On "The Mandalorian," "The Last Jedi," and other things regarding Star Wars

Spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale

I haven't written much about Star Wars on this blog, which is strange since like many people I have a lot thoughts about Star Wars. I do find it incredible that the most popular thing Disney has done with Star Wars is the Disney+ show, The Mandalorian. Though it also makes sense. The animated The Clone Wars became more well liked than the prequels and even redeemed them in many peoples' eyes. The Mandalorian has the same executive producer as The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni, who is seen as the heir apparent to George Lucas. And with the divisive reaction to Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi and further negative feelings towards J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian has the benefit of being outside what Disney has done with the Sequel Trilogy. It doesn't reactionary the way The Rise of Skywalker did, nor is it deconstructive like The Last Jedi. It's a show about a guy in cool armor and his cute baby. 

But in the season 2 finale, a major cameo and story turn caused many to rejoice and provoked cynicism in others. Luke Skywalker (a de-aged Mark Hamill) cut through Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) Death Troopers before taking Baby Yoda-a.k.a Grogu- to train him in the ways of the force. Fans were happy to see the "real" Luke back after The Last Jedi showed us a broken Luke, no longer the hopeful young man of the original trilogy. Others felt Luke's appearance was a further rejection by Disney of  Johnson's objective in The Last Jedi, which was to deconstruct both the Star Wars mythology as well as the mythic hero archetype Luke came to embody.  

On a surface level Luke's appearance does feel like a retreat back in to nostalgia and providing people what they wanted in the sequel trilogy, i.e. Luke being a "badass." But as Alden Diaz, a user on Twitter, laid out in a thread, Luke in The Mandalorian does connect with Luke in The Last Jedi. I've posted a link to the 

Alden Diaz 🎙 on Twitter: "“Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi Master. A legend.” It honestly, truly blows my mind that some people don’t see (or don’t want to see) how #LukeSkywalker in #TheMandalorian connects so beautifully to Luke in #TheLastJedi. It adds immense emphasis to so much of what TLJ is. https://t.co/DYRvEpjTOt" / Twitter

I agree with Diaz, especially since in The Last Jedi Luke he got caught up in his own image: "I was Luke Skywalker, Jedi master." And in The Mandalorian, when he's chopping up those droids, with his cloak up, he is definitely playing in to the image of the mythic hero. Diaz says, 

"We are witnessing the man gain the mythical status & aura that make him feel invincible. It’s underlining his fall"

and that Luke's taking on Grogu after Ahsoko Tano refused underlines how Luke still believes the Jedi's old ways can work. 

I have to admit, in the moment, seeing Luke the way we remember him from Return of the Jedi really got me. While I'm not against the direction Johnson went with Luke in The Last Jedi I still want to see more of what happened in between the trilogies and what got him to that breaking point with Ben Solo. I'm also wondering where Grogu was during the events of the sequel trilogy. 

There's also the question of where the show goes from here. The relationship between Grogu and the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), has been a huge factor in the show's popularity. People love that little green guy, including me, so I his absence will have to weigh on Din going forward.I assume the taking back of Mandalore will be the main arc going forward. And I guess Din and Bo- Katan (Katee Sackhoff) still have to fight for the Dark Saber.

And even before Season 3, we are getting The Book of Boba Fett in December 2021. It definitely feels like we've brought the Expanded Universe to live action. Before, anything specifically focused on Boba Fett would be a book or a comic. And Luke rebuilding the Jedi Order was also a ongoing thing in the old Expanded Universe.

So, what are your thoughts on The Mandalorian finale and the direction the series may be going in? Are you excited for a Boba Fett show? Comment below and let me know.   

"The life of men among men:" Reflections on "Reflections in a Golden Eye"

1967 was a taboo breaking year for Hollywood movies. Bonnie and Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Graduate challenged the traditional portrayals of violence, sexuality and race in movies. Sidney Poitier slapped a racist white man and dated a white girl, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shown brutally shot down, and college graduate Benjamin Braddock had an affair with an older married woman. As the 60s were leading in to the 70s, Hollywood was changing forever. 

John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye, while not as well received then (and even now) still belongs that company due to its portrayal of a suppressed gay man on an army base. This is Major Weldon Penderton (Marlon Brando), who has a fraught marriage to Lenora (Elizabeth Taylor). Lenora is being unknowingly stalked by a young soldier named Williams (Robert Forster in his film debut). Penderton begins to grow attracted to Williams, without knowing Williams' fascination with Lenora. Lenora is also having an affair with Lieutenant Colonel Morris Langdon (Brian Keith), whose wife Alison (Julie Harris) suffers from depression due to a miscarriage, staying inside with only her servant Anacleto (Zorro David) as a companion.

Many of Huston's films were adaptations of novels, short stories, or in the case of Key Largo, a play. Reflections in a Golden Eye came from the pen of Carson McCullers, author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940). Originally published in two parts in  Harpers' Bazaar and then as a novel,  Reflections in a Golden Eye was her follow up novel. Like William Faulkner McCullers' work is categorized as southern gothic. Huston's film exists in a heightened and unusual reality, which is accentuated by Huston's choice for the film to have a golden hue. After a week in theatres, Warner Bros. took the film and removed the golden hue, re-releasing  the film in a normal colour version. The new Warner Bros. blu ray contains both versions. Many of the film's images feel like they could come from a dream, a memory or something in between. 

Huston's films were often very masculine but also about the vulnerability underneath the bravado. Think of Humphrey Bogart in his most iconic roles under Huston's direction, Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Spade falls for the femme fatale who he has to send to prison. Dobbs becomes sick with greed. And while Brando and Bogart have differing acting styles they're similar in being unconventional leading men. Bogart lisped and had a hard, occasionally sinister look. Brando mumbled and lacked the polish of more traditional male actors at the time. And underneath both Bogart and Brando's swagger lied a sensitive nature.

Reflections in a Golden Eye finds Brando- as Penderton- struggling with the ideas of masculinity and  leadership. Pernderton questions his sexuality. He hates himself for his feelings, which undermines his ability to be a leader. As he says in his speech to his students, "Leadership must include a measure of inherent ability to control...uh...and direct self-confidence." Penderton knows he lacks these things despite his rank. He doesn't even have Lenora's respect. Penderton beats her beloved horse due to  being thrown off by it.  Lenora confronts Penderton at that night's party and hits him with a riding crop. Earlier in the film she taunts Penderton and strips naked in front of him. 

Penderton is almost like Othello if he was more interested in Michael Cassio than Desdemona. But unlike Shakespeare's play this is more a slow-burn to tragedy. The film does have what could be called a leisurely pace, examining the day-to-day lives of the people on the base and how they all interweave. The first line of McCullers' novel reads "An army post in peacetime is a dull place," which is accurate to the story's slow pace but also ironic given what happens by the film's end. I'll admit, I struggled with the film's pace and wish it had focused more on Brando and Taylor. I've talked quite a bit about Penderton but he kind of drifts in to the background during the film. 

While watching the film I responded more to the direction and atmosphere but Penderton and Brando's performance are the most substantial character stuff in the film. Taylor is having fun as Lenora; coming off her Oscar winning performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, she's playing a more voluptuous and lighter take on Martha. Harris, as in one of my favourite horror movies The Haunting (1963), is adept at portraying fragility without overly invoking pity. Forster gives a practically silent performance, making his voyeuristic nature even creepier.

While the reviews for the film, outside Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, were mixed, Huston considered this one of his favourite among his films. Satisfaction is maybe all that matters when you're an artist. It's an off-beat in Huston's career, one I don't think is completely successful due to its pacing and sometimes thin characterization outside of Penderton. But it's worth seeing for its direction and unique look and feel, along with Brando and Taylor's performances.