Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate This Thread
Hop To
Page 2 of 2 1 2
#4371843 - 07/31/17 12:58 PM Re: Star Wars movie breakdown [Re: Bib4Tuna]  
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,384
PanzerMeyer Offline
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer  Offline
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,384
Miami, FL USA
Originally Posted by Bib4Tuna
If you really enjoy a movie, game, or whatever thing you enjoy, if you really do, then there is no criticism that should diminish your enjoyment of it.




That is an excellent point. In my case, I have always really liked "Chronicles of Riddick" and even have it on bluray. The critics overwhelmingly hated it but even after watching the movie several times I still love it.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4371858 - 07/31/17 02:23 PM Re: Star Wars movie breakdown [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,465
Bib4Tuna Offline
I will take you to Jabba
Bib4Tuna  Offline
I will take you to Jabba
Senior Member

Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,465
NC, USA
Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
Originally Posted by - Ice
Why is the Trade Federation sporting an army? Why land on the other side of the planet if the planet has only minimal defenses?





Seriously though, do you think that Lucas or any of the other writers involved with the Star Wars saga really meant for the movies to be analyzed in such depth? I'll bring up my previous point again: The SW movies are in essence modern versions of the 1930's Flash Gordon serials. You have a space opera complete with campy acting and dialogue and where many of the things you see have no explanation because there is no explanation needed in the first place.


This is not 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner we are talking about here.



A story - any story, should make sense. You don't have to show everything, but in order for a story to be effective, it must make sense based on the tone of the story. A minor detail might not take a story down, but depends on the detail.

if you establish that an army is super effective, and they do a stupid move, it might not work in the story. If you establish them as ineffective, but they win all battles (and this is not a comedy), it will not make sense either.

So regardless of genre or philosophical content of a movie, I would not dismiss consistency and narrative errors when trying to evaluate the quality of the story.

Even fairy tales, no matter how fantastic, should follow a consistent narrative and structure within the universe you are trying to establish. If anything goes, then either everything is good and we don't care, or everything is terrible and we still would not care, because then there is no coherence to be expected.

#4371937 - 07/31/17 07:42 PM Re: Star Wars movie breakdown [Re: - Ice]  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 6,968
Jayhawk Offline
Silastic Armorfiend
Jayhawk  Offline
Silastic Armorfiend
Hotshot

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 6,968
Docking Bay 94
I have to admit that I'm a little tired of the "it's fantasy, so no rules apply" excuse. Sorry, but that does not fly. Certain rules need to apply within a narrative. Otherwise, things may very well become extremely silly.

For example: if fantasy means "anything goes", what is keeping Jon Snow from using "magic" to spawn a couple hundred AT-ATs - and a dozen Star Destroyers for good measure - to blast those White Walkers to smithereens? People in GoT are using magic all the time, don't they? And there are Dragons, aren't there? Since both of these don't exist in the real world, every other thing that also does not exist therefore has exactly the same merit for the story, right?

Every story, whether it's fantasy or a docu-drama, needs to be conceivable. And pointing out inconsistencies, plot holes, or when the plot jumped the shark is, IMO, valid criticism.


Regarding Red Letter Media:

Doing an in-depth, well-researched analysis - especially if you know what you are talking about, like the guys from RLM - is most certainly not trolling! Anyone who can't stomach valid, spot-on and well-presented criticism of "their" favorite trilogy should probably refrain from watching such criticism. Really.... feeling "trolled" by movie critics? dizzy


Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
#4371955 - 07/31/17 08:43 PM Re: Star Wars movie breakdown [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 16,082
- Ice Offline
Veteran
- Ice  Offline
Veteran

Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 16,082
Philippines / North East UK
Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
Seriously though, do you think that Lucas or any of the other writers involved with the Star Wars saga really meant for the movies to be analyzed in such depth? I'll bring up my previous point again: The SW movies are in essence modern versions of the 1930's Flash Gordon serials. You have a space opera complete with campy acting and dialogue and where many of the things you see have no explanation because there is no explanation needed in the first place.

This is not 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner we are talking about here.

Why not just let the Jedi step out of the airlock and plummet down to the surface and explain away their survival by "the Force"? "Such depth"? We're not even talking about character motivations here or their backstory... we're just talking about their ACTIONS. Who does a battle plan of capturing a city but giving it the maximum amount of time possible by landing your forces LITERALLY as far away as possible on the planet?

As Bib said, stuff should make sense. If you're tasked to destroy the Ring and you stop for 3 months on every town you pass by, the story won't make sense. If you want to save your droid and the precious data located in it, you don't leave the planet on the first ship out of there. Lazy story-writing is not "fixed" by handwaving and saying "it's fantasy."


While I get it... it's fantasy and certain stuff is possible.... but these are clearly outlined. If a Sith Lord suddenly summoned a Daemon from the Warp, I'm sure they'll have to go to great lengths to explain that away, and I'm not even sure they'll succeed. If a D&D game had the PCs fighting AT-ATs and X-Wings, I bet your players will just get up and leave. So in a fantasy setting even the superpowers have to be done within certain boundaries or else everything else suffers.


- Ice
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  RacerGT 

Quick Search
Recent Articles
Support SimHQ

If you shop on Amazon use this Amazon link to support SimHQ
.
Social


Recent Topics
Carnival Cruise Ship Fire....... Again
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:58 PM
Baltimore Bridge Collapse
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:51 PM
The Oldest WWII Veterans
by F4UDash4. 03/24/24 09:21 PM
They got fired after this.
by Wigean. 03/20/24 08:19 PM
Grown ups joke time
by NoFlyBoy. 03/18/24 10:34 PM
Anyone Heard from Nimits?
by F4UDash4. 03/18/24 10:01 PM
RIP Gemini/Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford
by semmern. 03/18/24 02:14 PM
10 years after 3/8/2014
by NoFlyBoy. 03/17/24 10:25 AM
Copyright 1997-2016, SimHQ Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.6.0