November 02, 2005

• Any care to to summarize that link? I have neither the time nor patience to get into Star Wars hype again...
• Nah, but I don't think it's hype. Although it could be. If you don't care, you don't care.
• Sorry, I didn't meant to say that the article itself (or your linking to it) was hype (how would I know, I didn't read it! :) ... but just in general, I don't wanna get all excited about Star Wars again.
• Ooh! Ooh! Star Wars!!!! *Wee comes out*
• Okay, is it me or is that article just f*cking hilarious?
• I don't think the author is writing tongue in cheek, unfortunately; I think the article demonstrates one of the problems that the humanities have these days.
• I think everything you need to know about the article is right here: But Lucas takes this self-consciousness about narrative artifice a step further: He makes explicit his theoretical interest in the mechanics of plot. As viewers, we take pleasure in the implausible events that must happen for the narrative contraption to snap shut in a satisfying way. But the characters come to understand that there is another agent, external to themselves, that is dictating the action. Within the films' fiction, that force is called … er, "the Force." It's the Force that makes Anakin win the pod race so that he can get off Tatooine and become a Jedi and set all the other events in all of the other films in motion. We learn that Anakin's birth, fall, redemption, and death are required to "bring balance to the Force" and, not coincidentally, to give the story its dramatic shape. The Force is, in other words, a metaphor for, or figuration of, the demands of narrative. The Force is the power of plot. you're welcome. ;)
• Like, whatever. How cool are those biker scouts in camouflage though? Wooo-hoooo!
• This has to be the funniest article i've read this year. The poor guy's marooned himself on a self-referential island. DrJimmy and jacobw if you're out there, you gotta read this article! When a film revolves around absurd coincidences, it's not bad writing, it's "an elaborate meditation on the dialectic between chance and order". OMG. LOL.
• I think this article is subtle trolling
• Here's a humorous poke at the article.
• Apropos of the article, I give you How To Deconstruct Anything. Though the author of the article didn't use anything like "simulacrum," other fantastic lit crit buzzwords abounded, like "dialectic" and calling the films a "text" (because, as you know, EVERYTHING is a "text" that can be "read" nowadays.
• Oops. Sorry. Here's what I meant to post. Apropos of the article, I give you How To Deconstruct Anything. The author of the article gets special lit crit buzzword points for calling the movies a "text."
• That was awesome, StoryBored.
• The last paragraph (of StoreyBored's link) is superb.
• So... I wasn't supposed to like it?
• Thanks, chimaera, best laugh I had all day!
• philistines!
• Cheers Storyboard - the link to the comments rocked!
• poop...."StoryBored"....gomene.... need more coffee
• On the implausibility of the Death Star's trash compactor.
• aw crap.
• hands ian would say a cup of freshly brewed coffee
• Glad you guys liked that rebuttal. It was an amazing takedown. This whole postmodern mania is a fascinating study in itself. It's like a bubble except it involves ideas rather than money. From Chimaera's link, this comment was interesting: ... the field of contemporary literary criticism as a whole also yields some valuable insights. It is a cautionary lesson about the consequences of allowing a branch of academia that has been entrusted with the study of important problems to become isolated and inbred. The Pseudo Politically Correct term that I would use to describe the mind set of postmodernism is "epistemologically challenged": a constitutional inability to adopt a reasonable way to tell the good stuff from the bad stuff.
• Uh, guys? Anyone notice this Aidan Wasley fellow teaches at the University of Georgia? No offense to Georgians, but FSM.
• Florida State Marchers? Flags, Stars, Medicine? um ?
• For StarWars Maniacs? ?squared
• Foxy Soccer Moms?
• Free Sex, Man! Actually, it's Flying Spaghetti Monster.
• Bust a move, Yoda!
• You're all right. I left it open to, uh, interpretation.
• you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
• Yeah. And these AREN'T the frickin droids you're looking for! Now take a hike, buddy!
• Oh, BTW, any of you home-boys and girls know what the song is Yoda's gettin on down to is? Er...word!
• the roots- dont say nuthin check em out live sometime... theyre great
• I hear ya Holmes! *spins on head*
• Yeah. And these AREN'T the frickin droids you're looking for! Now take a hike, buddy! Oh, droids. Now that scene makes sense. Is a droid something that resembles a Dr.? Like a dentist, for example.
• DrJimmy and jacobw if you're out there, you gotta read this article! When a film revolves around absurd coincidences, it's not bad writing, it's "an elaborate meditation on the dialectic between chance and order". Why do I always seem to be late to these threads? I did read it, and was dazzled. Now, all I need to do is find a producer who will give me a million dollars for my latest screenplay Stone Soup, which is an even more profound meditation than Star Warson the arbitrariness of storytelling. It consists of 100 entirely blank pages. Oscars, here I come!