Latest / Most Things Kenobi - A Star Wars Podcast / S3 E11: The Lighting and Cinematography of Luke Skywalker in the Original Trilogy

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S3 E11: The Lighting and Cinematography of Luke Skywalker in the Original Trilogy · Most Things Kenobi - A Star Wars Podcast

0:00
Hello there, it's Most Things Kenobi.
0:03
This is the podcast you're looking for.
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Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Most Things Kenobi, a
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podcast about Obi Wan Kenobi and all things Star Wars.
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I'm your host, Leanne. And I'm your host, Lauren.
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And this episode we are discussing Luke Skywalker with
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special emphasis on lighting, kind of around his face mostly,
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and the symbology behind it, the cinematography of it all through
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the original trilogy. Because it is very much present.
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And it's not, it's not unintentional.
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It's very intentional. Oh yeah, I'm, I'm very excited.
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This is so my jam. This is to talk about.
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This is her right up her alley. This is in her wheelhouse.
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What other odd things can I say? I just wish that Star Wars
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Celebration would let me teach a cinematography seminar every
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year. That would be like heaven on
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earth. I wish we could do this episode
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visually. I guess I know that would be
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good. I know we could have like visual
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aids to point out what we're about to talk about, but we
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listen, we can, we excel at this describing stuff, right?
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Yeah, we've been doing this long enough, I think. 200 some
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episodes. I think we could we could do a
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pretty good job without visual aids.
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However, Luke is pretty enough and and worthy of all visual
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aids. Any excuse to look at his face
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is a good excuse. Good enough for me.
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Amen. It's so funny because he goes
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literally from a boy in a New Hope.
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His physical features change because he had that horrible
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accident, right? And whatever.
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But he's still matures as the movies progress.
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And he starts out in white clothes, also intentional, and
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ends in all black, also intentional.
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So you know, he matures. Yeah, and he does such a good
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job of portraying that. And what was he like 25 in the
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first one or something? And like 3536 by the end.
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And he really does seem kind of like a different person by the
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end. It's very rare to see those
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sparks of quote UN quote whiny Luke, which I hate it.
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I hate it too. Return of the Jedi, you know,
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like that's very, it almost never appears.
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There's some like goofy goofiness with the Ewoks, but
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for the most part he's very, very serious and.
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He is, yeah. Han is more of the light
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hearted, Yeah. You know, right up until the
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end, Really. So you know.
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I know. And Harrison Ford wanted his
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character to die and Mark wanted his character to turn to the
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dark side like nobody get everyone.
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We got a happy ending, thank God, but.
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What did Carrie want? She just wanted a cigarette,
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right? Yeah, she wanted to snort coke
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off her little finger and be left alone.
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Oh, rest in power, Carrie Fisher.
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Honestly. Exactly.
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Where shall we begin? Obviously with a New Hope.
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Yes. So we pre picked the scenes.
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We have three scenes, right where one from each of the
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original trilogy to just kind of analyze and the first one is the
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binary sunset from A New Hope. Yes, it's pretty.
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I know, and and I love that in most Star Wars montages, there's
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always Luke staring off wistfully at the two Suns, and
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the sun is literally the Suns are setting on his old life.
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Yeah, and at this point he doesn't know that he's still
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refused to the well, I guess he hasn't refused the call yet.
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He hasn't met Obi Wan yet but he's desperate for change and
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that far off looking towards the horizon and it's like the the
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binary sun is like his two paths forward.
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Yes, yes, it's so good. Did George ever say that the two
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sons symbolized anything other than just a fun space thing?
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That's a great question. I don't know.
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Yeah, I don't recall anything being brought up, but maybe
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there's just, there's so much out there, who knows?
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We haven't seen everything but. I know, Oh my gosh, I know.
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And people are like throwing EU guides at me lately, making
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references. It's like I haven't read those.
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Who has time for that? Well, I I think if if Lucas
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never said anything, I'm a fan of the two sons being the two
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paths. Yeah, and even, I mean, the
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whole idea idea of it just being, you know, a dual sunset,
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a binary sunset, that there's two.
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And usually when it comes to the hero's journey, you have the
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choice of taking the challenge or remaining at home.
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And a lot of times, you know, according to Joseph Campbell,
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the hero who refuses the call meets a terrible fate often
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times. Not that he doesn't when he
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takes the call. This is true.
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Hello. Universe speaking going to kick
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your ass for the next couple of years.
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I mean, he, he's, so, I mean, the costume says it all, right?
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Like, it's white and it's kind of flowy and he's boyish and
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even his hair is longer. Everything about him is flowy
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teenager type of energy. And, yeah, knowing that he wants
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something bigger, but not really, you know, comprehending
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what that actually means. And there's beautiful
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representation of that in the cinematography.
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When he first steps out of the home and starts walking towards
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the sunset, he's walking away from us as the audience.
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That's true. His back is to us, but he's
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centered. So he's still like in the
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middle. He's he's dealing with this
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turmoil and he knows that he wants whatever is out on the
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horizon. But then I love the placement of
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him in this shot because they show him walk towards the sunset
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in the center and then they cut to him and he's on the left
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side, but he's looking to the right, which implies, you know,
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at least he's he's going in the quote UN quote right direction
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in in Western cinema. That's what that means.
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Gotcha. But then at the end, he bows his
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head and turns back to the left and goes back to the life that
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he has. I literally have never noticed
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this in in this detail. This is why I love to talk about
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this shit with you. So good I see that's so cool.
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I never, I never like noticed that.
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Yeah. And like, the camera stays
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still. So that also says something like
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when the camera moves with the character, if the character
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moves out of the frame and he does, he leaves the frame and
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goes back to the lives of, you know, his uncle expects of him.
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And that is all like him going against his own desires, what he
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knows is right for himself. And it's temporary, right?
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But it's all represented there visually.
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And that's why I love cinematography, because it works
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on you subconsciously. It's not always super overt,
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which is why you got the sense of that anyway, without ever
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noticing the direction he was moving because it's meant to do
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that. You're you don't have to be
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sitting there, like looking at everything and noticing
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everything. It's supposed to work on you
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subconsciously. That's why it's so powerful.
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It's why paintings are powerful. Yeah.
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An image is powerful. And well written books don't
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spell it out for you either, they guide you a little bit, at
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least in my opinion. Those are well written books.
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Yeah, I think that it's insulting your audience's
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intelligence a little bit. That's very true.
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Spell it out precisely for everybody and you're smart
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enough to fill in in the gaps. Most of the time the audience is
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smart enough to do that. So I just love that he's also
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very mostly evenly lit. So he's pretty much full in
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light. He's a little bit in shadow, but
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not too much. And he looks, he's just, despite
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the melancholy, he's optimistic still.
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That's the key thing about Luke, though, and you may chalk that
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up as maybe perhaps his youth. You know, he's not, he hasn't
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been out much. I mean, he's been on tattooing.
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He hasn't lived, you know, or done.
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Think of the contrast between what Leia's done in her life and
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then how sheltered Luke has been, you know, and you could,
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you could chalk it up to naivety, But I, I do think that
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it's kind of just part of who. Luke is and it's.
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Really. What drives him to the, you
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know, Return of the Jedi eventually?
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Yeah, and that's why I like leading into Empire Strikes
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Back. It's so starkly different and
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that's Empire Strikes Back has the most perfect cinematography
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in it. Maybe of Eddie movie.
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It's like my favorite example of cinematography because every
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single shot is lit so specifically and the depth of
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field is so choice. Even shots of 3PO look like
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fucking paintings. You're not wrong.
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Yeah, Golden Rod, right? There's a certain shot of him at
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the end when he's waiting for R2 to put his legs back on, and
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it's like a painting. It's absolutely stunning.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess we'll get to Empire Strikes Back.
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I was going to jump right in. I'm ready if you are.
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I I'm. Well, I just, I just want to
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mention that we don't just see Luke and white.
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We get lay in white, obviously. And I mean, that's an even more
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bigger contrast, more obvious because Leia's in white and
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Vader and in everything about that fucking ship is dark, you
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know? And then Luke shows up in white
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stormtrooper gear. You.
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Know so they're kind of matched at that point Well, if you
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consider it Anakin in The Phantom Menace, we first see him
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in white kind of a cream. Yeah, he's dressed just like.
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Luke Yeah, like just the rags of Tatooine just not get sunburnt
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and you know the. Rags of Tatooine.
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Not Not the Rugs of Tatooine, which is a coffee table book.
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This is the Rags of Tatooine. Could you imagine?
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It really tied the room together, Really tied the
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planet. I was going to say, Disney needs
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to hire you to make some concept books for them.
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You you need to speak on cinematography.
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I will produce the coffee table books.
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I just pictured Cyril's mom having that book like on her
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shelf. So the rugs of Tatooine.
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I And she has it tongue in cheek too, because she looks down on
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that shake, you know she. Does exactly she wants to look
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down at the rugs? Like I could never have a rug
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from tattooing. Could you imagine people living
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like this anyway? Even in her cheap Coruscant
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apartment. With her Cocoa Puffs and her son
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who eats them. You know what I mean?
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Come on. OK, Empire Strikes Back.
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Our favorite? The best of the best, if you
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will. It's so good.
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Then we're talking about the scene where Luke meets Yoda,
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right? Yes.
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One of my favorite scenes ever. I mean, there are so many scenes
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we could pick from this movie. Honestly any.
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One of them would be important and interesting.
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Yeah, the. The thing I love is it's so
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different from A New Hope. Luke's energy is different.
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His costume is now a muddier brown, so he's like losing that
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purity a bit. Getting darker.
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Yeah. And something I noticed this
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time, which of course is like registered with me, but not in
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such a conscious way as this time when we're looking at this
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specifically, he is lit to be red and his background is blue.
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Yes, yes. And this is important because we
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see this often in Star Wars, but this is the like, the first time
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we're getting the red and the blue.
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Yeah. And so he's like the fiery
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impatient passion. Where's the background is this
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bluish? And Yoda blends in like when
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they they cut to Yoda, even though he's green, he's like a
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bluish color because he's blending into the natural
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environment. Yeah, he's part of the Force
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around them is the the feel that I get.
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He's he's one with the elements and Luke is like this outlier,
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this thing that comes in, not to call him a thing, but you know
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how from a certain point of view, Yoda's like, oh, here we
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go, here comes the son of Anakin Skywalker.
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So he's not going to just come in peacefully.
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He's going to come in kind of like, like a Skywalker does.
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And I think he's he's already, you know, used the force to
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destroy the Death Star. So he's got a little bit of that
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going on. But from a lot of the comic
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books and interim type material that's come out implies that
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Luke was feeling really agitated because he could feel the Force
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but didn't know what to do with it.
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He couldn't control it. He wanted to be powerful but
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felt out of control. You see that in this scene?
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Yeah, it checks out. He's a little bit he's a little
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bit sloppy, but that's what you'd expect from someone who is
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just beginning. You know, you're never going to
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be perfect at and and we get the little bits of impatience from
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Luke. You start to see it come out
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little by little. And like after the fact, we know
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how impatient Anakin was and we really see that through the
14:14
development of his character kind of after the fact, pre
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Vader. He's he's the horse, the carts
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in front of the horse almost, and he was trying to get the
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horse in front of the cart. And so that mistakes are made.
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Totally. And I, I think Luke comes in
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with the wrong idea of what a Jedi is supposed to be.
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He thinks it's like a hero who comes in and saves the day.
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And Yoda's like, Nope, you're going to be sitting passively a
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lot. Yes, yeah.
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And I hit you with a stick. Yes.
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And not only that, but your first lesson is don't judge a
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book by its cover and don't expect something.
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Don't have a preconceived idea of how something's going to be
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or how it's going to go before seeing seeing it for what it is.
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Which is always a good lesson no matter who it is.
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If it's Luke or us unworthy peasant humans, you know a hero
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can be anybody. I love that they take the time
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to to show these specific lessons.
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He learns them and masters them pretty well by Return of the
15:19
Jedi. And I think, yes, that's why I
15:22
think he's such a satisfying character for people.
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I know not everybody loves Luke, but the people who do really,
15:27
really love him. And I think This is why, because
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he's, he isn't perfect, but he learns.
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And that lets us all feel like we're on the journey with him
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and that that could be you. You know, you can be better too.
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And I just like the way he's lit in this scene is so fucking
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awesome. It's beautiful.
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He is beautiful. And and like the eyes.
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Yes, his eyes and just the coloring that they use on him
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and it just, it's like a painting.
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It's so beautiful. He's split most of the time if
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he's OK. Here's something again I noticed
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that I've never noticed before even though I've watched this
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6,000,000 times and with the intention of watching it for
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cinematography. Sometimes the size of the screen
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you watch it on will actually change the way you see the
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scene. And this time around I noticed,
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like I've always noticed that when you see Luke's face, it's
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split. It's almost always half black,
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like almost can't see anything and half lip.
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So he's very clearly he is teetering.
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And Yoda's not wrong that he's too angry, too anxious, and that
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he does have the potential of turning to the dark side right
16:43
now because he's got no guidance.
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So he's split, but what I also noticed is that most of the time
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you cannot see his face. He keeps turning it away or
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turning it's only half visible. Or he he keeps moving constantly
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or you just see his hand or his legs.
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It's like you can't grasp onto him.
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He's so agitated. And Yoda just stands there.
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He's just like after he starts fucking with R2, Yoda just
17:14
stands there and he, like Luke, moves around him a lot.
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He does. It's very agitated and and
17:21
anxious and I need to be doing something.
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I can't just stand here and talk.
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Yeah. It's so, it's so great.
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And the thing I think is kind of cool is he's disembodied in the
17:34
scene. Yeah.
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And that's really representative of what's going on internally.
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And again, you're not supposed to register it necessarily
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consciously. You're just supposed to see that
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these two characters are disconnected.
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They're not on the same page. Their energy is totally
17:51
different. And the thing I love is the last
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shot when Yoda walks away, Luke turns to watch him walk away,
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and Mark Hamill's face turns into the shadow and disappears
18:07
while he's turning towards us. I was, I was like how whoever
18:12
did this lighting is a genius. Like most of the time you turn
18:15
into the camera and reveal to the audience.
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And this was the opposite. He disappeared and you only saw
18:21
one of his eyes as he kind of like watched Yoda walk away.
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But otherwise, his whole face is like inscrutable.
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And it reminded me of how hard it is to see the detail on
18:30
Vader's helmet. Oh, you can't see shit?
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It's not. He is a living embodiment of the
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of a shadow. Yeah, and to, like have that
18:40
same effect on a human face. Right without that that but then
18:44
we're we get the face in the helmet in The Cave scene, you
18:47
know, and it's. Full circle.
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Yeah, all intentional. Yeah, it's it's it's really
18:54
good. And I always wonder how did they
18:58
get it so that his face was so perfectly like, you can't move,
19:03
Mark if you move, you know what I mean?
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But the talent is he is giving us so much emotion through his
19:11
face that the the lighting is there, it's present.
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It kind of falls back because you're you're so focused on Mark
19:20
Hamill's presence as Luke, like his performance.
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And I think what you brought up about how he's just in motion.
19:27
He's just in motion. And this is this is the part
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where he either listens and learns or it's all just for a
19:36
waste and Yoda ends up thinking it is wasted when he goes to get
19:41
Leia and Han. But that's the difference with
19:44
Luke. You can't see the way that Luke
19:47
came in and judged Yoda. Yoda did the exact same thing
19:50
back to Luke and judged him just like his father.
19:54
Yep. So yes.
19:56
So similar to the yeah to the prejudice.
19:59
And obviously Yoda is this calm, centered the Jedi, right?
20:04
And he's old, yes, but old wise masters are what we're
20:09
achieving, we're trying to achieve here with with any Jedi,
20:13
even though there's only like 4 left at this time.
20:15
I don't know. I have to go back and recount
20:17
but. You know, it's just this.
20:21
Time growing with every every Star Wars show that comes out of
20:24
new Jedi survives. Honest to God, but at this time,
20:31
it's like maybe two or three. I don't know.
20:35
I don't know if we count force ghosts in this or not, but.
20:39
Yeah, I don't know because. Obi Wan's chilling somewhere,
20:42
just letting it play out with Yoda and Luke.
20:45
You know, I know, I just, I love this scene so much.
20:49
And and it's not the only scene we get like this.
20:52
It's it's repeated when Luke is confronting Vader is that whole
20:58
scene has multiple instances of this battle between light and
21:03
dark. Oh, absolutely.
21:05
With the red, there's red too, 'cause they're in the carbonite
21:08
area and that it's like up, it's a glow, it's a glow up.
21:12
It's like an the lighting is shooting upwards so it's
21:16
illuminated and Vader looks even darker.
21:19
I know it's somehow the lighting even though it's it's lit.
21:22
It's the opposite. It's like focusing on the
21:25
negative space. Yeah.
21:28
And it's so beautifully done. And knowing how hard that was to
21:33
achieve at that time in cinema history, now you can just do it
21:37
digitally, no big deal. They were using film and they
21:40
had to get the the saturation and the like exposure just right
21:45
and still animate in their lightsabers.
21:48
That's true. That's true.
21:51
It it's we. Masterpiece.
21:53
This is true talent. I mean, it's this is the fun of
21:56
filmmaking. I would think if I was back in
21:59
the day, yeah, you can cut corners.
22:01
We have technology now, but how fun would it have been to create
22:04
something like this? Yeah, when I just heard
22:08
something very interesting about AI specifically and creativity,
22:12
one of the like CEO, it is not an AI founder, but it's a guy
22:16
who's like invested heavily. He's like a business guy
22:19
invested heavily in AI. And he was saying AI cannot do
22:24
creative work because human beings are generative forward
22:29
thinkers and AI can only generate backwards.
22:33
All analogues, all, all historical, whatever's been
22:36
recorded and is pushed through its algorithm.
22:39
Yeah, exactly. It's the the the very nature of
22:43
data, whereas the nature of human beings are to take data
22:47
and move forward. Computers cannot do that.
22:50
And this is a great example of this.
22:53
Spielberg and Lucas were known for literally inventing ways of
22:58
making film and technology. Yeah.
23:02
And it shows in these movies. I know that George Lucas didn't
23:05
direct this, Irving Kirschner did.
23:07
I always feel like I say his name wrong, but I always wish he
23:11
did Return of the Jedi too, because he was such a good
23:14
director and the cinematography was so good.
23:17
Return of the Jedi is good, it's just not as good as Empire.
23:20
And thank God Empire Strikes Back exists.
23:25
Thank God it gives my life meaning.
23:30
It's my only reason to live right now.
23:34
It's, I feel that deep in my soul.
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We haven't even, and we're not going to, but we haven't even
23:46
talked about the lighting that's used for Leia and Han, which is
23:52
absolutely beautiful underground in the carbonite, blah, blah,
23:56
blah. We haven't talked about the
23:58
starch of Hoth compared to like the pop of color that the Rebel
24:04
pilots are. And then Vader comes in and
24:06
steps over bodies like partly, excuse me, let me just part, let
24:12
me just walk over this dead person, you know, looks around.
24:15
It's like fuck this, I'm out like.
24:17
Job here is done. Yeah, yeah.
24:21
So there's, you know, there's those things too that also add
24:25
and and BESP in itself. Jazz.
24:28
How cool of a thing you know. When even I feel like beyond the
24:34
carbonite room you were talking about, then Luke's duel with
24:38
Vader moves up into some other area within the Cloud City.
24:42
And I feel like the walls are kind of like this reddish muddy
24:46
red, but you can't really see it too much because it's so low
24:50
lighting. Yeah, right.
24:51
And then they go out into the precipice, which is steel with
24:55
all this weird twinkling lights. It's just like a it's so
24:59
precarious. And I remember being terrified
25:01
of that as a kid. Right.
25:04
Because it just felt like this. Yes, when he falls into it, that
25:09
really scared me as a kid. Now I think it's fucking
25:11
brilliant. But again, this works on you on
25:15
a subconscious level. So as a kid, that's really
25:17
frightening. And thank God they removed the
25:19
funny scream. Did you know there was a scream
25:22
in that? I.
25:22
Did I did? It's too much.
25:24
They added a scream that they didn't need to in Return of the
25:27
Jedi, and they took out one that they needed to in Empire Strikes
25:31
Back. So.
25:32
Yeah, please God never add it back in.
25:34
Just leave it Disney Lords. Leave it how it is.
25:39
Keep it out, it's too much. It's so funny.
25:47
It's in. I think you can still find it on
25:50
YouTube. It's in like the trailer or
25:51
something like that. Like shocked.
25:54
I don't need to revisit it. All right, well, shall we move
25:58
on to Return of the Jedi? Yes, indeed.
26:01
So our final scene bringing us to Return of the Jedi is
26:05
probably our favorite scene, period.
26:08
Yeah. Is Luke finally claiming picking
26:14
a side, choosing the light and throwing the lightsaber and said
26:18
Nah, I'm not about to play your games, Palpatine.
26:22
I love it so much it's the alarm on my phone.
26:26
Yes, and it and I hope it always is the alarm on your phone.
26:32
It's the best. Mark's voice is so beautiful.
26:35
It's so like. It's so good.
26:37
It's really good. And, and this just kind of sums
26:40
it all up. This wraps all three of the
26:43
everything we've seen, all the all the very purposeful elements
26:47
culminate in this. He turns towards the camera.
26:51
He tosses the lightsaber, makes his declaration, and like Vader,
26:56
he's just laying there. You know, he's just like, waxed
27:00
out on the ground behind him. No.
27:03
Can you imagine? Can you imagine again getting
27:06
some of your limbs or one, you know how he does that, that
27:11
terrible noise when it's sawed off and like, not this again.
27:18
Damn it. God not again.
27:23
This is the. Third one time, yeah, right.
27:25
Now, right somewhere out there, Darth Maul is screaming.
27:31
Yeah, right. But everyone's forest ghost is
27:36
in the background going sorry I happened.
27:41
Again. But no, this is the greatest
27:44
scene. This is, it's so and it's the
27:48
opposite of all of it, right? It's it's like it's so
27:51
interesting because we move from light to shadow to total
27:54
darkness, but the characters are moving in opposite directions.
27:57
Like at the beginning, Luke is in white and optimistic, but
28:01
he's he's feeling tormented by wishing for something else.
28:05
Empire Strikes Back, he's completely mixed and having a
28:09
lot of trouble. Return of the Jedi, he's in
28:11
total blackness. His costume is black, but he is
28:15
the most pure. By the end.
28:17
It's it's so interesting that these color schemes were what
28:21
they chose. It's just, it's so great.
28:24
I I do. I've always loved that Luke
28:27
chose Black. I mean in the story it was
28:30
chosen for him in the movie. But wanted him to enter like
28:33
Vader at the beginning at Jabba's palace.
28:36
And he, yeah, did. Yep.
28:38
This very Vader esque of him. Very he did the the two like he
28:44
just shut down those those pigs. One of those the.
28:48
The Dorians. Yeah, yeah, sorry.
28:51
Like that was that was very efficient, you know.
28:54
So we go from this boy who knows nothing to this slightly older
29:00
boy turning into a man, learning more, finding his path, and then
29:07
fully committed. And the nervous energy of Empire
29:10
Strikes Back is completely he's so calm and so steady and sure
29:15
of himself. Even in the moments where there
29:17
seems to be some doubt, he still is wrestling with things.
29:21
It's just not as externally in your face.
29:23
It's more of an internal struggle.
29:25
And he's not fighting it for very long.
29:29
You know, he eventually just like, oh, I, I need to go.
29:33
Yeah. He he catches up with the
29:35
feeling a lot faster and doesn't fight it anymore.
29:37
He just knows what he has to do and goes to do it, even though
29:42
it might not end well for him. Right.
29:45
But that's the most gratifying part is that he didn't, he
29:47
didn't expect to walk out of that.
29:49
We've said it so many times, he went into that throne room
29:52
expecting not to come back out, and he was OK with it.
29:55
Yeah, and I loved that meme. That said all the Empire sees is
29:59
that Luke Skywalker went into a room with the Emperor and
30:02
invader, and Luke was the only one who came out of there alive.
30:06
So. He's a fucking legend across the
30:09
Galaxy. And if he isn't, what is their
30:11
problem? Why are we not talking about
30:13
this? I know that's why I get kind of
30:15
pissed when there's no references to him at all in like
30:17
skeleton crew or Mando or what. I don't remember skeleton crews
30:21
in that timeline or not, but it's like someone needs to be
30:24
like, like the little kids should be pretending to be hero
30:27
Luke Skywalker. Like right?
30:28
Fuck guys. Right.
30:30
Well, he shows up in The Mandalorian and they're like.
30:33
Who's this? This guy?
30:34
Yeah. Who's this guy?
30:37
Yeah, bitch, this is the guy. Yeah, the guy.
30:42
The guy. God, anyway.
30:46
Well, I like the scene for so many reasons that he's still
30:50
fully in black. His little white collar hasn't
30:53
come open yet at this part. And he turns, you know, again
30:58
from the left to the right steps right to the center of the
31:01
screen. His face goes from being half
31:04
shadow to fully lit as he says, I'll never turn to the dark
31:07
side. And I noticed this time he's
31:10
also standing right between a red light and a white light in
31:14
the background. He's right in the middle and I
31:16
thought that was really interesting choice because
31:18
again, they don't have to light it that way.
31:20
They choose to light it that way.
31:22
That's right, yeah. It's just like he very firmly
31:24
stands now between the light and the dark.
31:27
And I think part of why he's in black is because Luke knows that
31:33
he has darkness in him and anger and impatience, and that's why
31:39
he is a like according to Joseph Campbell, the real hero knows he
31:45
will die and comes to terms with that and accepts that he has
31:48
flaws and that is why he receives the ultimate boon.
31:51
That's why Luke is such a good character and he's just so
31:55
solid. I mean then he almost dies for
31:58
making that choice, but. It's.
32:00
Such a good moment. It's it's like a powerful
32:02
moment. The glove too as a reminder.
32:05
I think it's a constant reminder that one false step, one bad
32:10
choice can ruin it all because a a living reminder of the biggest
32:16
mistake. Anakin or any, I will say any
32:20
Sith, any dark side user you know.
32:23
Yeah. I just love that.
32:25
I love that the most. Luke isn't afraid to be reminded
32:28
of it and confront it. Most people just want to shove
32:31
that part. Like OK, my dad was a mess.
32:34
Can't face. It, yeah, I'm just going to do
32:36
better. But Luke wore it, literally wore
32:39
it and reminded himself don't do it.
32:43
And he could have let his hand look like a human prosthetic.
32:46
Yep. But he chose to to use the glove
32:49
and, like, remind himself actively.
32:51
Yeah. I think it's so cool.
32:53
And I think part of why I I just love him so much because I think
32:57
of how he goes to rescue Han and Leia and Empire Strikes Back and
33:02
how Yoda assumes this is Anakin with Padme.
33:05
This is selfish behavior and you're going to undo everything
33:09
they fought for. I think the difference though is
33:12
like Luke was saving them for them.
33:14
Yeah, those are my friends. He wasn't saving them for him.
33:18
He didn't want them to suffer. No, it was it wasn't selfish.
33:22
Yeah, yes, he wasn't selfish. Anakin's was completely self
33:26
motivated. Yes, he loved Padme, but he also
33:29
couldn't imagine life without her, and that's something he had
33:32
to fix, and he never did. Yeah, and by returning to the
33:35
Jedi, when Luke talks to Leia and he says I have to, you know,
33:38
go. And she says, why don't you run
33:40
away? Yeah.
33:41
And it's like at this point, he said he knows that he might die
33:46
and he knows that Leia can take care of herself.
33:49
And he's not trying to meddle. He's trying to do what he
33:54
believes is right. And it's like the opposite.
33:57
It's so selfless, what he's. Doing Yeah.
34:00
And it makes me feel really bad for Anakin because like, there
34:06
was so much potential there and it just just wasn't going to
34:10
happen. And you could blame the wills
34:12
and this was all predetermined and blah, blah, blah, you know,
34:17
right up until Luke, you know, even that's predetermined and
34:21
the sister and the twins and the whole thing.
34:23
But Leia could have been selfish too.
34:26
And really she let him go even after he said, you know, we're
34:30
brother and sister. That's kind of a that's kind of
34:32
a bombshell, you know, and. Yeah.
34:35
Like, you still, you find that out and then you want to live a
34:38
normal life and like foster a relationship.
34:42
And now she's with Han and there's something there and they
34:44
just met the Ewoks and there's all this shit going on.
34:48
You could turn selfish in that regard too, and she didn't.
34:52
So the whole thing is beautiful. And think about it though, we
34:57
know this now. We know this now, and we kind of
35:00
knew it then. But when has Leia ever run away
35:03
from anything? That's that's why I love when
35:06
Luke says basically like, no, you don't.
35:08
Yeah, right. Like you say that that's cute,
35:12
but we both know neither of us are going to do that.
35:15
Right, right. You don't grow up as Bail or
35:18
Gona's adopted daughter and say you should just escape this
35:23
while you can. No, no.
35:26
We both know that that's not. We all know that after Alderaan
35:29
she just kept fighting. That's it, Yeah, she never
35:33
stopped. I think that's why having them
35:36
be twins is so interesting, because they are so similar and
35:40
so different. So different.
35:42
A lot of it is just Mark and Carey.
35:45
Really true, you know, Truly. They're weird chemistry with
35:50
each other and they're like, it's, it's really special.
35:55
And that bled out into their everyday lives.
35:58
I mean, he's said how many times he loved her and probably they
36:02
could have been together. But he's also like, she drove me
36:05
nuts also. Like she would say something and
36:07
it would just be so mean. It would provoke me to retaliate
36:12
and I just couldn't stand her. Sometimes it's like that is so
36:16
like sibling behavior. It's actually precious.
36:21
They were. They were predetermined in this
36:24
lifetime, Carrie and Mark to be Leia and Luke.
36:30
I I mean, I believe you believe what you want, but I believe
36:33
they were meant to be brother and sister in a different
36:36
Galaxy, honestly. Yeah.
36:38
And then there's Harrison Ford. Yeah, and he, Harrison, is just
36:42
his own species. He is his own species.
36:45
It's perfect though. It's like the only actor who
36:48
could ride the wave of Star Wars and still have a good career
36:53
and. Honestly, maintain.
36:55
His identity. I mean, I know he's cranky about
36:59
the Indiana Jones theme song being played constantly
37:02
everywhere he goes, but. I mean true.
37:04
It's a great song. It is a great song, let's not
37:08
pretend otherwise. Well, I feel like we could keep
37:12
going on a series like this. Every everything about the
37:16
original trilogy is just so deliberately chosen.
37:19
And I'm sure there's examples of this kind of stuff in this
37:24
sequels and the prequels, but there's something special about
37:27
the original trilogy because it was so analog.
37:30
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was purposeful.
37:34
They had to create it with their hands, you know, for film, not
37:39
digital, for film, developed film.
37:43
And it's like key here. And I just applaud all of them
37:48
because it it really, it's still, it still stands today.
37:52
Yeah, because cinematography is a language that doesn't change
37:58
and it doesn't go out of style, and it's not incumbent on a
38:02
specific language. Granted, it is cultural, so like
38:06
I've said before, it depends on what culture necessarily like
38:10
film you're watching. It can mean something different.
38:13
But these are perfect examples of excellent cinematography, and
38:19
I think it's underrated a lot because people have an emotional
38:25
interaction with these movies. Obviously this is like the most
38:29
famous and popular fandom in all history, and I think a lot of it
38:34
has to do with the cinematography.
38:36
You're having an emotional relationship and you don't even
38:40
know it. It's happening to you
38:41
subconsciously so. You are along for the ride with
38:45
them, interpreting what is happening in your own background
38:49
while we're living through it with the characters.
38:52
It's really I, I love it. If they made other choices, you
38:55
would be having different experiences.
38:57
This is true. Let's not forget that.
39:00
Yeah, you're right. Just watch the Lumiere brothers
39:03
if you want to see how boring you can get.
39:09
Groundbreaking. Big deal.
39:12
They were the first ones to use perspective, but.
39:16
And like, they had that video of a train pulling into a station,
39:20
and they said the audience jumped up and ran out of the way
39:23
the first time. So, like, trains going to hit
39:25
us. No one had ever seen that
39:27
before. Yeah.
39:28
My God. By the time we got to Star Wars,
39:30
things could have been so much more boring.
39:33
And God bless George Lucas and his team for knowing how to.
39:37
I mean, Space Odyssey came out 2001.
39:40
Space Odyssey came out fairly close to this time.
39:43
I can't sit through it and I know it's got good
39:45
cinematography and I just can't it's.
39:49
OK, everyone has their limits. Yeah, I mean, editing has come a
39:55
long way. So yeah, these these movies hold
39:58
up. Thank God.
40:00
They do at least. At least Luke's story, I will
40:05
never get over it. And even the subtleties of the
40:08
lighting is what really adds to his story because it's it's the
40:12
subtle. It's the subtle story behind the
40:15
story. Yeah, and of course, Mark being
40:19
skilled enough to know how to act in certain kinds of lighting
40:23
helps. This is true because here's the
40:25
thing, the lighting is not going to carry the scene.
40:27
It adds to it, but it's not going to carry it.
40:30
Yeah, he one of the things I've heard, and it's really important
40:34
for actors to learn, is when not to blink.
40:38
Oh, Oh well, there's so much focus on Luke's eyes, Mark's
40:42
eyes, that oh man, it's a natural reaction.
40:45
So to hold that and do what you need to do for the scene, I I
40:50
know I don't. Yeah, there's just so much going
40:53
on. I'm like.
40:53
Holding your gaze, you can always tell like an untrained
40:57
actor, when their eyes go back and forth while they're looking
40:59
at their scene partner. It's like makes me.
41:02
Conscious of it has like I I hate it.
41:07
Pick one eye and look at it. Stop shifting.
41:11
I really don't like that. I'm always aware of it when it
41:13
happens to and then that's all I can think about.
41:16
It's all I can notice. I know the same.
41:19
It's so bad when it happened. I mean, I get it, it's natural,
41:22
but you're supposed to be trained.
41:25
That's why I, I have so much respect for Mark Hamill because
41:27
he was already doing, you know, soap operas and shit for a long
41:31
time before doing Star Wars. And I heard an interview with
41:35
Andy Potts, he did that Corvette Summer with her and she said he
41:39
helped her and even some of the actresses that he worked with on
41:43
the soap operas that he kind of like helps them learn to be on
41:48
camera. Because it is, it's totally
41:49
different than stage. I don't know how they do it.
41:53
It's like knowing where to put your body and like how to move
41:56
it in a scene. And that all works with the
41:58
lighting in the cinematography and moving cameras and shit.
42:00
I don't know. It's too much.
42:01
I don't know. It's like you have to be aware
42:03
of all the moving parts in addition to yourself and the
42:06
lines you have to. Yeah, actually.
42:08
And then? Recite.
42:09
Yeah, I know. It's like, I get it.
42:12
I get how there's good ones and there's not so good actors and
42:15
actresses out there. You know what I mean?
42:17
I get it. Yeah.
42:18
Some have it, some don't. Mark had it.
42:22
Mark. Has it had it?
42:24
Has it? He has it.
42:27
OK, OK, I didn't know which one to use.
42:30
He's still alive. I know, but he's kind of like
42:34
voice actor now, you know? And not so much on the screen,
42:38
if you will. He's he said that the the sequel
42:42
has created a Jedi pension plan for him because now he's his
42:45
career has had a research. God bless him.
42:50
Honestly, he is just a national, an international treasure.
42:54
He's a global. Treasure.
42:56
He's a universal treasure. Yes, yes.
43:05
All right, join us back next time.
43:08
It's happening, folks. The Mandalorian movie is coming
43:11
out. It comes out in 2 days from now
43:13
and we're recording. So yeah, this will come out a
43:16
little bit after the movie. But if you join us back next
43:19
time, we will talk about the Mandalorian movie.
43:21
We will tell you our thoughts. And after this episode, I'm
43:25
hoping Luke will be in The Mandalorian movie.
43:29
And I'm going for all the Easter eggs, so I can't wait to talk
43:32
about that with you and see what we see, you know, Yes.
43:35
And I'm sure Grogu is going to be adorable.
43:38
Of course, yes. And the Anzalan.
43:40
Yes, And you know who doesn't like Pedro Pascal?
43:44
And it looks like we're going to get to see his face, so I'm here
43:47
for that. I'm here.
43:49
Find me up. So join us next time for that.
43:58
Thank you so much for joining us here on the Most Things Kenobi
44:01
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44:06
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44:22
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44:29
Twin, may the Force be with you. Always.