034: Lars Homestead
Meeting Luke for real
I love the way the film is structured. As George himself said, the film is mostly carried for the first 20 minutes by the 2 droids. “We’re seeing the story through their eyes.” This was borrowed from Kurosawa‘s film, The Hidden Fortress. This sort of slow to moderate pacing just wouldn’t fly with teenage audiences for blockbusters nowadays. What’s really amazing is how natural it all feels.
Hidden Contrivance
Also, I never, until recently thought about how contrived it all is – and I certainly didn’t when I was young. The droids just happen to disembark at the Lars Homestead, and so happen to meetLuke, who conveniently knows of Ben… etc. I can try to tell myself that it’s a case of fate – or that R2 somehow knew exactly what he was doing and where he’d end up – but it’s not necessary. It just flows naturally. It works without you even wondering why.
So, in the film this is when we first meet Luke. Of course, in this comic and in various other book, comic and radio adaptations we meet him earlier. In the Radio series of c.1978, Luke even raced in Beggar’s Canyon. But when I saw the film first, I was unexposed to that.
Art Notes: Mischievous Plants
This is from around 1982 – I think – and I’m surprised at how well the page is put together. I can’t figure out where I got the references for it. I didn’t have the film on Video Tape, I don’t think I had these images of the sunken dwelling area or the low-angle shot of Luke looking down in any books or comics, so I’m baffled quite honestly. It seems unlikely that I’d have remembered so many details. What I remembered was the plants around the ridge of the dwelling. Speaking of which…
Next time you watch, look carefully:
- Luke goes over to it – 1 shrub,
- Luke looks down at Beru – 3 shrubs,
- Luke walks back to the Jawas – 1 shrub!
Mischievous buggers aren’t they? You’d think: “If they had CGI back then they could have put some in the shots”. But – but… in the Phantom Menace, Shmi Skywalker tips her jug to pour a drink for Jar-Jar – and nothing comes out.
Do you think they do it on purpose to see if anyone’s really paying attention? Testing the Geeks. Is it a bit like Van Halen‘s famous Brown M&Ms stipulation in their touring contracts?
Or a tribute to Day of the Triffids…
Next: Don’t blow a gasket!
I think those plants are actually closing in on Beru and Luke and imperceptibly fractional speeds. They’re just hoping that Beru will talk Luke’s ear off as she usually does.
I also love it how Beru’s original language request is blacked out and replaced with Bocce. What did she say at first? Did she say bosh by accident? Or did she ask for something obscure and then think better of it, like Cornish.
What I find interesting is that all these shots… over the shoulder, looking down, looking up, establishing shots, etc, must have been a great crash course for you as a young artist. That’s something that George Lucas was inadvertently imparting.
“Cornish” ha ha – brilliant.
It probably said Bosche (WWII ‘Germans’) – or Protocol.
Yes, he did seem to be teaching me something. I’ve just noticed my “A few weeks later” line in it. So there was a need felt – to slow it down, make it more plausible. Unless that’s in the novel.