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Started By
Message
The staying power of Star Wars...
Posted on 5/7/11 at 5:26 pm
Posted on 5/7/11 at 5:26 pm
I have talked about this over the last couple years, but I witnessed it again this week. The year is almost over, students are testing, and we are currently in the EPIC unit. So, after reading a couple weeks of the Odyssey and other classics, I shifted gears and decided to teach SW/Luke as an epic/epic hero. As I knew I would, I had half of each class (only 3 classes watching...the other two were testing)protesting: "Oh man!...Star Wars sucks!...Can't we watch something good...That stuff is old!"
Well, I told them to shut up, sit down, and prepare to take notes...there will be a test.
At the end of the week, after finishing the film, completing the questions, and filling-out the graphic organizers, I told them that we would probably watch another film next week to wrap up the unit. I already had Empire in the plans, but I didn't tell them that. As soon as I told them we would watch another film, and study it as an epic, I had most of the kids who spoke out so strongly against SW begging to watch the next one. I gave all three classes the option of watching LOTR, Batman (Bale), Superman, or Titanic (yes...), but all three classes chose Empire, every single kid!
Lucus, if you are reading this...thank you, sir.
Well, I told them to shut up, sit down, and prepare to take notes...there will be a test.
At the end of the week, after finishing the film, completing the questions, and filling-out the graphic organizers, I told them that we would probably watch another film next week to wrap up the unit. I already had Empire in the plans, but I didn't tell them that. As soon as I told them we would watch another film, and study it as an epic, I had most of the kids who spoke out so strongly against SW begging to watch the next one. I gave all three classes the option of watching LOTR, Batman (Bale), Superman, or Titanic (yes...), but all three classes chose Empire, every single kid!
Lucus, if you are reading this...thank you, sir.
7
Posted on 5/7/11 at 5:30 pm to lsufan9193969700
quote:
Lucus, if you are reading this...thank you, sir.
Don't thank Lucas since this is the film he had least to do with. Thank Irvin Kershner.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 5:40 pm to OMLandshark
He actually copied the plot from Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress as well as a number of the shots from John Ford's old westerns and the Flash Gordon serials and sort of blended it together. George Lucas, the original Quentin Tarantino.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 6:03 pm to Bench McElroy
Awesome story man. If everyone loved Star Wars this world might be a little better.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 6:23 pm to filmmaker45
The first Star Wars is the only one that is actually a great movie. Empire was good, Return was pretty good, and the prequels...well, nobody's perfect.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 6:33 pm to Froman
quote:
The first Star Wars is the only one that is actually a great movie
You are so wrong. SW is the second best of the series.
quote:
Empire was good
Empire was the best.
quote:
Return was pretty good
It was, but it was not better than SW and Empire, or maybe even Sith...
quote:
and the prequels...well, nobody's perfect.
The prequels are not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but only Episode II can be called not that great/bad.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 7:03 pm to lsufan9193969700
quote:
but only Episode II can be called not that great/bad.
Episode 2 was a bastardizing piece of shite of a movie. Calling it bad is a huge understatement.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 7:28 pm to lsufan9193969700
quote:
but only Episode II can be called not that great/bad.
no, Episode I is down right bad.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 7:36 pm to lsufan9193969700
I try not to come off like a douche all the time, so I respectfully and strongly disagree that Empire was better than Star Wars. It is a typical middle movie, has an open ending, continuity confusion, and has plenty of dull moments that stall the story.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 7:48 pm to Dire Wolf
quote:
no, Episode I is down right bad.
Yeah, that movie was a disaster all around. Liam Neeson seems intelligent enough to look at his lines and be like,"wow, you want me to play the most idiotic and terribly written character in this series" then read the rest of the script and come back with, "nevermind, just about everyone else is worse than Qui-Gon and we make the only interesting dude hang out on the ship for half the movie."
Posted on 5/7/11 at 7:57 pm to Froman
quote:
I try not to come off like a douche all the time, so I respectfully and strongly disagree that Empire was better than Star Wars. It is a typical middle movie, has an open ending, continuity confusion, and has plenty of dull moments that stall the story.
Well in a 3 act structure, why is it a bad thing to follow the basic formula when it does it so well? The typical 3 act structure on the Hero's Journey is well defined and unless you're Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Bros, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, etc. then you shouldn't stray far from this formula. The first film should feature the rise of the hero and a major first strike against the antagonist. The second film gets darker and the stakes are raised due to the antagonist's retaliation. Its not that the antagonists were incompetent in the first one, its just they weren't prepared for someone to rise against them. Once they know something about the hero, they are more capable of dealing with him. The second film in a trilogy should usually be the darkest and where the hero finds himself at his lowest point, as well as having the villains have a minor victory. They were right to follow the typical structure and it worked perfectly.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 8:47 pm to OMLandshark
I've read Joseph Campbell and am very aware of the Hero's Journey, and I understood your point about trilogies before you even posted it. In fact, I applaud what you bring to this board and this thread, but none of that proves or even explains why one would claim The Empire Strikes Back is a better movie than the first Star Wars. Oh, and strangely, Empire is my personal favorite of the Star Wars movies.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 9:13 pm to Froman
Empire is better because it has less campy-Lucas dialog
And the prequels are all dogshit and I refuse to show them to my future children when I teach them about Star Wars
And the prequels are all dogshit and I refuse to show them to my future children when I teach them about Star Wars
Posted on 5/7/11 at 9:36 pm to The Easter Bunny
It most definitely has just as much:
Do or do not.
Who's scruffy-looking'?
You must unlearn what you have learned.
Laugh it up, fuzzball.
And I thought they smelled bad...on the outside.
Would it help if I got out and pushed?
It keeps going. I didn't even get through C3PO and Lando's dialogue. I will say, though, that some of the best lines in the trilogy come from this one.
Do or do not.
Who's scruffy-looking'?
You must unlearn what you have learned.
Laugh it up, fuzzball.
And I thought they smelled bad...on the outside.
Would it help if I got out and pushed?
It keeps going. I didn't even get through C3PO and Lando's dialogue. I will say, though, that some of the best lines in the trilogy come from this one.
Posted on 5/7/11 at 9:52 pm to lsufan9193969700
do you teach at dunham?
Posted on 5/7/11 at 11:08 pm to Mitwebot
quote:
do you teach at dunham?
No, why? Are they teaching SW and TESB?
Posted on 5/7/11 at 11:13 pm to lsufan9193969700
quote:
Star Wars
will have to sit down and actually watch all 3 at some point
Posted on 5/7/11 at 11:25 pm to lsufan9193969700
(no message)
This post was edited on 4/20/21 at 8:43 am
Posted on 5/8/11 at 1:57 am to efrad
Empire is one of the best films ever made period.
Posted on 5/8/11 at 2:55 am to lsufan9193969700
Haha.
I did this lesson this year, except I used The Dark Crystal.
I did this lesson this year, except I used The Dark Crystal.
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