Bringing Balance to the Themes

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

1983

D: Richard Marquand

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         Due to its high volume of cool sci-fi vehicles and stuff blowing up, this was my favorite Star Wars entry as a little kid. However, like most people I matured to the point of preferring Empire Strikes Back while adopting more of a typical Gen-X ambivalence toward its immediate successor. The movie has its flaws, but it is still a classic and one of the best threequels from Hollywood. Besides, I have some thoughts I assume are original and I need to round out my Michael Carter tetralogy.

          The movie begins with Darth Vader’s (David Prowse, v. James Earl Jones) visiting the incomplete second Death Star in order to inform Moff Jerjerrod (Michael Pennington) that he is here to speed up the work on the station for Emperor Palpatine’s (Ian McDiarmid) arrival. Here we see Vader’s underappreciated dry wit when he implies that he will “find new ways to motivate” the men by utilizing synergy on their tracheas while Jerjerrod silently regrets the decision to waste so much manpower by having a bunch of people stand in formation for the dark lord. Pennington, a stage actor whose primary involvement in film is this movie, is solid as a vulnerable everyman bureaucrat willing to go along with atrocities. This characterization is so explicit that it probably exacerbated public obliviousness to the more subtle depiction thereof in Grand Moff Tarkin, but that’s a contrarian rant for another day.

          We now return to our roots as we return to Tatooine, where our band of heroes plan to rescue Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from Jabba the Hutt (Himself). It’s a good thing this character was never shown to us in a previous movie, because he was effectively built up offscreen until being revealed as the disgusting slug that he was. A foul-tempered, licentious, gluttonous, cruel person, he’s a villain without any admirable qualities to find perversely attractive. He perfectly combines murder with animal cruelty with the rancor in a way more subtle than what we got in other movies. One wonders how he could effectively run a criminal organization while being so irrational. His business practices involve disproportionate punishment (wasting money on a bounty!) of his best employee for uncontrollable circumstances, continuing to do so despite the man’s joining a dangerous military junta, and then continuously making the dumbest decisions as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) continues to foil him to the point of death. Then again, many people in power push their luck too hard. We need more villains who are victims of their own egomaniacal stupidity.

          Accompanying Jabba is his lackey Bib Fortuna (Michael Carter, v. Eric Bauersfeld), a wannabe mastermind who secretly plans to overthrow Jabba despite being an idiot.

          This initial arc establishes the development of Luke’s character. Having since accepted the reality of Anakin’s fate, he has become darker both in attitude and coiffure. He wears all black, and comes off as a true badass as he calmly tells Jabba that he will kill him if he refuses his generous bargain for Solo’s freedom (this is after asking politely). It might be easy for one to criticize this arc as far too coincidence-dependent; Luke’s complex plan is dependent on Jabba’s taking every chance to make the most irrational petty decision at every turn, even to the point of forfeiting C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2’s (Kenny Baker) freedom in the event of the crime lord’s actually accepting the deal like a reasonable person. 

           This is a good example in which themes are actually a prime motivator for storytelling, despite popular rumors to the contrary. In addition to tying up the loose end of Han’s absence, the Tatooine arc is meant to establish Luke’s abilities and expertise, albeit in hyperbolic way. This hyperbole is justified in that it was earned through hardship in the previous two movies, and serves to context for the rest of the movie’s plot. While Luke conquers an enemy through cunning and force (and some swashbuckling swinging), his future battle is far greater, against fare more powerful villains, and cannot be solved through brute force. The hyperbole serves this role. Also, said themes are valid adding nuance to the heroics without invalidating them; they do not involve prickly quasi-feminists who are supposedly right despite what we see in the plot.         

        Some minor disappointments are that Luke should have demonstrated his strength with a more climactic battle with Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch), who did not have any established vendetta with Han at the time. Also, the reunion between Han and the redeemed Lando (Billy Dee Williams) could have been a little more compelling.

          When Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training, Yoda (Frank Oz) deems him skilled enough to face Vader. Yoda confirms that Vader is Anakin, and justifies his obfuscation by claiming that Luke was not ready to know yet. After the Master’s conveniently timed death, Luke encounters Obi-Wan’s (Alec Guiness) ghost. Addressing him as “Obi-Wan” (this is important) he confronts him over the lie. Obi-Wan admits that he spoke metaphorically for his own sake while being reluctant to admit his past to Luke. It’s somewhat questionable for a wise master to send a faithful follower to hell for no better reason than his not feeling like clarifying a metaphor, but that’s apparently the way the Real Christians tell me I’m supposed to interpret John 6. After this struggle session, Obi-Wan doubles down on the original plan to goad Luke into killing his own father for the common good.

         Many might question the nobility of the Jedi when they hide this truth from our hero and use him as a tool, but I would argue this is intentional. Despite their good intentions, the Jedi are not infallible to say the least, and this is an instance in which the Prequels reinforce the original trilogy. Their stubbornness and myopia was one of the contributions to the crisis: they were the quasi-theological enforcers of a corrupt system that was failing the galaxy and drove it to fascism. While Return of the Jedi is often derided as simplistic, it perfectly follows up on the subversion of Empire and provides the necessary reconstruction on its own terms. It acknowledges and completes the themes of the trilogy’s climax, and emphasizes the importance of an optimistic third act.

          What follows is the confrontation between Luke and Vader on the second Death Star, which is cinema at its finest. The visuals of the throne room are gothic and atmospheric, and the interactions are poignant. Vader has evolved into a tragic character here. Upon the his arrival, the Emperor has dashed his apprentice’s hopes of overthrowing him by announcing his knowledge of the his search for Luke.  At this exact moment Vader gives up (you can hear the defeat in his voice), accepting his fate to pass the torch to his son for Palpatine’s benefit. Vader’s love for Luke, still twisted as it is in Empire, is expressed by his attempts to get him to accept the transition and his willingness to sacrifice himself, if only to buy time for his son. He has no illusions of Luke’s winning in the long run.

 

You have your moments, TVTropes. Not many of them, but you do have them.

David Prowse’s body language enhances the pathos as does James Earl Jones’ (RIP) voice acting; Vader actually manages a look of shock behind a mask when he realizes his attempts to push Luke to the breaking point went a little too far and triggers the most gloriously emotional lightsaber fight in the series. 

         Ian McDiarmid is brilliant as an evil mastermind, but Palpatine’s plan to corrupt Luke fails. Luke eventually overcomes his rage and displays mercy toward his father. When an enraged Palpatine attempts to kill Luke, Vader overcomes his struggle and kills Palpatine to save his son, even though it costs his life.  The Force Lightning scene is a genuinely intense moment for adults; Gen-Xers who fixate on the Ewoks as evidence that this is movie is nothing but fluff have no idea what it was like to watch that when you were five. The act of familial love overcomes the Sith while discrediting the Jedi’s well-meaning rejection of humanity, thus bringing balance to the Force. Anakin's (Sebastian Shaw) death is a great scene. If you want to know why he wanted to see Luke with his own eyes, it's because he always experienced the world through technological filter. It was like a parent's seeing the birth of a child after only seeing ultrasounds.

          A sad symptom of our post-Christian society is the common complaint that Vader was redeemed to easily, which operates under a system of proportional karma. 

          Contrary to Gen-X consensus, Luke’s arc solidified as deeper than that of Han’s, but the latter does have some worthwhile characterization. After Luke reveals that Leia (Carrie Fisher) is his sister and that Vader is their father, Han temporarily mistakes her struggle for a love triangle. Despite momentarily being hurt, he still comforts her and expresses willingness to back off if her heart belongs to Luke. Han would never deny his love her agency out of pure possessiveness to the point of inspiring me to create an OC for the sole purpose of deconstructing a disappointing story. 

           Leia momentarily acts as the damsel in the first act, but she later acts as the royalty who ends up being a bridge between the good guys and the Ewoks, representing the feminine ideal that is universal in theology. The Ewoks are primitives, but they prove adaptable allies due to their natual skills. Despite their paganism (they repeat a plot point from the Han Solo Adventures by attempting to sacrifice Han & Co. while worshipping a droid) there is hope for them, and they are swayed by the good guys’ message. 3PO fulfills his role as the bard by being the storyteller of the saga for them up to this point. I would have still preferred to see them fight the Imperials with more modern means; that did get a little cartoonish.

          A more annoying theme is the typical Boomer misunderstanding of Vietnam. Lucas admitted to inspiration from the Viet Cong’s “beating” the US, ignoring that the Cong were using AK-47’s, not sticks. More relevantly, the war was lost not militarily, but because of lack of support from home as a result of press and public opinion. This is obviously not something the Empire would have to worry about.

        Some would understandably question the Empire's obsession with making giant murder-moons, even when after it is proven to be a losing tactic. This could be explained by the Sith's being a literal death cult and that the Death Star is an act of human sacrifice. A more mundane explanation is that the Clone Wars taught the galaxy that civilian bombing is the most effective ways to win wars in the same way World War II did. Most experts nowadays are of the consensus that it is ontologically impossible to win a war unless you are willing to murder as many enemy civilians as possible. The latter would probably be more in line with Lucas' intent. 

         One of the biggest nagging problems I have with the movie is the logistics of the Battle of Endor. This arguably crosses the line as the dodgy rationalizations for this battle are essential to the story. The Rebels are determined to destroy a second Death Star, and now even more so because the Emperor himself is supervising its construction, based on the testimony of our Greatest Ally, the Bothans. Many Bothans died for this information, which raises an important question: if this intelligence breach blew up to the point of people's getting killed, then it implies that the Empire might know what the Rebels know, and that the Emperor would cancel his trip. Maybe those Bothans just exaggerated their sacrifice, and it makes sense that they are later revealed to be a race of untrustworthy douchebags. 

         Even more absurdly, the Rebels, for no good reason, have made the decision to bring their entire fleet to the Death Star, containing their entire leadership structure. Considering that they only need lightspeed capable fighters to penetrate the station and (maybe) a small command ship, this is a needless play into the Emperor’s hands. His trap is entirely dependent upon this nonsensical tactic. 

        Another absurdity is that the shield must be shut down from the ground (hence the Ewoks), and that a ground tea must infiltrate the forest moon in a stolen Imperial shuttle using old codes. This only succeeds due to the Empire’s having obscenely stupid OPSEC, and I'm pretty sure that Star Trek made an intentional dig at it in one episode. Vader’s wherewithal makes this known and forces the confrontation between him and Luke. Despite the popular interpretation of his personality, he’s pretty chill about the whole thing.

Star Trek literally did this to Star Wars

        Upon showing up, the Rebel fleet is boxed in by the Imperials. In one of the worst examples of people's forgetting that space is three-dimensional, the Imperial fleet only blocks one axis of exit and the battle occurs over a single general plane (I assume they're too close to Endor to escape to light speed). Still, the Battle is a brilliant display of practical effects and contains what is possibly my favorite shot in the franchise. 

          The Death Star is blown up, the Imperials defeated, and the heroes celebrate a great satisfactory party of pure joy.

          The film’s story is enhanced its production. Special Effects are excellent, Alan Hume’s cinematography is underrated, and John Williams’ score is obviously phenomenal. The action is fun. The cast includes Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Warwick Davis as Wicket, Tim Rose as Ackbar, Kenneth Colley as Piett, and Denis Lawson as Wedge . Return of the Jedi loses a star due to its logical flaws in regards to the Battle of Endor, but it’s an instance in which the themes work together to make a great film, provided the themes are earnest and reinforce the story. Not sure if it would have been better if Irvin Kershner had not made the foolish decision to direct Never Say Never Again, but he could have done worse.

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