Voices
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
SUNJEEV
BERY
the next Star Wars team must
keep in mind:
WE AREN’T KIDS ANYMORE: Yes,
you read that right. We’ve grown
up. We’ve lived through recessions,
wars and political turmoil. We’ve
started families, raised children
and dealt with heartbreak. Everyone who saw the original movies in
the theaters is a lot older now. We
don’t want another pathetic attempt to replace Chewbacca or the
Ewoks with some kind of secondgeneration Jar Jar Binks. We want
something that speaks to us as
adults. And if you do it right, we’ll
still take our kids to the theaters
with us. We promise.
GET BACK TO STORYTELLING: The
Sarlacc Pit? X-wing fighters? A
dome-shaped robot? These were all
the curious inventions of the original Star Wars franchise. They propelled the original trilogy forward.
Don’t even try to achieve this again.
Trinkets, gadgets, unique aliens
and spacecraft will be in the next
trilogy. But they will not be substitutes for epic, beautiful storytelling.
In the first trilogy, the visual landscape Lucas brought forward was so
new that it could at times be a sub-
stitute for the story. Not this time.
It will feel flimsy and cheap.
USE THE FORCE (A LOT LESS): The
original trilogy included an exploration of George Lucas’ sci-fi
spirituality. That has now been
thoroughly explored. Don’t try to
rely on the Force as a
plot device or scene
accelerator. It won’t
We want
work. It’s been done.
something
This time around, the
that speaks
Force can only be the
lightest of background to us as
adults. And
props—a subtle nod
to Lucas’ creation, but if you do it
right, we’ll
nothing more.
AVOID THE CHEAP
TRICKS: Ever since
still take
our kids to
the theaters
with us.”
9/11, there have been
about 72,000 movies in which some
metaphor