Ooooh, Fandom I love you. [How much?] Hella

I don't even know where to start. Okay, that is a bold-faced lie. I have like 400 places I could start but I am going to start by bringing up what I scratched at in class.

I loved Star Wars Uncut. It filled me with strawberry bubbles and kittens (all of which had to be surgically removed) and it makes me more of a Star Wars fan than before. But why? Why are bearded Leias and cat Lukes endearing to me?

Because that's what we are inside. There is something out there that fills us with nerd joy till we're bursting. We consume movies like candy, binge watch T.V. shows, and read book series until they makes us cry like 2 year olds. We scream (in happiness) at the sight of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé and dress up as anime characters. Isn't that just the best thing?!

I am a fan of many things and Fans are one the them. I mean, just look at them.

No, but seriously. Fans are the best. They are smart, funny, creative, sexy, and lovely. Are there some assholes out there? No, not at all. All of them are perfect and amazing and rainbow-butterflies fly out of their mouths and- Absolutely, there are assholes out there. But don't crap on the entirety of a pretty amazing part of humanity. We are obsessive and that behavior can produce something as charming as Star Wars Uncut.

I am not the best at expressing why fandom is useful or good thing but I have to believe its true. I mean, it just makes me so happy to hear people just humming the background music of a specific scene in a movie. That shows a connectivity that I can't really put into words right now and probably not for a while.

This leads me to the Fandom assignment. I and super duper stoked to be a part of this but at the same time I am a bit wary. I don't know if I'm up for such a task. I mean, don't worry, I will be charging at it with a stupid amount of ferocity but I don't think I'll be able to express fandom properly. I don't even know if it can be done. I just know that I really, really, want to.

 I want to tell someone I read fanfiction and not have them look at me like I'm a child. I want to have important and moving conversations about ships without being misconstrued as a crazed fan. I want people to understand that they can read some really awesome porn online and shamelessly share it with others who like that....but...ya'know...not awkward.

This is going to be a lot of fun but its probably going to send me into a dangerous spiral of self analysis. Just like a mad dunk did to this man.

Look at him...Look how far into himself he is sent. Where is he? Who is he? Is he me? Yes. That is my future. I'm going to get dunked on by this Fandom project.

Finally! It Works!!

I was able to get it to download and I’ve watched about 30 minutes (+-). I guess the “break” my computer and I took from each other was enough to teach him a lesson about who wears the pants around here.

Star Wars Uncut was really cute at times…and really, really bad at others. I loved the stop action with the Star Wars action figures, they were my favorite. The sound quality during some of the scenes was so bad I could barely understand what they were saying. The scenes with people were 50/50 whether I liked them or not. Some of the costumes and invented droids were really cleaver; however the others were so bad it was just sad. Others didn’t even seem to try.

The mini version near the beginning, when C-3PO was getting his hot-oil bath was hilarious. There was raw sexual tension happening, C-3PO with his pink robo thong trying to seduce Luke was just great. I would have enjoyed a few other scenes depicted with this obtuse sexual innuendo. Maybe I just have a warped mind…

I watched the video with my boyfriend who stated that we needed to make our own mini Star Wars clips…I do love that nerdy man of mine ;)

Computer Rage

So this weekend I’ve tried again and again to watch Star Wars Uncut and it has yet to work for me, resulting in an insane amount of computer rage on my part. Computer rage is essentially like road rage for some people—just…so… much…anger!!

For whatever reason, I do not get road rage, I can sit in traffic and not care…I figure I’ll eventually get where I’m going. On the other hand, computer rage is the bane of my existence. When I know my computer or technical device is capable of completing a simple function and it fails to do so—so much anger happens! I am typically a very passive person, but computers not doing what they are supposed to in a timely manner, well that makes me aggressive, very aggressive, wookie aggressive.

At this point, I am taking a break from trying to download the video. I assume my computer has issues because it is a long video. The saying “a watched pot never boils” apparently does not apply to computers…they are much needier. My computer wants me to watch it SLOWLY download the content and if I turn away for the slightest of moments any downloaded material disappears and it wants to restart the entire process. That little buffering symbol has caused me so much rage!

 

http://static.raymond.cc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/buffering-icon.png

After this blog post my computer and I are taking a break from each other…I think it is important for our relationship to step back for the time being. During this time I hope my computer thinks about what it wants from our relationship…he needs to consider his role and keep up his end of the bargain…if he likes us together, likes how I gently press his keys, likes how I spend so much time with him, well he needs to stop being such a slacker or else he’ll find himself crashing through a window or ripped in half.

He needs to decide if he wants this...

 

http://www.geenalee.com/thelovezone/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/computerlove_jpg.jpg

or this...

http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/562748-10326-49.jpg

I called the cable company and they state that Point of Rocks is basically “no man’s land” when it comes to the internet. The representative stated that Point of Rocks is on the edge of the internet flow (or whatever) and the only way to improve connection is to build another tower closer to Point of Rocks…yeah like that’s going to happen anytime soon…I’ll be sure to get right on that. Sheesh, some people are so helpful.

I was able to watch maybe 3-5 minutes, I made it past the opening credits and saw a few 15 second snippets, but alas no more than that when Mr. Computer wanted to re-buffer and start the download process over. Ughhhh!!

For now it’s time for a couple deep breaths and a relaxing shower, then I’ll try again…hopefully with a better response from my computer.

Thoughts on Star Wars

The first time I watched Star Wars, I was about seven years old. My parents had me watch the movie on a day when school was cancelled, and they planned on us watching the entire trilogy. The idea of watching Star Wars was painful for me. One reason, was at the time, the movies already started to look dated in my mind, and two, it was a space movie that really did not have much of an appeal to me. I remember telling my parents that the movie was boring before I even saw it. I am not sure why, I just know that I did not want to watch the movie.

My parents made me watch the movie, and while I resisted it in the beginning, I ended up being completely captivated by the story and the events. The movie had a slow start for me, but with action, comedy, and the fantasy elements it was a really entertaining movie. We watched all three movie and I enjoyed all of them. Now these movies are part of my normal movie collection. My husband and I watch them when we do not feel like going any where for a day, and just feel like having a movie day at home. It's one of our go-to movie collections. 

I think one of the reasons Star Wars has remained so popular is because it had a huge impact on the audience from when it was released. The storyline, the soundtrack, and the special effects that the movie was able to produce were attractive qualities in the movies especially at the time. The movies meant a lot to people, and as a result they did exactly what my parents did, they made their children watch them. The movies have become generational, and are stories which are being passing down. Older generations have kept the stories of Star Wars relevant in society through repetition and marketing. Toys and action figures are still produced, and movies are still being played. Now, younger generations are able to experience the fantasy and action of Star Wars because of the appeal it had for their parents and grandparents. In the video below, this kid is dressed up like Darth Vader trying so hard to use the force to move objects around until he thinks he does (I know this is a VW commercial, but I love this kid). This kid is trying hard to find the magic and power in the force, which he learned from a movie that came out 35 years before he probably even saw the movie. It shows, to me, that Star Wars is a movie that will be watched for many years, and a story that will be handed down for generations.

                                                   http://youtu.be/R55e-uHQna0

Confessions of a Star Wars Fan

My name is Steve, and I am a Star Wars fan, a "Han Shot First," dressing up for premiers, Empire lunch box having, fan.

Episode V, now in lunch box form!

It's been difficult for me to get started on this because of just how important Star Wars was to my childhood. Let me try this way: my teddy bear was an ewok. Not a stuffed bear with a hood. A plushie of Princess Kineesaa made by Kenner in the 1980s as a tie in to the short lived Ewoks cartoon show.

(Updated with my actual ewok.)

Our discussion this week has me wondering just why Star Wars is so important to me. Is it the hero's journey and quest myth? If I were a Mesopotamian child would I have been as obsessed and profoundly impacted by the Gilgamesh epic? Running around with a friend (they, of course, would make me be Enkidu, because I never get to be Gilgamesh), battling the Humbaba, castrating heavenly bulls, and being smote by Ishtar. Did Greek children stay up all night telling stories of Odysseus, and arguing over which of Scylla and Carybdis were the better nautical peril, or if Odysseus or Polyphemus was the aggressor. 

Does the type of fanatical devotion I exhibit go along with any hero myth? If it hadn't been Star Wars for me would it have been something else? 

Either way, for this snow day I will be watching Empire and Jedi, and there may even be a flashlight lightsaber battle or two.

-Steve

P.S. For your viewing pleasure, I present a panel of voice actors reading Episode IV as their famous characters. My personal favorites: Jess Harnell as Christopher Walken as R2D2, and Maurice LaMarche as Kif Kroker as Han Solo.

P.P.S: My girlfriend made me a Death Star pancake today.

The superlaser is a banana slice.

My Star Wars story

Like Iris, I honestly don't remember watching Star Wars for the first time. I think I've probably seen the whole series once and that was when I was a young kid so I don't remember much about it.

I know most of the big things. I know that Darth Vader is Luke and Leia's father, I know Luke and Leia are siblings. I know that Yoda is a small green dude who talks strangely. I know that everyone hates Jar Jar Binks. I know about Leia's slave bikini (and I remember reading somewhere that Carrie Fisher absolutely hated that outfit.)

But otherwise, I remember very little about the movies. So rewatching A New Hope was like seeing it for the same time.

I do have fond memories of wanting a lightsaber and of playing with my cousin's Star Wars figurines. And I did read a few of the Star Wars books though I think they were about Episode 1. I read one book about the Phantom Menace, but from Darth Maul's point of view, which is cool. And I read one book from the point of view of Boba Fett

And now I feel like I'm making it sound like I was more into Star Wars as a kid than I was! But I really have almost no recollection of watching the first three movies. While my parents liked Star Wars, we watched more Star trek when I was growing up. So I guess you could say I'm part of the notorious Star Trek vs Star Wars fight that we've been discussing in class, though I do like both, I just have a preference.

My girlfriend, however, is so into Star Wars that when we began to watch A New Hope so I could prepare for tonight's class, she was bouncing in her seat in excitement and squealing when her favorite characters came on screen. And I think seeing how much she loved it made me enjoy the movie so much more. I think sometimes that happens with people we are close to. Passion about media can inspire others to appreciate it more and I think that's what makes fandoms so special. A group of people who so ardently love something can sometimes make you want to look deeper to find out what exactly they are seeing and suddenly, you're sucked in too. (There’s something to also be said about how important it is that fandoms also criticize the media they are consuming but that’s a whole different topic.)

The World is like a Writer Suffering From a Severe Case of Writer's Block...But that's okay.

So my memory is pretty bad. The things that I remember about my own life are some of the most useless memories one can have but its worked for me so far...But I totally don't remember watching Star Wars for the first time. I mean, I'm sure young me was excited about it or something but who knows.

I remember being forced to watch Lord of the Rings and I was not there for that. I was very anti-movies when my family wanted to show me something. I was a jerk as a kid.

Anyway, watching Star Wars for this class was kinda like watching it for the first time. I hadn't remembered anything and so it was actually like a brand new movie. I felt like I was meeting new characters and watching something innovative even though I knew the plot and exactly what was going to happen.This is where I got to thinking about Joseph Campbell's quest narrative study.

Its hard to not get peeved at the idea of there being one entertaining story that only had the most minute changes made to it and then it's sold to us. But, and this is me completely disregarded the subconscious blah blah, wasn't this narrative new to us at some point? When you're reading a book as a kid you don't have the library of knowledge as when you're an adult and so each story is different. Even if it is a quest narrative that checks off all of the requirements you really aren't going to know that until you've read other things. You're sitting there thinking it's the most amazing thing in the world and that no one has ever (or can ever) write something like that again. Tons of people probably never bother to see that many T.V shows they watch, movies, and books are quite similar. And I don't think that its a bad thing.

I really don't think acknowledging that there is a rhythm, pattern, system, whatever detracts from the initial experience at all. I don't think that it shows a lack of creativity or innovation because it isn't readily apparent. I also think that time will really tell if Campbell's idea is true. It can be true for now and for much of the past but there is still a universe of uncharted territory in story telling. With new technology like the internet new narratives are being created every second and that is astounding. So don't be so down! There is a new story out there waiting to be written in GIF format! GET PUMPED TO WITNESS A NEW KINDA STAR WARS!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Star Wars, Campbell, Buddha, and The Wise Man's Fear

Rewatching Star Wars was a really enjoyable experience for me. It had been a while since I had last watched it and it was one of my favorite movies as a child. While I may not have seen the movie as much, I loved the other products it produced especially the amazing video games (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron being an absolutely amazing game and a sin on the video game industry for not reviving it) This is one thing I feel Star Wars was incredibly successful at doing. They make consistently great content beyond just the movies. As a gamer, videogames mean a lot to me and Star Wars, is one of the few movie properties, that was able to make multiple videogames, in multiple genres with some success.
 First Person Shooters(Jedi Outcast)

 Third Person Shooters (Battlefront)

Those ATATs? Yeah you can get in them

Ship Combat (Rogue Squadron)

 RPGs ( Knights of the Old Republic)

Racing (Podracer)

 There was even a Dance game that was made of it...

 whether its good or not depends on your sense of humor and how you feel about Vader and the Emperor having a dance-off but the mechanics were decent at least (admittedly completely ripped off)

Star Wars used a very classic narrative, the Heroes Journey, but I feel that so much of its success came, not even from the narrative, but from the compelling worlds and characters it created. It made a world you wanted visit, and a world that could be visited from some many different angles from action adventure, to resolving all the problems in the world through dance and it still holds up as a cohesive whole.


On a slightly unrelated note
Warning: Comparing Campbell to non-class Book read at your own risk
One thing that really struck me while reading Campbell was his description of Buddha and his interaction with the tree and how that fit into the Heroes Journey, as the resurrection of the bringing back of the boon. The thing that really struck me about it was that almost an inverse of that same event occurred in one current favorite books The Wise Man's Fear. In the book the main character, after entering the world of the Fae. He has certain... "encounters" in it, but eventually he goes exploring. In his explorations he comes upon a tree and talks to it. And the tree reveals many things that disturb and discomfort him. Later we find out that the tree houses a being that is evil and malevolent known as the Cthaeh. And this being knows everything, including all futures. Because of its knowledge it is able to know what words to say to cause the most devastation and destruction to the world. It is held as responsible for some of the worst tragedies in the world.
 I can not say for sure, but it seems likely that the author intentionally modeled the scene and the character after this idea. Both characters are all knowing, both represent truth, to get to both of them requires difficulties, struggle and going into an entirely different world. And both bring back something to the human world, that has the potential to change the world as it changed the hero. The only difference is in the heroic journey the change is positive, good wins out in the end. And in this story the change is decidedly the opposite

My Star Wars Story

I was introduced to Star Wars pretty late in comparison to everyone I knew at the time. The sixth movie, third episode, whatever you want to call it, had come out. My sister’s friend took her, and after seeing it, my sister bought all three of the original trilogy, if that’s what you want to call it. She went on and on about how great it was, so we watch them. We went through all of them really quickly, and then started again. We rented the first two of the second trilogy, and then we went to see Episode III in theaters, and I loved it. We watched them all the time. When the last film came out, she bought that trilogy, too, and we watched all of them repeatedly for weeks. We dreamt about Star Wars. We talked about Star Wars. It was all I could think about. We quoted the films and watched them all the time. It was addicting. There was nothing else. We watched all of the DVD extras, and would find our favorite parts again. I bought her a lightsaber for Christmas. My parents went to Disney World without us, and all I wanted was the little, stuffed Ewok. I love him. 

My mom told us that she remembers seeing Star Wars in theaters. She said, “There weren’t other episodes, and it wasn’t called Star Wars: A New Hope. It was just Star Wars.” It was clear that she held some resentment about the renaming of the movie. It’s just Star Wars. She liked the other movies, but not as much as the first one. She won’t watch the new ones. She told me that while all the other girls had pictures of Mark Hamill on their walls, she always thought Harrison Ford was cuter, and I agreed. These conversations with my mom add to my love for Star Wars. It’s something that we are able to share. 

Even 40 years later, Star Wars still has similar effects on new viewers. When it first came out, it only showed in a few hundred theaters because no one thought it would do well. Now, there are 6 films, three more on the way, and parodies all over. While I’m not saying everyone likes Star Wars, it is something that has universal appeal. It’s still extremely popular and loved, and appeals to all kinds of people.

I think it’s really interesting how much of Star Wars has been integrated into other pop culture. I watch Wreck-It Ralph this weekend, again, and there’s a scene where Ralph is under a lake of chocolate, breathing through a Pirouette, and it sounds like Darth Vader’s breathing. Family Guy has Star Wars episodes. There are quotes that get integrated into other shows and movies as a nod to the films. 

Watching Star Wars again this weekend has reminded me of all the feels I had the first time! It’s been a few years, I think, since I’ve watched any of them, and I desperately want to steal the rest from my sister and watch them all. I think a Star Wars marathon is in order. 

Why Is Star wars Popular?

While watching Star Wars for the zillionth time I asked myself, why was Star Wars so popular and why is it STILL so popular? It follows the typical hero archetype, the good vs. evil, light vs. dark, small business vs. corporations. Even with special effects that are becoming very outdated (even the added scenes look pretty cheesy) it has stood the test of considerable time. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope premiered in 1977, which was 37 years ago. I personally do not think Star Wars is popular because of the filmography but because of the story it tells. George Lucas paid special and spectacular attention to detail. Due to the lack of techniques of special effects, he had to rely on the characters to propel the story further…something which obviously lacks in the newer episodes I-III. I hope Disney does a better job, but I am not going to hold my breath.

 

http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2012/10/31/316585-disney-star-wars-and-lucasfilm-memes-you-knew-they-were-coming.jpg

Watching episode IV I tried to recall how old I was when I first watched it. My father is an avid sci-fi nerd and had me watching all kinds of dorky things when I was younger. My older brother wasn’t as intrigued, he was more sports minded. I, however, loved the daddy-daughter time and would watch anything he put on. While most people are Star Wars or Star Trek fans, my father allowed both a place in our home. My favorite Star Wars movie was always episode VI…I LOVED Jabba’s Palace and the Ewoks.

But why is it popular??

I think it is the perfect mixture of the typical hero story, with an added dash of unpredictable complications (Darth Vader as Luke’s father…Luke and Leia and siblings…the second Death Star is fully operational), and a dollop of cuteness and oddities (Yoda, R2D2 and C3PO, Jawas, aliens, Ewoks, Ton Tons, and so many others). The story was well crafted and a mix of predictable and new to keep the audience on their toes. It also had a clear cut message of good that even developed into a religion for those hardcore fans.

 

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http://cdn.smosh.com/sites/default/files/bloguploads/star-wars-meme-vader-call-me.jpg

My boyfriend’s daughter is 5 years old and personally, I think it is time for her to be introduced to the wonderful world of Star Wars!

Is the Dark Side Misunderstood?

            So I had mixed feelings about Campbell’s supposition of the Monomyth. I am always a little wary of texts that start with Freud (and or Jung) but this is probably the first time I that their theories have been applied in a way that even resembled sense. For the most part Campbell’s argument seems to follow logical steps from his base and that follow the evidence he points out. Unless I have read this wrong, he asserts that the Monomyth is essentially, and this is an over-simplification, a result (and vital part) of basic human psychology. I can argue the foundation but the better part of structure built on top of it appears sturdy enough. The very end of his argument, however, seems to have something really out of joint.

The last section in the chapter we read is on The World Navel. He discusses the point where the good material from the subconscious come (through the hero) into the waking world; “the hero as the incarnation of God is himself the navel of the world, the umbilical point through which the energies of eternity break into time” (41). So far I follow. This is what the hero must be if he is bringing that knowledge back. Campbell’s following statement does not seem to fit; “the World Navel, then, is ubiquitous. And sense it is the source of all existence, it yields the world’s plentitude of good and evil” (44), and further “Virtue is but the pedagogical prelude to the culminating insight, which goes beyond all pairs of opposites” (44). He follows these statements with the tale of Edshu and his multi-colored hat. Maybe this fits with the argument of insight that came before, but the hero of the Monomyth cannot possibly be as ambiguous as Campbell seems to be saying. Is not the hero saving people from their miss-development that leads to tyranny? So that at least has to actually be evil.

I just finished watching Star Wars and one of the things that stood out to me this time round was just how stark the division between the two sides are. Even Han, as the rough kind of hero, does in fact have to pick whether to side with the Rebels or leave with his reward, which is really an indirect way to side with the Empire. Luke even says that he hates the Empire, a comment that Obi-Wan seems to have no quam with. What’s more, Obi-Wan guides Luke to completely obliterate the Death Star. From what Campbell seems to be saying, the hero should come to something of a higher understanding from which he sees all sides, because none is actually evil. Perhaps I am completely missing what Campbell is saying but best I can tell that never plays out in any Monomyth I am familiar with. The Dark Side always remains so.

Oh and I thought this too. I see some similarities…

Helm's Deep
(http://staticmass.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/towers_5.jpg)
The Falcon
(http://www.coronasquadron.com/wallpics/s-flcn-str.JPG)

Star Wars: A Hero's Journey

I can't tell you guys how excited I am for Tuesday's discussion about Star Wars and archetypes. I think it might look something like this:

(But perhaps with a bit less Michael J Fox.)

So why am I so excited?

Everyone, it seems, has a Star Wars story, or even a few of them. My journey into loving Star Wars begins in the third or fourth grade. My mom and I rented all three of the films (yes, only three then) from our local video store and watched them back-to-back. I spent that summer writing a screenplay for "Episode VII" on something like 10 legal pads. The plot, as I recall, revolves around Luke training his sister to be a Jedi. (Maybe I should send it to JJ Abrams?) Star Wars introduced me to fan culture and fanfiction long before I knew either of those things even existed.

O Captain my Captain!

But my fascination with the movie deepened in the ninth grade. I had an amazing English teacher that year, Ms. Huff. She stood out a bit at the very traditional southern girls' school I attended. (I've always thought of her as my school's version of Mr Keating from Dead Poets' Society.)

A bit of a free spirit, she taught us the rhythms of poetry by teaching us to waltz. And she taught us about archetypes and mythology by showing us Star Wars.

Ladies and gentlemen, my eyes were opened.

I had never thought about the ways that all of the books and films that I loved were part of something larger, something connecting me to all of the people who ever have, or ever will, tell stories.

Even though I hope I have achieved a more sophisticated theoretical approach to texts than I had when I was 14, that lessons sticks with me. It's a formative moment in my education and my life, and it couldn't have happened without Star Wars.

Before I sign off for today, I wanted to share a link to a helpful article on Screened discussing how the Hero's Journey structure plays out in the film. I think you'll find it useful for our discussion next week. Click on the helpful diagram below to see it full size - you may want to consult it before, during, or after watching the movie for Tuesday's class.

from the Screened article linked above

So what about you guys? Do you have a Star Wars story to share? Are you a fan? Why or why not?