Star Wars Chapter 1 Compare And Contrast
T.V. shows are another media where Star Wars is prevalent. Through its history Star Wars has made two T.V. series being The Clone Wars and Rebels (both with the Star Wars title before it). The Clone Wars expanded upon the prequel trilogy (between episodes 2 and 3). While the Rebels series tied the prequels into the original trilogy (between episode 3 and Rogue One). For teens, both series are displayed as kid shows at first glance. Though both display real teenage feelings. Both tackle the idea of seeing the world for the first time. In Clone Wars its displayed through Ahsoka Tano and in Rebels: Ezra Bridger. Other teenage characteristics take a darker tole in the two series since our teenage lives are often filled with all the dark things in the world.
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For more of an idea of the darker side of Clone Wars I talked to Andrew Bleiler. Andrew was an avid watcher of the series since it aired. We talked about some of the darker things in the series such as “zombies and undead stuff” that could very well be taken right out of the Walking Dead. “The conflict within Anakin Skywalker” was also a very complex aspect that Andrew mentioned. (Anakin Skywalker was a supposed to be a good guy working for good people until he let his own wants take over and turned evil. In the series he appears good with hints of his wants a starting to control him.) The “dark side of the force pulling on him” made for a couple anti-hero moments in the series where you couldn’t predict whether he’d do the right thing or give in to his selfish thoughts. It made for an interesting and engaging character arc but also something teens can easily relate to. As Anakin was tempted, teenagers today are tempted daily to do wrong things in the eyes of our superiors—using drugs, stealing, becoming a procrastinator, having sex, drinking— These are real temptations. We go through the same phases as Anakin when trying to avoid them and it makes him someone that teens especially can relate to.
Anakin was also involved with a lot of the action in the series but it wasn’t all fighting; Nor was the series focused on one character, “there were a ton of different characters that they followed over story arcs and not all of them were shoot um up kind of things”. For example, the series followed Padmé Amidala, she was a young senator looking to create peace in a war fraught galaxy. (If this doesn’t relate to today I don’t know what does.) Some episodes focus her diplomatic missions that show not only the complexities of war but that peace doesn’t have to be achieved only by fighting. In these regards Clone Wars really does dip into the dark side of the teenage ideas.
To highlight the more recent Rebels T.V. series I got a hold of an interview with the director of the show: Dave Filoni. He talks to Peter Sciretta from SlashFilm.com about how the series is not afraid to go to the dark side, specifically about killing off characters. Killing someone on a show labeled as a kid’s show is a very dark thing to do. Filoni explains this saying “I would say absolutely you can. You can kill off characters.
You can turn them [to the dark side] if it serves the story. That’s something George [Lucas] always warned me about. You know, if you do this, do it for a reason. A reason that kids will understand. But don’t just do it to do it. Which is sometimes a hard thing not to do, to be tempted by.” This reason is one of the best things about Rebels in a whole. Everything has a reason. Whether it’s a simple smuggling job, a full-on assault of a planet, or the part of a character that keeps them fighting, everyone has a purpose for doing anything. This gives a depth to show meant for kids. It also relates to teens by asking them to give a real focus on the why aspect of life. People learn what happens by the news mostly today but only a few really go deeper and really find out the truth behind stories. Headlines and big news outbreaks are there to draw viewers and make money, not give us need to know information that could help us. News broadcasters cater to money, not our needs. Through explanations of deep motives in characters, it shows that everything isn’t black and white in the world. Stories you may see may be based on one opinion or another, not facts. (or at least not all of them). Filoni was then asked about whether classifying Rebels as a kid show was appropriate considering the dark themes in it. He responded saying “Talking to George [Lucas], he would always remind us that Star Wars is for kids. I think that over the years as adults we’ve kind of taken something we grew up with as children and morphed it into something that’s incredibly powerful to us and important to us… Now whereas fans, we kind of hold onto these things so hard. At times I think we change them too much and darken them too much and we forget their initial purpose. Our fundamental responsibility at least for me as a storyteller needs to be captivate the imagination of kids. You know, because they’re the ones that we need to give them the ability to 30 years later still love it like we do now. If we change it too much and make it too dark, then we kind of deny them that ability because they’re too frightened by it.” Dave realizes that without the kid appeal to Star Wars, it will become saturated by adults who twist and turn franchises in their own dark way. This becomes another obvious reason as to why Star Wars should be so appealing to teens. As teens, we are in this transitioning point of wanting kid related fun with adult ideas and this is shared with the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars wants to appeal to kids while still incorporating adult themes. This makes for a should-be perfect marriage between the teen culture and the Star Wars Universe.
For more of an idea of the darker side of Clone Wars I talked to Andrew Bleiler. Andrew was an avid watcher of the series since it aired. We talked about some of the darker things in the series such as “zombies and undead stuff” that could very well be taken right out of the Walking Dead. “The conflict within Anakin Skywalker” was also a very complex aspect that Andrew mentioned. (Anakin Skywalker was a supposed to be a good guy working for good people until he let his own wants take over and turned evil. In the series he appears good with hints of his wants a starting to control him.) The “dark side of the force pulling on him” made for a couple anti-hero moments in the series where you couldn’t predict whether he’d do the right thing or give in to his selfish thoughts. It made for an interesting and engaging character arc but also something teens can easily relate to. As Anakin was tempted, teenagers today are tempted daily to do wrong things in the eyes of our superiors—using drugs, stealing, becoming a procrastinator, having sex, drinking— These are real temptations. We go through the same phases as Anakin when trying to avoid them and it makes him someone that teens especially can relate to.
Anakin was also involved with a lot of the action in the series but it wasn’t all fighting; Nor was the series focused on one character, “there were a ton of different characters that they followed over story arcs and not all of them were shoot um up kind of things”. For example, the series followed Padmé Amidala, she was a young senator looking to create peace in a war fraught galaxy. (If this doesn’t relate to today I don’t know what does.) Some episodes focus her diplomatic missions that show not only the complexities of war but that peace doesn’t have to be achieved only by fighting. In these regards Clone Wars really does dip into the dark side of the teenage ideas.
To highlight the more recent Rebels T.V. series I got a hold of an interview with the director of the show: Dave Filoni. He talks to Peter Sciretta from SlashFilm.com about how the series is not afraid to go to the dark side, specifically about killing off characters. Killing someone on a show labeled as a kid’s show is a very dark thing to do. Filoni explains this saying “I would say absolutely you can. You can kill off characters.
You can turn them [to the dark side] if it serves the story. That’s something George [Lucas] always warned me about. You know, if you do this, do it for a reason. A reason that kids will understand. But don’t just do it to do it. Which is sometimes a hard thing not to do, to be tempted by.” This reason is one of the best things about Rebels in a whole. Everything has a reason. Whether it’s a simple smuggling job, a full-on assault of a planet, or the part of a character that keeps them fighting, everyone has a purpose for doing anything. This gives a depth to show meant for kids. It also relates to teens by asking them to give a real focus on the why aspect of life. People learn what happens by the news mostly today but only a few really go deeper and really find out the truth behind stories. Headlines and big news outbreaks are there to draw viewers and make money, not give us need to know information that could help us. News broadcasters cater to money, not our needs. Through explanations of deep motives in characters, it shows that everything isn’t black and white in the world. Stories you may see may be based on one opinion or another, not facts. (or at least not all of them). Filoni was then asked about whether classifying Rebels as a kid show was appropriate considering the dark themes in it. He responded saying “Talking to George [Lucas], he would always remind us that Star Wars is for kids. I think that over the years as adults we’ve kind of taken something we grew up with as children and morphed it into something that’s incredibly powerful to us and important to us… Now whereas fans, we kind of hold onto these things so hard. At times I think we change them too much and darken them too much and we forget their initial purpose. Our fundamental responsibility at least for me as a storyteller needs to be captivate the imagination of kids. You know, because they’re the ones that we need to give them the ability to 30 years later still love it like we do now. If we change it too much and make it too dark, then we kind of deny them that ability because they’re too frightened by it.” Dave realizes that without the kid appeal to Star Wars, it will become saturated by adults who twist and turn franchises in their own dark way. This becomes another obvious reason as to why Star Wars should be so appealing to teens. As teens, we are in this transitioning point of wanting kid related fun with adult ideas and this is shared with the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars wants to appeal to kids while still incorporating adult themes. This makes for a should-be perfect marriage between the teen culture and the Star Wars Universe.