Cassian (and to an extent later on, K2) elaborate the most to the audience about what is going on, which mirrors characters in films such as Bataan and Sahara (both 1943).As well as this, there is usually comedy relief, an "antagonist" in the group, the super religious soldier, and the representations of other minorities, such as the black soldiers in Bataan and Full Metal Jacket giving a look into how minorities were viewed in the period. However these character traits are shared amongst the gang in Rogue One. K2SO seems to stay as the dedicated comedy relief, however Bodhi, Baze and Chirrut share this in places throughout the film, Cassian fills the antagonist role, who is changed through a character transformation after Jyn fails to convince the council, and the minority is represented through Baze, Chirrut and Bodhi. However this is due to their characters in the Star Wars universe, rather than nationality. Chirrut represents the last of those devoted to the Jedi, displaying the religious soldier trait, whilst Baze shows those who have lost their faith to adapt in the trying times. Bodhi gives the audience a perspective on the Rebellion coming from the background of the Empire, his experiences with Saw's militia comparing to the bureaucracy of the Rebel council help highlight those grey areas of the Rebellion that the film likes to highlight.The characters are simple, because they are meant to serve a more mechanically narrative purpose, almost as a record of these people in this fight, boiled down more simple outlines, but enough personality brought by the actors to make the audience care about them and feel the emotions when they sacrifice themselves.Finally, to address the second point about context, it links into the war movie analogy in a more narrative sense. Many criticise that you need to approach Rogue One with a knowledge of Star Wars, or else you would be lost and confused as it does a poor job at contextualising the situation between the Rebellion and Empire, as well as the returning characters like Tarkin and Vader.However if you think of this as a War movie, the context of say, World War Two is rarely needed to be explained. The modern writing of Rogue One tends to humanise the Empire a little more that most classic films, where the enemy is a faceless wave of killing machines, but they need little development as with the context of the 3 movies you know who they are, much like you don't need development and context for the Nazis in a classic war film. It's a bold move on Edwards and Disney's part as it constitutes leaving those who have never seen the original trilogy in confusion, however the film is set to expand on a previously known event, and sets out to do that for the benefit of those in the know. This may reduce its standing with critics, but to me it strikes as a unique thing for a movie universe, creating a film pretty much in the context that it actually happened.TL-DR; the characters mirror many archetypes of classic war films, and the film is designed as if it's cataloguing an event that is known to the viewer. via /r/StarWars http://ift.tt/2hseABO
No comments:
Post a Comment