**Official** Love Story discussion thread.

the main thing i can say about the love story, is that it's not a love story! it's a story of a very troubled, emotionally unstable and angry young man's obsession with a girl. Anakin wants Padme to take his pain away. perhaps even to the point that he would use his powers to maker her love him...

"don't look at me like that... it makes me uncomfortable."

 

The Romeo and Juliet analogy really works because you have to ask yourself "why were they in love?" and the answer is because Romeo was obsessed with love itself. There wasn't any other reason than that at the begining of R&J until their family tried to split them up and that became their reason. Hmmmm Lucas is borrowing for Shakespere now.

 

Don't you hate when great threads drop back a couple of pages and then when you post a new thread and want to talk about that subject it gets deleted and no one ever hears what you have to say?

 

Well said sdj!

Boy...anyway...the Admin's lock up everything. How nice! Na, it's all good! Just please don't ever get mad at me...I mean no harm, I know you do your job, just don't kick me off these boards.

Plus, it's hard to find the ***Official*** threads when you are new!!

Anyway...basicly....about the love story: It wasn't THAT bad! I liked it, and thought it was tipical. Spider-Man was better...but this wasn't bad! I liked it!

Um...what else?
Hey Luke, May The Force Be With You,
- TheHanSolo

 

His love for her will be the downfall of Anakin. He lost his mother, and he will not let Padme go easily.

 

The love scenes were great. They fit in perfectly with the story and set us all up for a big downfall. I believed their love. Portman and Christensen had fabulous chemistry.

...as for dialogue....many of you may not be familiar with older movies...but, it was all cheesy (and wonderful) then, a style that worked...just like it did here. Watch some old classics pre 1960's...you'll see what I mean.

I have noticed that many people here have very much disliked the idea of the "love story" portion of this film...they seem to be lessened by any mention of a love theme. I guess one would have to have a little romanticism built-in to have understood and enjoyed what they were watching...and it could be that more than a few persons here is just too young and angry to accept mushy-ness lol

 

I think Padme developed feelings for Anakin by the time they reached Naboo.

If I were trying to avoid a relationship with a guy this is what I would not do:

1. Take him to romantic spots on my planet.
2. Wear a backless dress while visiting a romantic location.
3. Allow him to get close enough to attempt a kiss.
4. Go on a picnic in a romantic location.
5. Roll in the grass after running around in a field.
6. Wear a "contouring" dress in front of a fireplace.
7. Wear a slightly revealing outfit (no stomach covering) while going with him to another planet to find his mother.
8. Be alone with him so often.

She allowed all of these situations to happen. Her mind told her to avoid him, but her actions spoke louder than her words. Padme could no longer hold back her feelings when she was sure she and Anakin were going to die.

I think after having so many close calls with death, she threw caution to the wind and decided to be "happy" by doing something as radical as marrying Anakin.

She let down her defenses out of frustration and may be a little pitty. I think she believes Anakin needs her to help him through his problems. Problem is he is too flawed to fix at this time in his life.

 

Why does this thread fall so quickly?

UP!

 

Ok first of all before I get to A/P

KeithFranklin....*sigh* SUBTEXT...SUBTEXT..SUBTEXT...."Boom they are a couple in love..."

THE HELL it went that way! They were already IN love the beggining of ESB. ESB was about them ADMITING it in tragic circumstances. It was a romance..look at the carbon freezing scene if you have any doubts.

But on to A/P (and yes suprisingly it IS possible to discuss them without trashing H/L )

Maybe the point is that Anakin is a bit obsessed. I think that is a interesting point people bring up. Maybe he is meant to come off as if he will go nuts without her...maybe that is the point.

 

I think the proof is in what would appear as better acting and chemistry between the two in the scenes that follow Naboo. Surely unless you refuse to see it you can admit that the scenes on Tatooine and Geonosis seem better and that's because now they are really in love.

 

There are two responses to AOTC that are becoming very common: [1] Yoda is THE Master. (I wish he had called Dooku his "YOUNG padawan" as opposed "OLD padawan.") and [2] the love story between Anakin and Padme is "Titanic-esque." Point one I agree with whole-heartedly. Yoda was phenonmenal from a narrative perspective and from a special FX perspective. The Titanic-love story response, however, may be the product of lazy thinking. But, I'll be fair and test it out.

1. Both Rose and Padme are aristocrats.
2. Both are beautiful, though look nothing alike.
3. Jack and Anakin come from humble origins.
4. For several years, both Jack and Anakin have been living nomadic lifestyles with no real home to speak of.
5. Both love stories end in the death, symbolic or literal, of the male partner. Though Padme is the one who will ultimately die before Anakin does in ROTJ.
6. After a boring aristocratic upbringing, Rose cuts loose and lives life to the fullest, inspired by her brief time with Jack. Padme, on the other hand, has many adventures as a young woman but most likely will not live to be an old woman.
7. Both Rose and Padme have children. The father of Padme's children is her one true love. Rose meets some other man later in life who becomes the father of her daughter.
8. Both love affairs are brief, taking place over only a few days.
9. The tragedies looming over the love affairs are different. In Titanic, the tradedy is undeniably, physically evident. In AOTC, the real tragedy, Anakin's submission to the Dark Side, is months or years to come.
10. Jack is not a murderer. Anakin murders a band of Tusken Raiders. Jack oveall is a romantic and not much of a fighter.
11. Rose and Anakin are petulant pouters. Jack and Padme have more self-control and adapt easily to change.
12. Rose and Jack make love. AOTC, Padme and Anakin do not.
13. Jack dies at the end of Titanic. Padme and Anakin get married at the end of AOTC.
14. People in Rose's life are scheming to keep her and Jack from being together. Though Anakin has the Jedi Code in the back of his mind as he indulges his love for Padme, no one is directly trying to keep him and Padme from being together. They are able to begin a relationship because no one is there to remind of such an affair's ramifications.
15. Both love affairs are kept a secret, though in Titanic the secret is not kept for very long.
16. Both women are given a necklace or charm by the suitor. Why didn't Lucas have Padme show Anakin that she had kept the charm he had made for and given to her in TPM (not my idea, BTW)? That would have a nice link to their brief time together in TPM.
17. Both love stories occur in movies that are big box office hits.

After trying out the idea, I can see some clear similarities. But, I can honestly say after seeing AOTC, I did not say to myself, "The AOTC love story reminded me of the Titanic love story." What do others think? Thanks for reading.

 

Up.

 

"Just go read the Ritual and Romance editorial on this very site."

I read it, and yes it put things into perspective a little more. You don't see the dialouge as just "chessy."

When I first saw AOTC I didn't enjoy the Love Story that much except for Padme confessing her love for Anakin. But at my second viewing this morning I really liked it. I can't wait to see it tomorrow, I believe I'll like it even more.

 

I myself, really enjoyed the love story. I could feel Anakin's longing for Padme throughout the film. Plus, you could sense that Padme was battling with her own feelings throughout the film too.

I felt that Hayden and Natalie had great chemistry together. Their scenes on Naboo and Tatooine were excellent. My favorite part was when Padme expressed her true feelings for Anakin at the arena. I almost damn near cried!

Ahhhh...I love, love!

 

I thought the love story was great, however I wished some scenes were not cut out so it wouldn't seem as rushed. Other than that Hayden and Natalie worked great together! I thought Hayden was excellent, some of Natalie's lines fell flat, but overall she was more relaxed this time around! My favorite scene was the love pledge, Natalie nailed it and it was wonderful!

Laura

 

if anything they needed to cut a few more scenes... not add too it. I heard they cut down the mace vs fett down already due to time. I'd have rather seen them go at it longer then anakin feeding padame freaking pears.

 

I didn't find anything to hate about the love story. Sure, it may have been a little chessy, but in a way that kind of made a bit more like real life. Natalie and Hayden had great chemistry and there was this underlying feeling that they really were trying to keep their emotions towards each other in check.

Look, guys, GL has said it from the beginning that he didn't know how people were going to react to the romance in ATOC. I'm sure if he could have found a way to get around it in the story, he would. But the romance had to be in the story, because the whole saga can't come together without. So I think Lucas did a pretty reasonable for someone not used to dealing wiht love scences. Its though to direct a love story when you don't have much experience doing so.

 

I agree. I love it. Really. Although..a few cheesy lines... wasn't Han and Leia's lines cheesy?? Like c'mon. Its Star Wars!!!

 

I agree with the many comments that this is not a traditional *love story*, and that in many ways it does not qualify as a love story. And it's certainly not a romance.

I think most of this has to do with Hayden Christiensen's eyes. Starting with that first scene when Padme tells Anakin to quit looking at her "like that", Anakin is a bit scary in his lust for her. Just look at Hayden's eyes. He's not gazing at her beauty, those eyes are lusting, they are after something. It was not a *nice* gaze. It frightened me, I would never want anyone looking at me like that. Like someone mentioned before, it's about possesion to him. He had a look of conquest in his eye, not of "true love". He is saying the lines that he know will work, and you know what guys, they sound cheesy! (for some reason people only realize this when they see them on screen, yet in real life they go "oh he's so sweet!") And I'm not saying that Padme is stupid, she falls for him of her own accord. I think she probably convinces herself she should love him. And for all we know, no other male has had the courage to approach her, as we see how good she is at pushing Ani's first advances away. But he doesn't give up, so perhaps she gives in to his lines. The female mind is a weird thing (I know I have one).

This relationship is FAR from normal. And I think that's a big part of it. (there many great posts about this) There relationship is not really based on picnics and dinners. It's based on politics. It's based on Anakin guarding Padme. It's based on these certain death situations they keep walking into (and getting out of). Both of them have grown up in very restrictive societies and both are itching to get out. (some more obviously than others)

It's too bad that some of the relationship backstory ended up on the cutting room floor (wait, do digital movies have cutting room floors?) But if they put everything in that it needed and took out some that it didn't the movie would get overshadowed and I don't think the love story is as big a part as the marketing "women like this stuff" division would like you to think.

Toodle pip
Sam

 

First off, I may have sounded a bit abrasive in my first post last page. Anyway, I just meant, bash the love story if you must, but for god's sake, don't sit in the theater and literally moan about it!

Anyway, I will say Hayden does do a good job of playing with his dual role. He gets the whole vulnerable/intimidating looks down just right. As for how Anakin looked at Amidala, I could never see that as being sinister, because he gave that little sly smile when she walked away. Sort of like he did at the dictatorship bit during the picnic. I think he likes kidding her sort of, maybe something he picked up from Qui-Gon.

When they look into each other's eyes right before they kiss for the first time, I think that is very much love. It was a very ... well, loving look. Anakin can be possessive, but I just think he was really that deeply in love with her. Symbolically, mythologically, nothing else would have made sense. And incidentally, there were many examples of courtly love back in the old days that from our point of view would basically look like stalking. But you know, that's just the way it was done. And declarations of love were VERY SEXY. Not so now, I know, but to pledge your life to someone - even someone you could never be with - was an ideal. Very Arthurian.

This was a "more civilized age," so the romance is appropriately more classical.

 

This was the woman who ordered thousands of Gungan warriors to their deaths just as a distrcation, just so she and a handful of soldiers could sneak into the palace with less trouble.

This is a woman who understands power and how it corrupts. This is a woman who understands the inevitability of death. This is a woman who was Queen of an entire planet and fought in a war before she fully completed puberty.

What kind of person do you think she'd fall in love with? She could only really love or be with a man who has tasted power as she has, who has seen the things she has seen, lived through horror as she has.

A psycho is somebody who can't see the difference between good and evil. A queen is somebody who has to be above good and evil. I think they're a good pair.

Oh, and I wouldn't really call him a psycho. It's just that old line about how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Donald Pfeffer

 

When Obi wan finds out about them being married he'll be pissed. They will also find out what he did in tatooine. Anakin will be expelled from the Jedi Order. I think it is THIS rather then Padme's possible death that will cause his hatred for the Jedi's.

 

The love story isn't as cheesy as Episode I.

"Are you an Angel?"

"I care for you deeply ani."



Right.......

 

The music cant be talked about enough in the love side of things.

For example: the arena. That is made so much better by the music, when they go in to their deaths. Its so perfect, them kissing, and the cart starts moving, with the music in full force right there...and then it opens up with the light and you see the huge place....wowee wow wow.

And the first kiss, I for one, knowing that this was the first kiss, was very moved. Most first kisses are sort of trivial in movies, but this, its the begining of something so grand that its hard not to feel emotional about it.

I dont see why people were so scared of the love story. Star Wars is a big fat romantic saga, how could you NOT have a love story (or two or three, counting Han and Leia, etc).

 

IMO, whether a romance works or not is dependent on the actors' chemistry. Harrison and Carrie had it, Hayden and Natalie don't. Chemistry is a very rare thing. Most movie romances don't have it, to be honest.

It is possible to discuss A/P without trashing H/L. And conversely, it is possible to discuss H/L without trashing A/P! I've read plenty of truly vicious reviews of AOTC which get all misty-eyed for H/L, although at the time of ESB's release, their romance was dismissed and thought of as "tiresome."