Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

A couple months ago, I ran across the word bodhisattva ("a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others and is worshipped as a deity in Mahayana Buddhism") and learned that the Sanskrit word bodhi means enlightenment.  This reminded me of the character Bodhi Rook in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, so I watched the movie again to see what connection the word and its meaning have to the character (also because I recently finished watching Andor, which immediately precedes Rogue One chronologically).

If the character's name is meant to indicate an enlightenment, this enlightenment (the realization of the Empire's oppression and terror) seems to have occurred before the events of the movie.  By the time Bodhi appears, it's well established that he has defected from the Empire.  He tells Jyn, "Your father, he said I could get right by myself.  He said I could make it right if I was brave enough to listen to what was in my heart.  Do something about it."  While the actual moment of his enlightenment isn't shown, it continues to motivate his actions.

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For what it's worth:  this isn't the first instance of Sanskrit in Star Wars.  There are some Sanskrit words in "The Duel of the Fates" near the end of The Phantom Menace.  At about 3:11 in a featurette titled "Movie Music," John Williams explains to the choir that "I've chosen these Sanskrit words because of the, the quality of the vowels."

Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Earlier this week, I watched Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the twentieth anniversary of its release (19 May).  Because I've been reading The Art of Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, I've been thinking about some of the visual elements of the movie, and I had a suspicion about the closing shots that I was able to confirm.

The last scenes show the four members of the Skywalker family.

Padmé at her funeral procession:

Anakin, now Darth Vader, watching the construction of the Death Star:

Leia on Alderaan:

Luke on Tatooine:

Various aspects of these scenes highlight how Vader now differs from the others.

Padmé, Leia, and Luke are each accompanied by family, but Vader joins the Emperor and Tarkin, powerful figures in the new Empire.  Since Padmé's dead and Leia and Luke are infants, they're mostly passive in these scenes (Luke seems to be asleep), but Vader strides down the bridge of the Star Destroyer.  In contrast to the natural locations the others are shown in, Vader's environment is completely artificial (as if to match Obi-Wan's "more machine now than man" comment in Return of the Jedi), and while the colors on Naboo, Alderaan, and Tatooine may not be particularly vivid, there's a greater variety in each than on the Star Destroyer bridge, which is primarily grayscale.

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During Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel over the lava on Mustafar, Anakin uses the Force to control a mining droid* so that, standing on top of it, he can move closer to the platform where Obi-Wan is and continue the fight.  In a small way, this imposition of his will upon the droid demonstrates a quality that's part of his character now that he's turned to the dark side (his "lust for power" as Obi-Wan calls it).  As Anakin told Padmé shortly before this, they can now "make things the way we want them to be."

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*I have to credit LEGO Star Wars in 100 Scenes (p. 94) for pointing this out to me.  In the movie, what Anakin is doing isn't as obvious, but when he leaps from the droid's head to the other side of Obi-Wan's platform, the droid zooms off on its own again, suddenly released from Anakin's hold.

Star Wars: Rebels - S4E9 - "Rebel Assault"

Last week, I watched the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Rebel Assault" (S4E9) and noticed some significance in the composition of one shot.  After the squad of Rebels on Lothal sees that the assault led by Hera has failed and that all the Rebels ships have been shot down, there's a wide angle view showing both the falling ships and the Rebels helplessly watching them:

The framing isn't level with the horizon, and this skewed perspective matches the unsettled nature of the characters' feelings:  dismay that the attack has failed and uncertainty about what has happened to Hera.

Rear Window

This post contains spoilers.

Months ago, I had a couple thoughts about Rear Window, and I watched the movie again recently in order to develop them.

Initially, I was considering only a scene near the end.  Thorwald has figured out that Jefferies is the one behind an informal investigation into the murder of Thorwald's wife, and he enters his apartment, at first merely to confront him but then to attack him.  Jefferies uses flash bulbs to stun Thorwald temporarily, slowing his progress until Jefferies' police friend Doyle arrives.  Perhaps just coincidentally, Jefferies' use of the flash bulbs here illustrates literally what he's also doing metaphorically:  exposing Thorwald.

While this is exposure in a more general sense, not the specific sense as in photography, it also got me thinking about Jefferies' profession and its significance in the plot.  The first scenes of the movie explain that Jefferies is a photographer who broke his leg after stepping out onto a racetrack to get an action shot.  While he's convalescing, he starts watching his neighbors, eventually suspecting Thorwald of murdering his wife.  Particular characteristics of his career as a photographer make him especially suited for this endeavor.  Most obviously, he's observant, and this quality allows him to notice changes in his neighborhood and details in the Thorwalds' apartment specifically.  His experience also gives him insight into Thorwald's demeanor.  As Thorwald looks out into the courtyard the day after murdering his wife, Jefferies tells Stella, the insurance company nurse, that "that's no ordinary look; that's the kind of a look a man gives when he's afraid somebody might be watching him."  Shortly after he says this, he starts observing Thorwald with binoculars but soon exchanges them for his camera, which provides him with a greater magnification, an asset others wouldn't have.

Later, he's able to deduce that Thorwald had buried something in the garden, partially because he saw an-other neighbor's dog snooping around but primarily because on a slide, he has an image of the flower bed from about two weeks ago, which he compares with the current view.  "Those two yellow zinnias in this end aren't as tall as they were.  Now since when do flowers grow shorter in two weeks?"  The occupations of the other neighbors wouldn't allow for such a direct comparison as Jefferies has access to.  Once again, his profession gives him an advantage in suspecting and ultimately exposing Thorwald as a murderer.

Bones - S1E9 - "The Man in the Fallout Shelter"

Back in November, I started over in re-watching Bones so I could follow along with the Boneheads podcast (although I've never caught up to the podcast's current episode).  Last week, I watched "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" (S1E9) and noticed some significance in the framing.

During a video call near the beginning of the episode, the Jeffersonian team and Agent Booth receive details about the possible biological contamination to which they've been exposed.  Although they're all in the same room, only one or two characters are visible in each shot, and throughout the scene, every character is shown alone at least once:

These shots illustrate the characters' isolation, both generally (they're all confined to the lab) and individually (each character is now unable to spend Christmas with those he or she had planned to spend it with).

Later, there's a shot whose composition seems meant deliberately to contrast with these.  In a rather artificial arrangement (as if posed for the camera's benefit), the characters are sitting on one side of a table, so that they're all viewed more or less equally:

Instead of the separation of the previous shots, there's a sense of togetherness here, and this also matches the plot:  during this time of confinement, the characters have learned more about each other and grown closer.

Additionally, multiple aspects of this shot (the framing, the characters' positions, and its presentation of a meal) resemble Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper:

[source]

The Sound of Music

Last week markt the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of The Sound of Music (on 2 March 1965), so I watched the movie again.  For the first time, I noticed a particular characteristic that attracts Captain von Trapp to Maria.

About halfway through the movie (just before the intermission), the captain hosts a party, which he uses to some extent as a political statement by displaying a large Austrian flag.  Later, he makes nationalistic comments in a conversation with an unnamed baron and Herr Zeller:

Baron:  Is there a more beautiful expression of what is good in this country of ours than the innocent voices of our children?

Zeller:  Oh, come now, Baron, would you have us believe that Austria alone holds the monopoly on virtue?

Von Trapp:  Uh, Herr Zeller, some of us prefer Austrian voices raised in song to ugly German threats.

Zeller:  The, uh, ostrich buries his head in the sand and sometimes in the flag.  Perhaps those who would warn you that the Anschluss is coming - and it is coming, Captain - perhaps they would get further with you by setting their words to music.

Von Trapp:  If the Nazis take over Austria, I have no doubt, Herr Zeller, that you will be the entire trumpet section.

Zeller:  You flatter me, Captain.

Von Trapp:  Oh, how clumsy of me; I meant to accuse you.

Near the end of the movie, when he gets a commission from the German navy, he says that "to refuse them would be fatal for all of us, and joining them would be unthinkable," and he decides to go into exile instead of betraying his country.  Clearly, he loves Austria.

During the party, while the children are watching the partygoers from outside, one of them asks Maria about the dance they're doing.  She replies, "It's the Ländler; it's an Austrian folk dance," and at Kurt's request, she starts dancing it with him.  Soon, the captain arrives and takes his place.  It seems that as the captain and Maria dance, their affection for each other grows, to the point that Maria becomes embarrassed and blushes.

Maria's knowledge of this folk dance demonstrates that she values Austrian culture, and at this moment, Austria and its national identity rank highly among the captain's concerns.  While there are other of Maria's qualities that the captain admires, this one holds special importance here.

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Here's a link to a post about The Sound of Music that I wrote about four years ago.

King Kong (2005)

Last week, I re-watched King Kong (the re-make from 2005) for the first time in many years.  Afterwards, it occurred to me that Bruce Baxter's name alliterates.  I suspect that this is a pseudonym he's adopted for his work as an actor, and although that's just my speculation, it does fit with his character ("character" in the sense of what kind of person he is, not in the sense of what rôle he plays).

Initially, Baxter's pseudonym has a rather innocuous purpose:  to present a more attractive image than the reality.  Baxter exchanges his real name (whether it's simply common or even unappealing) for an alliterative stage name in order to attract and hold an audience's attention.  This sort of vanity is illustrated in the scene where he discovers that someone (Jimmy, unbeknownst to Baxter) has scribbled over his face on the movie posters he's hung in his cabin.  At first, he's upset, but when he sees his face with a moustache drawn on it, he entertains the notion, pulling out his comb and placing the end under his nose to try it out.  Obviously, he's concerned with how he looks to others.

Later, Baxter himself points out this disparity between image and reality.  When he suggests calling off the rescue party for Ann Darrow (whom the islanders abducted and offered to Kong) and returning to the ship, the script writer Jack Driscoll tells him, "I always knew you were nothing like the tough guy you play on screen.  I just never figured you for a coward."  Baxter replies, "Hey, pal!  Hey, wake up.  Heroes don't look like me, not in the real world.  In the real world, they got bad teeth, a bald spot, and a beer gut.  I'm just an actor with a gun who's lost his motivation.  Be seein' ya."

Near the end of the movie, the scope of Baxter's pretence expands beyond just his fake name.  After Kong has been captured and taken to New York, director Carl Denham presents him in a show in which he introduces Baxter as "the real-life hero of this story, the man who hunted down the mighty Kong, the man who risked all to win the freedom of a helpless female."  This description actually applies more to Driscoll than to Baxter, who was the first to abandon the search for Darrow.  Baxter's alliterative stage name continues to present a pleasant image (as does the spotless white safari uniform he wears), but in adopting this hero title, he goes even further in deceiving the audience and actively conceals the truth.

Star Wars: Rebels - S2E17 - "The Honorable Ones"

This post contains spoilers for later episodes of Rebels.

In re-watching Star Wars: Rebels again, I recently finished season three.  Agent Kallus's character arc in the last few episodes seems to confirm a suspicion I had about "The Honorable Ones" (S2E17).

At the beginning of the episode, the Rebels fall into a trap that Kallus has set for them on a construction module above Geonosis.  During the subsequent fighting, Zeb gets separated from the rest, and when he boards an escape pod to leave, Kallus follows him.  The pod crashes on a moon, and while waiting to be rescued, Zeb and Kallus have to work together to fend off bonzami and get out of a cave.  During this time, Zeb encourages Kallus to start questioning the Empire's motives.  Obviously, Kallus takes this advice, although not immediately; in season three, he begins acting as something of a double agent (taking over the Fulcrum moniker to feed the Rebels information), and in the season finale, he ultimately defects to their cause.

At the end of "The Honorable Ones," there's a brief moment that seems to foreshadow this change in Kallus.  Before Zeb returns to The Ghost, he turns and bows to Kallus.  Kallus had been sheltered behind a rock, but he steps out into the sunlight in order to return Zeb's bow.

His coming into the light prefigures the events of season three, as Kallus slowly moves from the darkness of the Empire to the light side embodied by the Rebellion.

Taken an-other way, the sunrise illuminating Kallus's face represents the beginning of his enlightenment.  He eventually starts to understand what the Empire truly stands for.

Wall•E

Months ago, I was thinking about Eve's name in Wall•E.  Previously, perhaps even from the first time I saw the movie, I'd realized that although the acronym EVE stands for "Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator," there's also a connection to Eve in the Bible.  I had a limited understanding of this, however, just that in the same way that Eve in the Bible is present soon after Creation, Eve in Wall•E appears after the Earth's environment is once again able to sustain life.  Although it's still merely an association, there's a bit more to it than that since in Hebrew, the name Eve (חַוָּה) is related to חַי, a word meaning alive or living.

Probably just coincidentally, there's a further similarity between the Biblical Eve and the robot Eve in that each fulfills a specific lack of her mate.  Genesis 2 details Eve's creation:

The LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."  Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.  And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.  The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.  But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.  So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

This same sort of situation is also in Wall•E.  Because all of his fellow robots have fallen into disrepair, Wall•E is basically alone.  Like Adam with the beasts of the fields and birds of the heavens, he has some degree of companionship with his pet cockroach, but his continual viewing of the hand-holding scene from Hello, Dolly! illustrates that he's yearning for something more personal.  Eve provides him with this more intimate relationship, and their holding hands evinces a parity that's similar to Eve's being "bone of [Adam's] bones and flesh of [Adam's] flesh."

The Terminal

I re-watched The Terminal again last week (it's become something of a tradition for me to watch it in mid-January), and I realized that the title has a sort of dual application.  Since the movie takes place almost entirely in an airport, the word terminal is intended primarily as the noun, but to some degree, the adjective terminal (in the sense "relating to the end") also applies since the end of the war in Krakozhia is what Viktor Navorski must wait for before he can enter the United States.

Years ago, I realized that the movie's tagline ("Life is waiting") also contains an ambiguity.  The phrase "is waiting" could be either a copulative verb and a gerund functioning as a predicate nominative (so that the whole clause could be rendered as "life = waiting") or a present progressive verb (emphasizing the durative nature more than the simple form "waits" does).

Star Wars: Rebels - S3E16 - "Legacy of Mandalore"

A couple weeks ago, I re-watched the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Legacy of Mandalore" (S3E16) and noticed some significance in a few design elements.  The episode starts with Sabine returning to her family home on Krownest where she doesn't receive a warm welcome.  Her ship is shot down, and her mother's first words upon seeing her are, "So, it's true, then.  Put her in a cell; she'll be held for trial."

The environment of Krownest is predominately black and white:

Consequently, Sabine's brightly colored hair and armor really stand out:

This contrast mirrors the characters' relationship.  Sabine doesn't fit in with the palette of Krownest in the same way that she's not fully accepted by her family.