I want to tackle a deconstruction of the six-film saga of Star Wars. I have decided to start with the Phantom Menace. I have always been one to begin with the most unpleasant of options and move towards the most pleasant. I am expecting to have my work cut out for me, in terms of dealing with tangled threads of story and convoluted logic, and I hope that cutting my teeth on the relatively simple first episode will be just the way to do that. In another note, I am not intending for this to be an academic-level work, though what I write could certainly be geared that way at a later day. It is also not my aim tear apart these films with malicious glee: I personally believe that the Prequel Star Wars are not as terrible as people imagine. In order to assist those who would want to watch/follow along, I will give the time stamp of the specific clip that I am talking about in hh.mm.ss. I will cite the film in terms of a specific timestamp when appropriate.
Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace (00.00.00-00.02.00)
The familiar opening crawl of Star Wars begins at 00.00.28 and already I have a slight feeling of discomfort. The film is titled “The Phantom Menace” and my problem is this: it is non-specific. This could be dismissed as a minor problem, except that it will be indicative of a serious flaw in the film as a whole: there is no clear protagonist or antagonist.
I believe that George Lucas is trying, with each of the prequel films, to parallel the original series. This will be an ongoing point, but the first instance is seen at this time, with the titles. Episode Four is entitled A New Hope. This is also a non-specific title, but throughout the film, the audience comes to understand that Luke Skywalker is the Hope for the Rebellion. Here, there really is no clear Phantom Menace, unless it is Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine, but the audience sees Darth Maul being a clearer antagonist. I think it would be more accurate to say that the Phantom Menace is actually the rise of the Sith or the onset of “dark times” in the galaxy, but that implies that the main character of the film is the “bad feeling” to which members of the Star Wars galaxy are prone. Hardly the best choice of a main “character”.
But, that is a small quibble. The first paragraph of the crawl says that “turmoil has engulfed the Republic” and that turmoil is the “taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems” (00.00.58). Really? I live in America, and to me, this is the equivalent of saying “turmoil has engulfed America due to the taxation of freight flights to Alaska” and I find it difficult to believe that the entire nation would be in turmoil over that. Certainly the entire business world would be, and maybe the residents of Alaska, some of whom live in remote places and are dependent on supplies being flown in. Magnify that situation to a whole planet, and it seems truly preposterous. I don’t even have any idea what tax burdens exist in Russia, or China, and frankly, I don’t care. Magnified again to a galactic scale, and this becomes a truly ludicrous statement. Maybe the Senate is in turmoil, but even in America, unless you watch C-SPAN, you really have little idea what is turmoiling the Senate.
Again, one could say that this is a minor point, but this opening crawl is crucial to the film. This is Lucas’ way of setting up everything that comes after. This is the foundation upon which the action, intrigue, and story are built. If it is not rock solid, it does not bode well for the rest of the film. Read A New Hope’s opening paragraph, and you get “civil war…Rebel spaceships…evil Galactic Empire”: one hundred percent solid.
Next we read “hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all trade” (00.01.11) To return to my previous illustration, this would be like UPS deciding to send tanks up and stop all shipments into Alaska. I wonder what makes this the Trade Federations’ fight? With the Empire, they didn’t really need a reason. Most people already think that imperialism is bad, and are familiar with evil governments. Most importantly, there isn’t much evidence to support the claim of a “greedy” Trade Federation. In fact, within the first ten minutes, they will be shown to be coerced cowards who are ready to surrender at the first mention of Jedi. Furthermore, this grossly illegal action seems like a very dumb way to try to protest, or even combat, the taxes. Most legislation hinges on voting support, and not many senators will get away with voting against helping Naboo when pictures of destitute, blockade-weary Nubian children are plastered over every single news station. As far as I can tell, this is simply the wrong choice. But, this is just the first hint that things occur during the narrative of Phantom Menace simply to get to a future occurrence, as will be demonstrated. There is another thing that troubles me about a planetary blockade: assuming that Naboo is anywhere near as large as Earth, and given what we see of Naboo, I question how dependent on outside trade Naboo really could be. I chose Alaska in my illustration because most of the state is tundra, isolated, and unsuitable for much farming. Naboo is verdant, green, and covered with farmable land. Maybe the Naboo people would be annoyed at not getting their iPads from Dantooine, but that is hardly going to be a super big deal. During the world wars, citizens of many nations lived with rationing, but life was endurable, especially because the rationing was directly assisting in the war effort. A similar psychological dynamic would be at work here, and given the rescources of Naboo, I am sure enterprising individuals would start making their own iPads anyway. I just don’t see a blockade having the intended effect here, making the foundation to this film even more tenuous.
Finally the crawl soars to a close, but the last paragraph is just as shaky as the first two, though it is better (00.01.28). I completely understand a galactic Senate being consumed with “endlessly debating” these taxes. As far as I can tell, politicians exist to lie and argue. I smirk at an “alarming chain of events” because the Federation’s move is alarmingly silly, but given that Sio Bibble (an advisor to Queen Amidala) will later state that there hasn’t been a full-scale (I assume he means galaxy-wide) war in a very long time, the sudden use of a large army would be startling. But, confusion comes when the Chancellor “secretly” dispatches two Jedi to resolve the matter. Why is this secret? If the Jedi operate as “guardians of peace and justice” this would appear to be part of their Republic duty. Most of the Extended Universe (and the current Clone Wars show) bears witness to this duty. So, why secretly? And also, why just Jedi? Surely Jinn and Kenobi are not experts in Republic tax law. And why isn’t Senator Palpatine part of this delegation? This is his planet. I find it extremely hard to believe that the populace of Naboo would not be screaming for their elected representative to be personally involved in getting the Federation the heck out of their sky. Isn’t this his job? I can understand why the Chancellor would want Jedi, they are the definition of shock and awe (especially judging by the reaction they soon get) but why not also some experts and definitely Palpatine? I understand that if I was watching this movie cold, I wouldn’t know that Palpatine exists just yet, but he is introduced within the first ten minutes, making this a very valid point.
The crawl soars to invisibility and the star field pans down, to catch a Republic cruiser flying towards a blockaded planet.
00.02.00
a simple man 