Part of the old Star Wars magic was the way that technology
“came to life.” This was most literally
the case, perhaps, for droids like R2 and 3PO… and now we need to include that
rolling sphere of pure joy, BB-8. Beyond that, I started thinking about how
many different ways technology in the saga becomes mystical or almost organic. Think about the Millennium Falcon. It was
always a home-like space in the original trilogy, and we can sense Han’s
affection for it throughout the films.
But it was always, also, “a piece of junk” – an imperfect glory,
something more than it seemed or more than it should have been. The name of the ship itself evokes cosmic
glory and Art Deco boldness – something perhaps at odds with the actual look of
the ship. Now, in The Force Awakens, the Falcon has never looked more splendid. Swooping across lakes, crashing through
forests, skidding across snow – the ship has left the darkness of space to go
careening through beautiful landscapes, and seems to have picked up some of the
natural beauty along the way. You can sense that energy – transferred to the
iconic X-Wings – in this beautiful piece by Dan Mumford.
Yet the welcoming techno-hearth space of the Falcon is not the only spiritualization
of technology in these films. From the
moment Luke lights up that saber in A New
Hope we know that the laser sword is something with spiritual energy. It’s a weapon fit for angels: radiant,
musical, elegant. The Force Awakens
reinforces that idea, seemingly imbuing the weapon with ghostly memories – or
at least allowing it to stir visions in the mind of young Rey. And the saber is the centerpiece – the nexus
point – of that implicitly mystical encounter that occurs after Rey ascends the
Jedi Steps and discovers Luke Skywalker.
Or course, there’s a lineage of rejecting technology in the
films, too, such as when Luke switches off his targeting computer on his epic
Trench Run against the Death Star. The
noble Ewoks, Yoda’s primitive hut, Vader’s mechanical evilness – all of these
point to a privileging of the human-organic over the techno-authoritarian. That’s the power and beauty of the saga –
that we can absorb a critique of technology while drooling over awesome
spaceships and marveling at weird mechanisms.
(And I do love the ships in TFA – Leia’s transport and the ill-fated Quadjumper,
particularly). We get some sense of that
critique in this film, too – Luke’s new abode hardly seems state of the art,
and it is family and friendship and the Force that give the film its real power
and its deepest meanings.
In The Force Awakens, Poe
Dameron’s enthusiasm for ships reinforces the benefits of
technology. Yet the machine as tool is never the end purpose for Poe – it’s
the freedom of flight that calls to him, the need to defend the world of
kindness against the world of cruelty.
I’m reminded of Faramir from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: “I do not love the bright sword for its
sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I
love only that which they defend.”
Rey,
in particular, seems to present an intriguing balancing of technology and
spiritualism. As a scavenger, she
reimagines technology, pushing it beyond its original system and purpose –
transforming a warmachine AT-AT into a shelter against the hostile elements. By rescuing BB-8, by flying and “appreciating”
the Falcon, she proves that she can ennoble technology by treating it with a
kind of reverence that more greedy and abusive souls (like Unkar Plutt) cannot
understand. Besides, Chewbacca likes Rey,
and in some ways Chewie represents the living soul of the ship – he helps to
make those final scenes with Rey in the cockpit so powerful, to legitimize her
place in the pilot’s seat. Of course, a
technophile can ignore all that and just marvel at how cool she looks on that
awesome speeder! Finally, consider Maz
Kanata’s glasses. They are a
technological construct of some kind and it might have been fun to see them do
something even more odd, to invoke some kind of crazy clockwork-steampunk vibe
– yet in this form they reinforce the fundamental truth of the scene. The real power is in the living being of Maz,
her memory and her wisdom are what matters, not the lenses through which she
peers. Even now, when technology holds
such a powerful grip on our imaginations, Star
Wars encourages us to think beyond the machine to the life and spirit
behind it.
Images:
https://twitter.com/starwars/media (Dan Mumford, AMC IMAX
promotion)
http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-the-force-awakens-gallery
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