The Force Awakens

Like many of my generation, the Star Wars franchise has been a force in my life for as long as I can remember.  The original films are among the first I remember seeing; the toys, the first I recall playing with.  As a child, I slept between Millennium Falcon sheets and fantasised about being in that galaxy with Luke's powers and lightsaber, but the ell-travelled coolness of Han Solo.  Over the years, I've dropped my share of Star Wars references in everything from casual conversations to political speeches.  I was even inspired to create my own galaxy and cast of heroes - a tale that I've yet to share broadly.

When I went to see The Force Awakens on the twenty-fourth with my father, brother and son, it was more than an afternoon at the movies; it was nostalgia, escapism, and as is very much the case with the saga itself, a family experience.

I didn't go into the movie expecting to be wowed.  Star Wars isn't meant to be Inception, nor should it be the Matrix, or Avatar.  It's a galaxy with its own codes and rules that one visits, like a favourite travel destination; the familiarity of that world is a large part of its charm.  One visits with the expectation of exploring different facets of the familiar through the years, and that the space itself will change - at least a little - with time.  I didn't love it; if anything, I was quickly reminded that the Star Wars magic has never been in its plots points or dialogue.  Having said that, I was happily surprised by much that I wasn't expecting would offer unexpected twists.

To this I owe a debt of gratitude to JJ Abrams and the folk at Disney who worked so hard to create a culture of respective silence around the film - so effective were their efforts that Apps were developed to help protect people from what they didn't want to know.

Part of the real treat, the raw experience for me was sitting with my father, brother and son, between the wistful nostalgia of a grandfather who remembers seeing Episode IV in theatres with his eldest and the unashamed excitement, fear and ultimately hope of his grandson experiencing Star Wars on the big screen for the very first time.

Despite what you might have read, The Force Awakens isn't a rehash of A New Hope. It hits a few of the same beats, but does so with intention and, as was the case with Spectre, isn't afraid to be self-aware of that fact.  The most important function of the movie was to make fans feel comfortable that they were returning to that place they loved through Episodes IV, V and VI; mission accomplished. Bad Robot and co didn't stop there, though - nor did the brilliant Mouse House marketing team that reeled us all in.  Several things that were teased in the trailer were intentional red herrings, implying arcs that didn't exist, but making the turns the story did take register all the more.

Overall, I felt the emotional weight I was supposed to at the expected times; only one returning character was a disappointment, and the hoped-for threat posed by another character will hopefully materialize over the coming films.

Beyond this there were plenty of surprises of the whimsical dewback variety - they don't really serve any essential plot-point, but they help add texture to the Star Wars universe.  Some of these characters and movments worked, some were less effective, though even some of the lesser-effective whimsical moments were meant to be followed to the last beat for their efficacy to materialize.

The story was what it needed to be - it got our characters in place to hit the ground running for the next two episodes, giving just the right character beats and moments necessary to give them the complexity they need if we're to care about them.

Everything we see in The Force Awakens is majestic - carefully framed, physically present and lit for impact.  There are no toss-away gestures; everything reveals something, about the universe itself if not specifically for the story at hand.  And the chase sequences are pitch-perfect, exactly what I wanted them to be.  And, the BIG lightsaber battle gave us something we've not previously seen in the previous instalments - consequence.  You kinda know who's supposed to win, but that win is earned.  It was perfect.

A bit on the characters.  I think Harrison Ford gets the best compliment he could want - he earned his billing.  This rendition of Han was absolutely true to the character that first made Ford famous, and I think his performance here makes it clear why Disney feels a backstory film is a good idea.

Chewie actually got some more room here than he's been previously afforded, giving us more insight into his quirky, bear-teddy self that ever before.

Leia mailed it in a bit and was easily the weakest performance in the film.

Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver have rightly gotten great reviews for their performances, which are prefect and appropriate for their roles.  both offered surprises, almost inverting the expectations we should have for Rey and Ren.  I walked out of the theatre wanting to see where their characters go from here, which is a good thing.  John Boyega - I seriously want to know this guy in real life.  He's so enthusiastic.  If someone else had played Finn - say, a 20 year-old Mark Hamill - I would probably have hoped he got killed off.  Boyega makes Finn work to the point where he becomes the true underdog hero, the one we more realistically would hope to be under similar circumstances. His performance and his arc make it clear that his actions have real consequences.  More of this, please!

Poe Dameron is the closest thing to a Star Wars Deadpool, with the quick wit and almost meta sense of the game going on.  That Poe can be equally Han Solo smart-ass and Luke Skywalker all-in noble hero while still giving a bit of a wink to the audience is credit to an incredible performance by Oscar Isaac.  BB8 was the happy puppy you expected him to be.  Captain Phasma... yeah, I hope that character gets some ass-kicking to do in the next one.  She really needs to step up.  

Domhall Gleeson's has faced some criticism for his critical scene; where others see scenery-chewing, I see a very relevant, relatable and chilling anger boiling to the surface.  It totally worked for me and hints uncomfortably at too many real-world allegories, both historical and present day.

My favourite new inclusion, though - Maz Kanata.  

Having worked really, really hard to avoid spoilers, I had know idea what to expect from her character going in.  I knew she was a pirate, and she clearly had some inside-baseball info based on her lines in the trailer.  She was the unexpected highlight for me and I can't wait to get more from her down the road.

Kanata's quirky personality, the hints at her backstory and Lupita Nyong'o's brilliant performance - I fell in love with this character almost instantly.  She has just the right hints of Yoda, but also feels like your Scotch-drinking grandma or Leonard Nimoy buying milk in his pjs.  And she's a believer.

Even better - Maz Kanata almost single-handedly undoes the gobbledy-gook about midicholorians that took the magic out of the Force at the same time as making it a genetically exclusive club.  So far as we know and see, Kanata is not a Force-user; she doesn't have the precious midichlorian count to make the team.  Nonetheless, the Force is something real and magic to her, something she clearly understands at a deep level.  If her only gift is long life, then her grasp of the magic that surrounds us and penetrates us and bind the galaxy together is something we can all aspire to.

Star Wars needed that; as much as good can always trump evil, even those with humble beginning can change the course of history.

There you have it - my first impressions.  I will probably go to see it again in theatres, which says a bit more.  

Not everything is sunshine and roses, but I'm glad to have been back in that long-ago galaxy and look forward to seeing what else is revealed in our next adventure there.

Why Star Wars is Following Marvel and Why Politicians Should Pay Attention

Marvel's strategy, of course, is to weave the adventures of solo heroes throughout the same universe, with all narrative strands leading towards a mega-film (The Avengers/The Avengers 2).  The success of each film breeds the success of the next.  As Rasulo calls it: the Disney eco-system."

One-offs are easier to pull off, and are easier to distribute.  That was the premise behind the serial - have a theme, some common characters and put them in zany situations that are resolved within a half hour/hour.  You can play any episode in any order, grab an in-the-moment audience and laugh your way to the bank.

The model works, and continues to work - in a horses-and-bayonets kind of way.  Where the problem lies is that not everyone is sticking to the tried-and-true serial model and are instead building narrative arcs.  It started with the two-parter and has carried on into more complex plots, arcs-within-arcs and as a necessary result more layered, more interesting characters.

There have been risks along the way and some losses, too, but the trend is away from siloed one-offs and moving more and more towards the arc.  Complex shows with complex characters like LOST and Battlestar Galactica may not have had as massive an audience as others, but that audience was loyal, served as an excellent (and free) marketing partner and readily ate up viral marketing, soundtrack purchases and all kinds of other value-add that went along with the product.  

Committing to complex stories and character development hasn't hurt the careers of the developers of these shows, any more than it's hurt Joss Whedon, he of complex stories and teased narratives.  He's now the creative director of Marvel's film/tv franchise.  J.J. Abrams has done a bunch of cool projects since LOST, up to and including Star Wars.

The cross-pollination and value-add model is working wonders for Marvel across the board; they have tv shows and movies and comics, their actors are tweeting and instagraming away while producers tease hints at conferences and media avails.  It's a complex strategy that must have taken (and must continue to take) a great deal of fore-thought and planning to execute, adapt and persevere.  But again, it's working.  Audience are tuning in and even better, they're participating.

There is some secret sauce to the Marvel model (that Star Wars seeks to replicate); they have gotten pretty good at striking a balance between giving each film, series and character it's own space to function and breathe and grow, resulting in some pretty original (and different) directions for the franchise to grow in.  As a result, they have more creative stories, penetrate more markets and build their core constituency by providing a community of experience.

This is a model that's worked pretty well for Apple, too, as it has for many leaders.

It can and will work just as well for politicians, when they get around to thinking different.  We're seeing that start to happen now - Obama's campaign definitely broke new ground and Justin Trudeau's greater team involvement and communication format has been more engaging.

What's lacking, though, is the narrative.  There's no plot development in politics, no Big Idea for people to identify, discover and then explore as it unfolds and marches towards completion.  Instead we have message points, variations on the same theme and vague talk of values and such, but there's no hook, no transition, no real payoffs.  We don't really get to know our politicians as both individuals and participants in a team; there's no sense of trajectory to their stories or that of their Parties.  Policies are provided in serial format, with accomplishments being ticked off like boxes on a page.

It's great that more students are graduating - good for them.  It's lovely seniors are getting more surgical procedures done, and faster.  Love that roads are being paved and digital government strategies are being pursued.  But how do these things connect?  What sustained, building evidence do I have that I want to invest my time, money and votes into what you're going to do next?  Audiences want to know they're in good hands and they don't want you to tell them so - they want to discover it for themselves.  

And when they do, they'll want to participate.

Starship Canada

 

At the core of "Star Trek" is Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future. So much of science-fiction is about a dystopian society with human civilization having crumbled. He had an affirmative, shining, positive view of the future. He said the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Starship Earth. The strength of the starship is in its diversity. Everyone contributing their best, their vantage points and their unique experiences. Working as a team to face a common challenge. We can prevail if we have confidence in our problem-solving capabilities, in our inventive genius and our innovative qualities.

It's always been a good vision - ambitious, yes, but something we can strive towards.  At our best, it's an ideal Canada can embody.

And while we're on the topic of media metaphors and the resurgence of scifi - it turns out that Justin Trudeau is a Trek fan.  This makes total sense, given that his idea of Canada that also sees diversity as a strength and believes honesty, integrity and the willingness to take risk as attributes that promote innovation.

Of course, J. J. Abrams' Star Wars will be coming out in 2015 - the same year that Canada next goes to the polls.  We all remember who the bad guy was in Star Wars - the Phantom Menace, the fellow who operated behind the curtains as much as possible.  The Emperor delighted in pitting citizens against each other and undermining the fabric of the Republic, all in the name of fostering a safe and secure society.

Wonder whether Harper is more of a Star Trek or Star Wars fan?








 

The Force Will Be With You in a Small World, After All...

Um, wow. 

John Ivison: So Call Me, Vader?

Hey I just met you
And this is crazy
But I'm your father
So join me maybe

John Ivison: Obama’s victory gives Harper an opportunity to thaw relationship with U.S. — and he should take it

 

Much of the world seems to regard the United States as a spent force, dismissing it as Darth Vader once did Obi Wan Kenobi: “Your powers are weak, old man.”

 

Funny enough, Star Wars is becoming uber-hot again.  Smart communicators are latching on to memes and trends and incorporating them into their messages and stories. 

 

Stories tell - but memes draw.

The Carly Rae Jepsen "Call Me Maybe" Meme: This is What Innovation Looks Like

Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes.

Who takes the time to make a Star Wars clip-collection to add to the Call Me Maybe meme? 

For that matter, who takes the time to crowd-source clips recreating the Star Wars movie?

What makes a person go to those whimsical lengths?  How many internal memory files, how much cognitive capacity to connect dots do you need to devise and follow through on something like this?  More to the point, what is it that makes Star Wars a social phenomenon that people want to be a part of?  Boiled down - what's the connection between creativity and society?

There are those who will say it's profit that drives us.  Seriously, though, are there not easier ways to make money?  Are initiatives like streetpianos.com really about making individual profit, or are they about something a bit more inclusive?  We human beings are hard-wired to feel part of something larger than ourselves.  At some level, we all have an inkling there's some force that penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.  We want skin in that game; we want legacy.  We want to consciously be part of the whole. 

Live theatre builds an audience of experience out of a group of individuals.  Movie theatres, concerts, political rallies or religious and social ceremonies do the same thing.  Social media is the latest, broadest conduit, a social neural net that's connecting us and our collective lineages in ways never experienced before.  There is conflict from this clash, a hormonal reaction to challenge - but there is unparalleled neuro-synaptic creativity as well.  IDIC - the more diversity we're exposed to, the more tools we have to select from. 

The very process of wrapping our heads around the impacts of this diversity results in us connecting what we know to what we learn, bridging new gaps and expanding our cognitive puzzles a bit further.  That puzzle is what Don Tapscott would call Networked Intelligence - not the creation of a uniform culture under a one-world government, but an active harnessing of the fullness of human collective potential.  The whole, the social organism, is more than the sum of its individual parts.

We don't need to be afraid.  We don't have to get angry.  There is good in this world, and it's worth collaborating for.  When we work together, there's nothing we can't accomplish - we can even move mountains.  We just have to believe it.