The Force Awakens And The Star Wars Formula

A fascinating in-depth analysis of the storytelling components and structure that is shared between all of the Star Wars movies. I also really liked his reviews of the films that he did leading up to the release of The Force Awakens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbaliPyihCY&t=5s

This really is a good analysis of Star Wars as an overall narrative.

However, there are some points I have to disagree with him particularly in relation to Episode 7.

Yes, I agree Star Wars like every other narrative has a formulae, books and video games have a similar occurrence. Does Force Awakens keep to the formulae? Yes. Does it do it well? I think not. Also take into consideration that Disney owns Star Wars by extension so while Star Wars is keeping to its formulae but is influenced by Disney's formulae and the two don't mix well together.

By having SW:TFA be so blatantly like A New Hope down to very obvious details it felt that very little was done to progress the nature of the Star Wars Universe. Yes, they added new characters but these characters are rather flat, especially in regards to Finn and Ray. Finn is a deserter from the First Order who help Poe escape (cool start, mind you). However, upon meeting with Ray and escaping Jakku via the Falcon his first real dialogue with her is to ask if she has a Significant Other. Finn isn't funny, he's goofy. And that seems the extent of his character. He shows loyalty and outrage concerning Ray but this appears more out of a "Loyal Dog" sense rather then a deep friendship.

AND THEN THERE'S Ray herself.... She is quite simply turned out by the Disney formula. Everyone joked about Leia being the Disney Princess but its in fact Ray. Yes, she has similar beginnings as Luke via the narrative skeleton. Beyond that it falls apart. She begins to develop force powers that no other force sensitive would have at their exposure. Luke took 3 whole movies to reach a level to oppose his main villain in his own Arc while in the course of an hour Ray is able to perform Jedi mind trick and pit against Kylo Ren (Who at least had some level of training over Ray) (Granted, he was shot by a wookie Bow caster which was throwing people around left and right). She is powerful by virtue of her position in the narrative, not her character.

Kylo Ren is a more completed and complicated character and the actor was able to portray a host of emotions and reactions for him that were far superior for the overall narrative. This is the Key point with the characters. Does Kylo Ren fit the skeleton of the Star Wars Narrative out lined by the video? Yes it does, very clearly. But is he unique? Yes. Kylo Ren is a unique character that differentiates himself from other villains even Vader, Maul, and Palpatine. I like Ren far more then the other two for this reason and when the next movie comes out I'm looking forward to Ren, not Finn and not Rey.

I attribute all this with the idea that a Trope, when done well, goes unnoticed and is loved. Force Awakens has its tropes in neon and are easily noticed.

That being said, I did enjoy Force Awakens, I still want to add it to my personal library. When I place it in the scope of the star wars movies and overall narrative I do find it a good story but not a Good Star Wars Story.

I do agree with his points on audience Hype, and the lack of analysis in reviews today. Society today has become so shallow when it comes to reviews and the like. This channel is really good for learning about narratives. I use his analysis when criticizing my own writing and formulating my own reviews like this one.

Now, I'd like to see the Rogue One review, I got some good thoughts on that too.

This is an interesting study and helpful in identifying the common story arcs and formula used for Star Wars movies in the past, but I believe it was offered to quickly for the Force Awakens. The comparison of TFA to previous Star Wars stories is an unfair one as it is unfinished. The others can be judged by the full arc of the characters, while the new characters in TFA have only begun their Hero's Journey. Finn and Rey may seem undeveloped, but that is because their stories remain to be finished. Luke as a moisture farmer on Tatooine was a whiny little bitch for the entire first movie, and despite his father being one of the most powerful Force users in the Star Wars universe, he was still half Padme who was not exactly intimidating. Han Solo was just some cocky asshole with one liners. We had yet to meet Yoda and knew very little about Obi Wan. It seems even the writers didn't realize that Luke and Leia were related as they were making out with each other. It wasn't until RotJ that the true nature of these characters was revealed, including that of Darth Vader himself. The originals were written as a trilogy, as are the new movies.

Similarly, the prequels do not stand well as single movies, but make much more sense when analyzed as one story arc. Anakin as a child in Episode One showed promise with his pod racing abilities and being the result of a "virgin" birth, but we learn very little about him in the first movie. The guy ends up being Darth freakin' Vader. Rey quickly embraces her Force sensitivities, but we still don't know why. We don't know if she is related to Kylo or a reincarnation of a previous Jedi or even created by a Sith. We still don't know Snoke's role or origin, or why Finn "malfunctioned" as a Storm Trooper. Even Luke's story arc remains unfinished.

The point missed in this video is that the story isn't over yet. The Skywalker arc extends across all of the movies so far, and we may still see things in the new movies that entirely change our understanding of say, Anakin's mother or Yoda or Palpatine. We have to remember when judging each film that the entire nine movie Skywalker saga is meant to be taken as one complete story, not individual movies or even separate trilogies. We can't say it is following a formula when we haven't seen the finished product. There are different writers, directors, and producers involved in the latest films, and what they will bring to the characters is yet to be seen. I fully expect the characters to follow Campbell's Hero's Journey as it is has been a highly successful formula for both Star Wars and Disney movies before they were even under the same company, but it will be interesting to see where they go with it.