Star wars and other musings

[burntcopper]

Just watched Ep 4, A New Hope, aka the original. Not the best, but damn fun. My only problem is occasionally I want to throw things at how big of a Boys Own story it is, but you can't really do anything about it. Mind you, I do start burying my head in my hands and groaning when the medals cremony comes on. Medals? Seriously, why? Maybe it's a girl thing, in that the medals don't really make any sense. Prizes, or maybe money, something of worth, but medals... yeesh. Not to mention I tend to grin when Luke looks hopefully at Leia, because, well, you're getting nowhere with her, boy. Wait a few months and she's head over heels for the bad boy. And of course there's Wedge. Aww, my ickle baby Wedge of the cuteness and puppy dog-ness, who I tend to whoop 'Wedge the legless!' when he comes onscreen. I can't help it, it's too much fun. And then a couple of films later when you get the big reunion scene of him and his boyfriend on Endor. Boyfriend? I hear you say, puzzled. I saw no boyfriend. Shame on you, didn't you watch the thing with slash-coloured glasses? The boyfriend is rather obviously Luke.

This is partially down to me reading a Luke/Wedge story a few years back. I know the big pairing of the original Star Wars films is Luke/Han, but something about this pairing, though never thought of before, just instantly clicked. Maybe it's because I've always been invested in Han/Leia, as it was my childhood thang, but partially it's because of the cheery grin and the way Wedge and Luke are just so damned pleased to see each other, no hero worship on Wedge's side like there is with the other Rebels when it comes to Luke. There's been other cases of instantaneous click when reading fic, when maybe the pairing wasn't necessarily obvious, like, say, Jack/Daniel is in SG-1, but you read it and your whole brain goes 'ah-hah!'

Anyone else got any pairings like that?

Just watched a bit of Backdraft and dear god, watch the testosterone fly. This is a man's movie. Downright manly. Working-class manly. No space for things like therapists, where men are firefighters and politicians are weak and nancy boys because they don't work for a living like men. Partially reinforced by the presence of Kurt Russell being all manly, as he is wont to do. If I watched the whole thing I could probably see the slash bloody easily, because slash flourishes like nothing else in manly films, but the problem was I watched the part with the garment warehouse fire and him yelling at his brother. I was all about the 'oh dear god, please let them get out safe' rather than watching for shipping. Possibly because I've had a very healthy fear of unchecked fire since I was little, only reinforced by going on the Backdraft ride a couple of times at Universal Studios.

Comments

[juleskicks.livejournal.com]

This is partially down to me reading a Luke/Wedge story a few years back. I know the big pairing of the original Star Wars films is Luke/Han, but something about this pairing, though never thought of before, just instantly clicked.

See, I've always seen lots and lots of Luke/Wedge, and almost no Han/Luke, which was pretty much eating my brain about a year ago (ask melime). But for me, that's only until, like, the Rebels pick up and head for Hoth, at which point Han and Leia hook up (he's such a skank), and at that point, of course, Luke realizes that he loves Wedge and no other, and everyone's happy.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Where? where? I've only found a few pieces, by the likes of harloprillar and a few others... lead me to it, damn it! (no fluff)

[benpeek.livejournal.com]

now you see, the medal ceremony always bothered me, too...

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Solidarity in being skeptical bastards, brother peek!

[vongroovy.livejournal.com]

Wedge/Luke is so the cutest Star Wars pairing ever! They're just so adorable and smiley and squeeable!

Squee! Wedge! Squee! Luke! Squee! Wedge/Luke!

Ahem. Not a Certified Wedge Fanatic over here. Nope. Not at all.

Well...maybe a little bit of one. So much cute...

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

:g: I think someone needs to watch Local Hero...

[mingmerciless.livejournal.com]

My only problem is occasionally I want to throw things at how big of a Boys Own story it is

But surely Lucas was setting out to create the ultimate Boys Own film? I remember a critic once saying (of Raiders but it applies here equally) that to criticise the implausible heroics was a bit like pooh-poohing Oedipus Rex for all its coincidences!

Maybe it's a girl thing, in that the medals don't really make any sense

Perhaps, because they may quite a bit of sense to me. The award of medals and the ceremony are to grant recognition to Han, Luke and Chewie for their achievement and to highlight it as an example to the rest of the Rebel forces. The medals themselves are a convenient and visible mark of that. Worth (to Han, Luke and Chewie and to the rest of the Rebel forces) needn't necessarily be measured solely in terms of monetary value.

Now, there may also be a financial or other reward as well (ie there are precedents for associated pensions and so on) but the emphasis would be on the award of the medal because its non-financial nature reinforces to the Rebel troops that they are fighting for a just, righteous cause etc and to motivate them to be courageous and do the right thing on the battlefield, not acquisitive and do whatever will net them the greatest haul.

Then again, even now, there's a huge diversity in the relative merits different national and even corporate/organisational cultures place on different levels and forms of rewards (ie investment bankers' bonuses). This was painfully apparent just from working on multinational teams in Holland!

In short, the medal ceremony strikes me as emminently plausible, given it's essentially a war movie ending.

Re: Wedge, isn't he the guy who seems to always have to withdraw from battle due to various "technical issues"? ;-)

re: the medals blather

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

This is what my dad said. Plus stuff along the lines of 'they need to give medals to someone, and Luke and Han are the most visible', morale for troops blah de blah.

Still highly sceptical about it.

Oh, and I know it's a big Boys Own story, and intended to be so, in a Saturday matinee serial-way. I just attempt to refrain from the giggles.

Re: the medals blather

[mingmerciless.livejournal.com]

morale for troops blah de blah

Especially important given the Empire's advantages in materiel, firepower and infrastructure ie the medals are at least as much for the benefit of the rest of the troops as for the recipients.

Still highly sceptical about it.

Well, all sorts of organisations, military, civil, commercial etc have had or do have these sorts of systems, from Victoria Crosses to McDonald's Employee of the Month certificates. It's therefore very plausible the Rebel Alliance would too. Of course, you could question the effectiveness of the whole system but that's another matter entirely!