In fiction, there are usually common concepts that drive a work. It’s the action that drives the main character towards the story’s resolution. Sometimes, the concept can be something as simple as a contest. Sometimes it’s as complicated as a war.
So quite a while back, I did a post on the Jedi and their sexual relations, but I feel the need to revisit this world. One nice thing about the prequel universe—depending on how you look at it—is that nothing is developed at all. Characters are personality-free vehicles going through the motions George Lucas wanted them to, and the universe itself certainly isn’t portrayed that well either. In some ways, this is a good thing, because it gave the Clone Wars a lot of space to work with. In fact, it gave just about anything dealing with this time period a lot of room to work with. But the Clone Wars is what I’m most familiar with, so we’re going to use it almost exclusively for the purposes of this post.
One thing that I always liked about Stars Wars, especially on the planet of Coruscant, is that there are a bunch of different sentient species all intermingling with each other. However, it doesn’t often appear that they are engaging in interspecies relations. We know that there has been and probably still are sexual relationships between people of different species going on in the universe. Every once in a while, characters will be revealed as being bispecies, and the Twi’leks in particular have a long history of being sold into slavery, with their women usually ending up as sex slaves. (The Wookieepedia article says that they usually were dancers or entertainers for their owners, because of how attractive people found them, but let’s be realistic: they’re used as sex slaves.)
However, the fact that there are interspecies relationships—outside of slavery—makes the Star Wars universe much more interesting.
So yesterday, I focused on the anger issues with Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker. I said that Anakin’s problems seemed to border on a disorder, and named IED as an example of a possible disorder that Anakin had to deal with on the road to the Dark Side of the Force.
On the other end of the scale is Anakin’s son, Luke Skywalker.
Today and tomorrow, I’m going to focus on the two main Skywalkers of Star Wars lore. I’m going to assume you know the Star Wars story. Also, I’m only going to focus on what the movies have shown me. I know the books and Clone Wars can be pretty interesting, and are part of canon. But I have not delved deeply enough into the show or the books, so in an effort to not talk out of my butt, I’m avoiding them.
So, let’s start with Anakin Skywalker, the famed Chosen One. The one who was poised to balance the Force. And he did, in a way. But the road Anakin took was very angsty. I mean, really angsty.
The Everyman (or Everyperson, as the case may be) is one of the most underestimated 
and important characters in storytelling. The Everyman is a character with no powers or special abilities outside of those that a normal person might have. The Everyman is not the chosen one; they usually are the stand-in character for the audience (though not always); and they can be the main character or supporting in the story. But the biggest and most key factor here is that they must be a completely and utterly ordinary character. This character represents what a normal person would be like in an extraordinary situation.
Many movies, TV shows, and books like to indulge in our fantasies by revealing that an ordinary person is actually someone amazing. These stories say, “Are you an awkward outcast and loner? Well, that’s actually because you’re a wizard/demigod/slayer/the chosen one!” And while this particular plot is great and all, at some point when watching or reading about one of these characters, you might wonder what it would be like if you were in the story. You then quickly realize that you are not a mutant/fairy/genius/alien and that you would be extremely screwed if you were to step into the story just as you are now.
But what if you weren’t? The beauty of the Everyman isn’t just that they are completely normal and average, but that they somehow survive against all odds in impossible circumstances.
So without further ado, here are my Top Ten Everyman Characters in Geekdom:
So if I had to pick one show that was my all-time favorite TV show it would probably be… well, it wouldn’t be Ancient Aliens, I can tell you that much. Once again, I find myself unsure of where to begin. Or even wondering how I’m going to convince Lady Geek Girl that Ancient Aliens fits in with what we normally talk about on this blog. But, hey, I figured that since the show is about aliens with the added bonus of the bastardization of every religion—or any notable thing in history—ever, how does it not fall into our spectrum?
But I’m not about to launch into a post on Ancient Aliens. I think anyone who’s ever seen that show can come up with their own conclusion within minutes. Either, you believe everything they say, or you watch it to see them completely fuck up whatever historical facts they managed to get right. Which is not many to begin with.
But there is something to be said about aliens in ancient times affecting pop-culture at large. We as a society are obsessed with aliens. And the idea that they did visit us in ancient times even launched one of my favorite TV series: Stargate SG-1.
So today, you guessed it; we’re going to talk about aliens in pop-culture. Or more accurately, how they’re portrayed, why they would even want to visit Earth to begin with, and some of the problems that might occur when a story establishes an advanced society and doesn’t always stick by it.
So, once upon a time in the Bible, there was this awesome lady. According to certain doctrines, she was pure—so pure that she never actually sinned, and didn’t even have any residual original sin stuck to her when she was born. She got chosen out of all the ladies in the world to have a legendary baby whose magical birth was foretold by prophecy. Now obviously I’m talking about the Virgin Mary, but the idea of a pure and perfect mother of a magic baby has been reflected in a lot of popular media—let’s look at a few:
Read Part 6.
Yes, finally! We’ve made it. This is the last post I’m doing on The Force Personified! I feel so joyous right now. When I first decided to review these episodes, I honestly thought I could fit everything into four posts, but now we’re at seven, and it was a bit more than I had planned for. Also, at this point in time, I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on the Internet to have reviewed these episodes in as much depth as I did. That makes me a little sad, but on the bright side, after this is over, I can safely say that I am never watching these episodes again. Well, except for maybe this part:
Anyway, let’s do this.
Usually I spend an unfortunate number of hours on the internet. Today, with a ton of reading for class hanging over my head, I did the honorable thing and shut my computer and put my phone in my pocket and read about literary theory for an hour, totally unplugged.
My mistake. Imagine my surprise when I got to class and my classmate excitedly asked if I had heard about Lucasfilm. I hadn’t so I looked it up, and apparently Disney has bought Lucasfilm!
So here’s the deets:
Here’s hoping that they proceed into the expansion of the extended universe rather than trying to continue adventures too close to the original Episodes… we don’t need any more Kingdoms of the Crystal Skull.
No word on what the 2015 film will be about yet, but they apparently hope to release a film every few years from now until forever, so buckle in for hopefully continuous Star Wars gratification for decades to come. It’s a brave new world, folks – call me an optimist, but maybe one day we’ll even get a blu-ray of the Star Wars that we used to know.
(via ABC News)
Hear George Lucas talking about it here:
Read Part 5.
So we have finally made it to the last episode of this… this. This episode is called “Ghosts of Mortis.” The previous episode is called “Altar of Mortis” because there was a sword from an altar of specialness. In case any of you don’t know, mortis is Latin. It means of death. Last episode, both Ahsoka and the Daughter died, though the Daughter is the only one who remains dead. But considering that of death is in the title of the episode again, it doesn’t surprise me that more people are going to die this time too.
Anyway, the fortune this episode:
He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace.
Sure thing. Let’s go with it.
