Saga Visual Links (Note: Image heavy, may contain Ep VII spoilers)

But the more I examined the frames of the Mustafar/Mordor scenes, the more I realized that they were in many ways "remixes" of each other. Their internal narratives hit many of the same beats, just in different order and with a different end result. Return of the Kings's Mordor sequence is very much the climax of Luke's story but utilizing the visuals of Anakin's; the volcanic imagery is meant to communicate a sense of heightened turmoil, but with the hopeful end purpose of completing Frodo's hero journey. ROTS, meanwhile, plunges you into the fiery heart of darkness without any intention of ending on a good note. This contrast is reflected in the use of said imagery. For example:

Moral Failure/Plea for Repentance:

"Destroy it!" "No"



"Just let it go!" "The ring is mine."



"Chancellor Palpatine is Evil!" "From my point of view the Jedi are evil!"



(Leave it to George to bring it all together) "My allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!" "Of you're not with me, you're my enemy."


"This wasn't the plan!"



A personal fight between two myth-sized heroes/The fate of the world fought between two "insignificants"



A consuming greed leads to consuming fire



Rescued by the white wizard/taken in by the dark sorcerer (complete with inverse angles!)




I think there's more links to be seen elsewhere in comparing these two sets of films (I'm definitely thinking of Tolkien/Lucas' shared fascination with nature fighting back against industry) but I'm content with this post for now

 

My favorite thread of this whole site. Wish people would post on it more.

 

Fantastic stuff all around on these last couple pages. Love this thread so much. Always excites me when I get a notification saying something new has been posted in here.

 

Good idea. The Seven Samurai (not surprisingly) probably has quite a few parallels to Star Wars.

I can't take all the credit for the video, it was the precursor to this exact thread that inspired it, and it was everyone else posting the images to it that meant I could pick and choose the "best" connections.

Part II is here (and I think it's my favorite of the three):

 

You people don't have lives!!!

I know what you mean, though.

 

Only thought of this one because I saw a meme of it but Luke taking down the AT-AT is like Legolas taking down the Elephant in LOTR

Rhane-1138 I loved that video you posted I went and watched all 3 of them lots of good stuff I never noticed and I got lost in the music a few times!

 

Mod action: Just added a note to the thread title to warn anyone on slow connections or limited data usage.

 

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but there's a quick shot in TPM of a tank floating over a battle droid. It always reminded me of a shot in the classic movie, Patton, in which a German soldier is rolled over by a German tank. I've never heard anyone comment on this before, but it always reminds me of it.

 

I've been really curious about the film/digital contrast that makes TPM stand out so distinctly from AOTC/ROTS, so I picked some frames that I thought illustrated that difference really well (picking up a few nice in-trilogy parallels along the way). It wasn't easy to find shots that were easily comparable, because in addition to switching camera types, Tattersalls shot composition changes quite a bit from film to film. TPM is the most "tight" of the three, with many tracking shots that follow characters and a greater abundance of close ups and portraits. AOTC and ROTS overall move the camera less and show a wider view of the set with each shot, almost like watching a stage play at times (possibly a link back to the early age of cinema where many filmmakers and cinematographers were still feeling out the differences between theater and film). Anyways, my intent with this wasn't to portray one technique as better or worse (though I will never deny that I am partial to TPM's storybook film look), I simply wanted to highlight the differences.

Musings aside, here's the shots:













I've always felt there was a fairly Freudian aspect to Anakin's affections:



"I will be Chancellor"

"I am the Senate"


What to do about Anakin...

 

Wow, I don't think I've ever noticed the very Vader-like arm folding at around 1:53 before. That's kind of cool.

I also don't think I'd ever spotted a couple of the ROTS Sidious/ANH Obi-Wan parallels shown here either.

 

People knock Hayden all the time, but the way he carries himself in these films is about as perfect as it gets. The way he moves looks and feels so much like Vader it's kind of insane.

 

He perfectly captured those James Earl Jones inflections and phrasing.

 

I don't have any images, but how about characters' trust in Christopher Lee's character in both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars?

AOTC: "Dooku is a political idealist, not a murderer."
Fellowship of the Ring: "I must see the head of my order. He'll know what to do."

And refusal by characters to join Lee's side:
AOTC: "I'll never join you, Dooku."
Fellowship of the Ring: "When did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for madness?"

 

Tell me I'm not the only one who immediately thought of Star Wars when they saw this...

One-wheeled motorcycle from 1931, which could reach speeds of 93 mph. Grievous would definitely approve.

 

Actually, the first thing that sprang to mind was that vehicle Mr Garrison designed in South Park, but I think a picture of it would be against the TOS or borderline at best...

 

Love this thread.

 

I never noticed the way young Anakin points in TPM, like Vader does throughout the OT. Jake Lloyd actually nails Vader's mannerisms pretty well at several points in that movie.

 

Of god, it's amazing just putting Peter Jackson's flaccid, limp, uninspired pictures next to GL's eye-popping images just underlines how far superior GL is as a visualist to everyone else in genre filmmaking.

 

Been waiting a long time to do this... (Mod edit: Episode VII / The Force Awakens spoilers ahead)

 

Wonderful.

 

YES! TFA finally getting into the visual links! Loving the mirrors we can already see!

 

Someone juxtapose,in .GIF form, "look, sir, droids" with the Boyega pop-up. Pretty please.

 

And we need a "Caption This" with screenshots from the trailer. I have a couple in mind already.

 

Holy crap, Han Burgundy!

That actually turns me onto the new movie in a way that the teaser trailer, in isolation, does not.

The Threepio-Boyega one is really good (circular "hole" on back of head, circular mark on back of suit).

And while I do like the digital look of Episodes II and III, nothing really beats the solid look of film. Nice caps.

 

Note to all - now that we're finally starting to see real imagery from the new film, please flag any such content with a spoiler alert. Saga spoiler policy here: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/sw-saga-in-depth-forum-eps-vii-ix-spoiler-policy.50019106/

(It's more a courtesy to other users than a hard-and-fast rule, so no one's getting slapped down for innocently forgetting to do so - if the edit time has passed, just PM myself or Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn, and we'll add a spoiler warning if we haven't done so already)