The other night, Chan and I watched The Empire Strikes back on Blue Ray. It was fun to see a movie that I can quote nearly word for word "differently" - specifically, this was the first time I got to see it in 1080p. If you are not familiar, that's the magic number that translates into a picture so defined, you can see all the actor's blemishes rather than looking like animated action figures and the cardboard looking props for what they are ... not actual space metal. I was noticing parts of Boba Fet's costume that I never saw before and sat in awe of how many actual stars were on screen at the end of the title crawl ... but it was The Cave on Dagobah that struck me the most.
This wasn't a special effects thing - I actually always thought the way Vader's mask "exploded" was cheesy. What the Cave vision meant, and how I perceived it all those years ago is what got me thinking ... and blogging.
Conventional wisdom among Star Wars fans is that Luke's failure was that he chose to take his weapons into the cave after Yoda told him that he would not need them. Essentially, that you are unable to fight fear - but must simply face it. Since fear leads to the "Dark Side", a Jedi should avoid letting it lead him to Anger .. Hate ... Suffering etc.
When I saw 'Empire' at the Bowman Twin theater in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1980 I had a completely different understanding of the scene.. To me, it was the lesson that Luke was essentially fighting himself. As a kid trying to grow up (and maybe fly a space ship with a light-saber hanging from my belt), this was my fight - a fight to be more than I was.[note: I was later convinced that Luke was somehow his own father .. or his father's twin .. but hey, I was 7].
The other night though, in full 1080p, I remembered the old me - the one fighting myself to grow up. For the most part I've been successful; I'm relatively mature when it comes to most things in life ... and I have a much more thoughtful approach to fan theories about movie plot twists. Still, I often find myself facing off against the dark me in the cave. "This becoming is harder than it seems."
Back in May (on Star Wars Day) I wrote a FB post that referenced 1 John 4 as what should be the rest of Yoda's teaching on Fear (the enemy that is cast out by Love). When I've missed the mark in life it's nearly always been because of Fear - or the sort of backwards self-love (selfishness) that I should have outgrown years ago. I'm finding it takes the sort of trust necessary to leave your light-saber and blaster outside when heading into a scary place.
1 comment:
I have that movie on Blu-Ray, but I still haven't watched it in Blu-Ray. I probably should.
I'd have a hard time leaving my weapons outside the cave as well.
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