Hi friends,
I don't know how many of you are frantically awaiting the release of
Star Wars Episode I, but it occurred to me that the pair of Trilogies
should exemplify the nature of Quality. After witnessing with awe
Return of the Jedi in the eighties, I thought for a while the story
was complete. The movies gave insight into the Tao of the Force (or
is that redundant?), laid out the events in a way showing a great deal
balance and really entertained the heck out of me.
Being as young as I was, I had not heard about ZMM. ZMM and Lila did
not come until the 90's. Quality oriented thought provided a
heightened understanding of the Rebellion, the Empire and the Force.
(The Star Wars conscious person will understand what I mean by the
differentiation between the existing Trilogy continum, the expanded
universe (by way of Stackpole, Zahn, etc...) and upcoming retroactive
additions of Episodes I-III.) The existing Trilogy by itself seemed to
be complete and prefect, for a few months after seeing Episode VI the
first time. Not aware of it at the time, I enjoyed the Trilogy's
Static Quality. No signs from Lucas, and nature of Star Wars products
on the market contributed to this preception.
In the early nineteen nineties the extention of the concept began
occurring on a few levels:
-Chronologically: Authors working with Lucas's approval began
continuing the saga. The epic went from only covering a few years of
conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire to an
ongoing story of the New Republic and revival of the Jedi. This goes
for generations.
-Depth: Much of this liturature a series of PC games released by Lucas
Arts contribute to Star Wars by adding events which occur within the
timespan covered by Episodes IV-VI.
-(Subject/Object) Metaphysical: The above mentioned PC games changed
StarWars the story (which could be regarded objective reality). By
experience, I mean X-Wing and TIE simulators where the player lives
and dies the way an Alliance or Imperial pilot does, thereby becoming
one of the subjects of the Star Wars reality.
A Metaphysics of Quality approach may be these things increased the
Chronologic, Depth and Transendental value of Star Wars. Transendental
in that we who could at one time only observe the Star Wars reality
can now particapte in the Star Wars reality. Sort of like physicists
who sought to observe the subatomic world, only to discovery that due
the nature of these particle/waves they could learn what they want to
about them without interacting with them to some degree. The Special
Edition releases of IV-VI simply increased the asthetic, and clarity
value of Star Wars.
After these events, learning of revealations soon to occur (Episodes
I-III), and applying my humble level of understanding Lila's wisdom on
morality, something dawned on me: Star Wars really exists!
It has Quality (in my opinion MUCH Quality). Regarding the state of
Star Wars in the middle eighties, I would have said its SQ is obvious
(determined by the opinion of its veiwers after seeing it) and its DQ
would be the wisdom teachings of Yoda and Obiwon and the characters'
examples of adirible or detestable behavior and how these things
affect the lives of those veiwed it.
In 1999, shortly before the release of Episode I, I would say Star
Wars exists and has abides by a high level morallity. Think about the
acadamy awards. If a particular film is not dramacentric, its chances
for a high rating are low. How many Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror or Action
movies ever take the top awards? I seriously doubt Star Wars Episode
I will recieve the top award for the year, because it will be rated
according to the standards of a good drama, not the standards of a
high quality film. But, a survey of movie cinimas' plans for May and
June provide an indication of what kind of an impact this movie will
have on humanity. The natural tendancy of the acadamy is to promote
drama, and not promote the Sci-Fi genre. StarWars is an example of a
evolution. It has avoided the fate of most Sci-Fi films being swept
under the rug. Another natural tendancy it has not followed, is
corporate milking and dumping once it has outlived its usefullness.
Had Lucas the short term money hunger, he could released a string
higher budget low story quality films or worse yet a TV series that
would have made millions but cheapen the value of Star Wars. These 3
movies are real quality products, not mere hollywood cash nets. I
could probably come up with a sickenning long list of natural
tendancies Star Wars has avoided, but my point in bringing up these
two is: just like the biochemical soup escaping the wrath of entropy
and birds subversion of gravity, Star Wars displays its state of
evolution by its defiance nature.
It has a morality (that I don't exaclty know) which has allowed it to
survive (static latching-in becoming a part of the human psyche) and
evolve. I imagine that in a few generations Star Wars will be
something students will learn about in school, much as we read about
King Arthur. Just the King Arthur stories embedded themselves in the
minds of people as a legend and grew as writers continued to add
stories onto it. Our descendants will learn about the rise, fall and
redemption of Annakin Skywalker. Literary studies in the future will
serve as a guide in determining and measuring the DQ and SQ of Star
Wars.
Anybody agree? (With any of this?)
-Woody
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