Plunging into postmodernism – the prequel trilogy

At the beginning of The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the prequel trilogy, everything seems to be good, old Monomyth: Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his young apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi meet the seemingly normal slave boy Anakin Skywalker who turns out to be strong in the Force and joins the two heroes in their quest to save the peaceful planet of Naboo from the clutches of the greedy Trade Federation. All the familiar elements are present at this point which is well into the second half of the movie: The hero in his ordinary world receives a quest through a herald (Qui-Gon), performs a daring task (since Anakin has to win the dangerous 'podrace' to secure spare parts for the repair of the Jedi’s damaged ship), is reluctant to leave his home (Anakin does not want to leave his mother behind), but finally decides to cross the threshold into the special world to have many adventures and become a Jedi himself.

So far, so good. However, a different note becomes obvious with the beginning of the final battle of The Phantom Menace, a fast-paced climax with four parallel action arenas. The crucial part of this battle, on which success hinges, is the attack on a huge Federation starship controlling the invincible droid army on the planet’s surface. The Naboo pilots in their tiny starfighters are incapable of destroying this ship. It is Anakin who saves the day – but only by chance. He crawls into the cockpit of one of the fighters to hide from attacking droids and more or less accidentally launches the craft into space where he joins the battle. He – once more accidentally – flies the fighter into the Federation starship and by mere chance hits the main reactor while aiming at something completely different, causing the ship to explode.

George Lucas has stressed that the scene is supposed to be a kind of mirroring of how Luke destroys the Death Star in Star Wars, attributing the similarity of both fictional events to a concept of cyclically repeating motifs – something that would be in tune with the ever-returning Monomyth. However, while Luke’s triumph is down to his skills as a pilot and his adept usage of the Force, Anakin is just lucky. The difference is probably best summarized by the contrary ways the two deeds are commented upon in the films. In Stars Wars Han Solo exclaims to Luke, "Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!" In The Phantom Menace all Anakin can think of is "Oops." More than being a direct mirroring of the destruction of the Death Star, to me this almost seems like an ironic allusion to the original scene – and such allusions to iconic moments are characteristic for postmodern cinema.

As mentioned above, interpersonal conflicts, political intrigues and characters who are only shades of gray are also defining marks of postmodern stories, and there is plenty of all these features to be found in the prequel trilogy. For example, in the next two films, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the brewing conflict ascends to a such a threatening level that there is intrigue even among those one might consider 'the good guys'. The Jedi, incapable of locating and identifying the indefinite evil that is plaguing the Republic, fear that a revelation of their inability to perform their function as guardians of peace and justice might weaken their position within the political system, so they decide to lie to the democratically elected Senate. But as a result, they only foster an ever-increasing vicious circle of distrust which ultimately contributes to the Republic’s demise when it descends into civil war.

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