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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

CT Secrets of the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV unveiled

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by Lt. Hija, Apr 16, 2017.

  1. Hernalt

    Hernalt Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    There's one other moment I can think of that displays the convolution of Han addressing a party while referencing said party (to a yet third party), and that's when he says, "Boy, you said it, Chewy. Where did you dig up that old fossil" while backing up into Chewy (who just said something about Obi-Wan's age). It was an intimate picture of the man and dog/man's best friend dynamic.
    I'd agree that IF the Blockade Runner was given a personality it would have to be female. I have always pictured the Blockade Runner as a ship expression of Princess Leia. Right down to the white gown, the buns on her head, the maternal midships, the maternal engine block, the mercy mission. That's before getting to the events. And the message of the Blockade Runner is not 'the malice of controlling technology' like HAL (1968) or Forbin/Colossus (1970) etc evil male computers/robots. To be fair, Logan's Run (1976) had a female computer that perpetuated, although was not the source of, an evil paradigm. Female computers have generally represented forces for good. That gets interpreted differently depending on who you are. https://www.themarysue.com/women-are-computers/ (It turns out my use of 'ghost in the machine' is not uncommon in this topic.) And 'blockade runner', unless the blockaded party is a force for evil, is generally associated with the idea of breaking free from an unjustified oppressive force. The combination of 'rebel' + 'blockade runner' does not give much in American history, at least, to call a force for good, but the combination of '(not in it for your) revolution' + 'blockade runner' Does give us something that some have called a force for good. And that would be something along the lines of a representational government and a bill of rights.

    One good reason I think for not given Leia's ship an observable personality is that Leia has no ghost in any machine. She has no hidden, mysterious counterpart personality that complements or backfills what she "is". She is the Bill of Rights, encapsulated. She is a forward, blunt, obvious, loud, outspoken force for good, and is not made as complex as Han, at least not in SW77. She is monolithic. I easily pair her with Enfys Nest, who is monolithic and binary or boolean, as far as what options Han is given to deal with her. (Whereas Qira, you might entertain, is nearly the diametric opposite of Leia.) Han had flown from one end of the galaxy to the other and seen a lot of crazy stuff, and so it was unsurprising that this ship might have a peculiar dialect.

    Here are the relevant bits as far as who 3PO is talking to. A strong distinction is not made of the hierarchy between the (leet) navicomputer and a ship computer. Do we have evidence of the existence of a ship computer that is distinct from the (leet) navicomputer? It was nearly a secondary character in the OT, and now with SOLO:ASWS it kind of achieves secondary character status. And if Han is addressing the Millennium Falcon, hunk of junk, with hear me baby hold together, then that suggests there is not a feminine ghost in the machine apart from the one that is demonstrated to be from L3-37. Or, the navicomputer overrides any other computer in the hierarchy of personification of what the Falcon 'means'. It is what separates it from the pack.
     
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  2. BlackRanger

    BlackRanger Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 14, 2018
    Counterpoint: "blockade runner" was a frequently-used description of privateers who ran the Union blockade to bring the Confederacy supplies from Europe during the American Civil War. Given the amount of Rhett Butler/Clark Gable that went into Han Solo, it's an interesting choice of phrase.
     
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  3. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 8, 2015
    Indeed, and seizing and penetrating a ship that's supposed to be protected by diplomatic immunity, had qualities of rape (didn't we just have a similar themed thread?) [face_thinking]

    Good points. Of course the female computer in Logan's Run wanted to ensure the well-being of the community. Considering Jessica Seven's aversion to real sea food, I still wonder up to this day how the people were supposed to be fed after the system they had relied on was gone. However, Sgt. Pinback from Dark Star might disagree as he didn't seem too happy after the female computer told him it was time for him to clean up the room where they had caged the extra-terrestrial balloon. :p
     
  4. Hernalt

    Hernalt Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    I haven't seen Gone With the Wind in 30 years, not my thing. I was not aware of the connection with Rhett Butler being a blockade runner. This then raises a question on the timing of the naming. "Pirate Ship" was the first designation for the earliest iteration of Colin Cantwell linear design. That would have been the choice moment to inherit the property of being a 'blockade runner' if Han Solo was echoing Rhett Butler that early. Interesting angle. As far as popular culture, Gone With the Wind produced a romantic subdomain (inside of a not-carefully examined higher context) that was worth studying and emulating, if nothing other than to catch the magic that generated BO. I cannot think of a Revolutionary War analogue that created a subdomain of such romance, possibly because its higher context was considered universally legitimate / unassailable / unimpeachable.
     
  5. Hernalt

    Hernalt Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000