PT Rian Johnson on Star Wars: ‘There was something really beautiful about the prequels’

I was responding to Strongbow not you so that's probably why you are confused

 

Ah, yes. Got it. Sorry about that.

Though now that we're on the topic, I'd wager that while most PT fans enjoy the politics of the trilogy, the "taxation of trade routes" in TPM is likely not the element that many are deeply passionate about.

That said, TPM's still my favorite of the PT.

 

Sure. So? First off, I gave the winky, indicating I was being facetious. Second, although I enjoy the PT in general, I certainly have criticisms of it, and that particular ham-handed bit was something I did not like. I'm not saying anyone else has to dislike it, but I did.

Yup, I agree. I think political context matters. But as always, it's about execution.

 

I like in the sense its awesome and foreboding to see how something so mundane as "taxation of trade routes" helped kick off a series of event that lead to rise of a totalitarian regime.

Its also analogous to the American Revolutionary war where a series of ''taxation disputes'' lead to the creation of the most powerful country in the world.


That said, I am not sure about the use of politics in the prequel. In retrospective, it would be better if they just focused Anakin's struggles to the dark side. Anakin would receive much better development as a result, I believe. As a result, a stronger prequel trilogy.

 

I would perhaps be disappointed if Star Wars focused on the Taxation of Trade Routes directly... because TPM does no such thing. It's simply a bit of backstory that comes up in 2 scenes (the crawl and the Senate scene). There's never any actual scenes where anyone discusses the taxation, beyond Palpatine's mention of it being a direct cause of the events.

It's just a kickstart to the plot, like the stealing of the Death Star plans, or Palpatine's kidnapping.

 

Your signature is probably the most confusing thing I have read on this site. Just FYI

 

It reflects the confusing landscape of Plagueis theorizing. Though Plagueis has been deemed dead, he just won't die!

More specifically, it draws from a proclamation often made in monarchical Western Europe, following the death of a king and the accession of another:

"The King is dead. Long live the King!"

 

Not quite as cool or interesting though is it? Mind you alot of accountants were really pumped when they read that

Also reminds one of the words of House Greyjoy

 

Jumpin' in here...

Well, probably not.

But that's rather stacking the deck, isn't it?

Even in the movie, the taxation of trade routes, if taken literally, turns out to be a red herring.

That said, it is interesting, if the saga is watched in linear number-order, all the way through to the heart-stopping conclusion of ROTJ and the Vader/Luke/Emperor confrontation aboard the second Death Star, that we're actually watching the final gambit of a sinister, wretched old man who once masterminded the covert takeover of an entire galaxy, beginning with bogus taxation laws.

Gives the story a much grander and wonderfully labyrinthine construction. Everything in the prequels boldly re-invents and adds weight to the intimate transpirations of the OT. The scale of the Emperor's villainy, for example, is all the more shocking -- pun intended -- after the prequels and that rather mundane (but oh-so-symbolic) trade dispute and what (or who) lay behind it.

"More Machiavellian" is right.

 

I don't see why it's much less interesting. I mean, if it wasn't for taxation, America would still be a colony of the UK. Taxation of trade has been a powerful force throughout history.

 

Never had a problem with the taxation line, as I was too busy being drawn into the action and characters of the actual movie after the setup text.

Similarly, the line "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the Evil Galactic Empire" is not the reason ANH is a memorable film to me. The line is pretty cheesy and awkward on its own (the Empire is at war with Rebel spaceships? Do the Rebels approve of their spaceships' actions?), but the iconic shot of the star destroyer followed by the rebels' stand certainly sells the whole thing.

 

Yeah, for all the blubbering hub-hub about The Phantom Menace being drowned in boring un-Star-Wars-like "space taxes", A) the entire plot-point takes up a grand total of maybe 40 seconds of narrative, and B) everyone seems to conveniently glaze over the line, "There is something else behind all this, Your Highness. There's no logic in the Federation's move here."

In other words, the movie pretty much states from the get-go that it's not really about "space taxes". And that was 17 years ago. People still complain about it because, ya know, rhetoric.

 

It just seemed like passive-aggressive trolling at the time.

Sorry, I got way too sensitive.

 

No sweat. I understand that.

 

We'll let it go once he stops bashing them openly.

 

I never noticed that!!!

 

"German airplanes, striking from occupied France have bombed London". Sounds ok to me.

 

Yeah, it's no big deal at all. Just strikes me as a slightly awkward running with spaceships as the subject of the sentence. Especially since this is a space opera/SF setting, I could see where a newcomer might think for a second that the spaceships are sentient in their own right.

As far as being cheesy, sure, a spaceship battle is going to be more exciting than a tax dispute to most people, but still, SF story = spaceship battle is about as mundane as you can get in imagery and ideas on paper. Again, it was the actual beginning of the film that ripped through people's imagination and made them realize this movie wasn't some throwaway thing. Similarly, the tax line merely sets up the action, as well as the idea that this "mundane" conflict is actually masking a much more sinister one. If you think TPM is actually about tax disputes, well, one has to wonder why the dark lords, Jedi masters, laser sword fights, live-changing goodbyes, dramatic deaths in battle, etc. are getting in the way of all the tax disputing.

 

It was a homage to the Flash Gordon serials. They would open with that kind of simple story setup.

 

Actually, even if ezekiel22x didn't notice it, the specific patch of awkwardness lies in the clause "have won their first victory against the Evil (sic) Galactic Empire". The sentence has a clumsy predicate. How can spaceships, in and of themselves, "win a victory"? People (and maybe abstractions made up of people like countries) win victories, not inanimate objects.

Still, you're right -- homage to Flash Gordon serials 'n' all.

 

Let's make sentient ships then!

 

In Star Wars, ships have sentience -- or sentient owners.

"My ship will be the entry fee."
"She may not look like much, kid, but she's got it where it counts."

Ships are symbolic constructs. When is a ship not just a ship? In Star Wars!

And space is the transitional ether, marking psychological change from one symbolic environment to the next.

And AOTC is the most "symbol-saturated" movie, having five main environments, instead of the usual three.

Okay, I'll stop, now.

 

"I'm an X-Wing, aren't I? I X-Wing."

 

Yeah, but in TPM, the situation lacks the drama of taxation without representation.

Full quote revealed: "There was something really beautiful about the prequels. You know, that one scene? I can't remember what movie it's in."

 

dp