The Force awakens does something that fundamentally changes
how we understand Star Wars or
Rather it should
Fundamentally change how we understand Star Wars
Strangely the filmmakers seem unaware of the rather profound
implications this new narrative has for the rest of their cinematic universe
in fact one of the major plot points in episode seven
inadvertently sets up something of a stormtrooper Paradox
To explain what I mean by
that I want to focus in on two scenes near the very beginning of Force awakens that signal this
shift in the Star Wars mythos
First we see a stormtrooper bleeding
for a franchise about intergalactic war very little blood is ever shown on screen and
When it is it holds a special significance.
I love you
[Hands up!]
In this case the bloody fingerprints mark this particular soldier as important
Second a short time later we see that same stormtrooper
Take off his helmet to reveal a human face and one clearly disturbed by recent events
The removal of a mask to expose someone's true humanity is a recurring motif in the star wars series
And we've seen hundreds if not thousands of stormtroopers before, but we've never seen one with a face
both of these scenes communicate that under their iconic armor
Stormtroopers are people people with feelings and who feel pain both
physically [and] emotionally
the result is that the force awakens does something no other movie in this long-running franchise has ever done before
it humanizes
stormtroopers
To understand why this revelation is so important and how it impacts the rest of the star Wars mythology;
We're going to need a quick history lesson in
the Star Wars cinematic universe
Stormtroopers are the army of the galactic empire. They're an intergalactic military force
synonymous with space imperialism and oppression
They're said to be brutal precise and loyal soldiers who have undergone extensive military training on
these
blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople
Only imperial stormtroopers are so precise
Now despite their role as foot soldiers of intergalactic authoritarianism [opan gagnam style]
Storm troopers
have become some of the most recognizable pop culture icons on Earth
The name storm Trooper is borrowed from special divisions of German Soldiers During World War one
Translated from the original German these soldiers were known as storm men. They were aggressive and heavily armed assault troops
Organized into companies known as storm troopers
"Storm man" would later become a paramilitary rank in the Nazi SS under Adolf Hitler
In George Lucas's much-maligned prequels the predecessors to stormtroopers are introduced in the form of the Republic's clone army
clone soldiers were made to order fighting machines. All sharing the same genes and the same face
[they are totally obedient taking order without question]
by the time the original Trilogy rolls around
Clone Soldiers have been phased out and the ranks of the new imperial stormtroopers are made up of conscripts and volunteers
[Look sir, droids] now fast-forward to episode seven and the first order also uses regiments of stormtroopers.
Here we're told that many of them were kidnapped as children and brainwashed into loyal fighters. "I'm a stormtrooper."
Like all of them, I was taken from a family. I'll never know
And raised to do one thing
Essentially they're child soldiers
Which I think is especially noteworthy
Considering the only stormtrooper face we've ever seen belongs to a young black man
Every other stormtrooper has no face. No name and no individuality
They are completely dehumanized
Across eight feature films, they're portrayed a little more than disposable grunts
FN-2187 or fin
as he's eventually known in episode 7 is the only exception
Finn is an imperial defector who joins the resistance obviously
Yes, I am
with the resistance yeah, I am with the resistance, yeah
He's funny. He's emotional. He's brimming with personality. [You're pilot
[You can fly anywhere why go back got a family, got a boyfriend? -None of your business. That's why]
Not exactly the characteristics you'd expect from someone kidnapped and brainwashed from an early age, but setting that aside
Finn is the only stormtrooper out of presumably millions who we see develop a conscience
Are we to believe he's the only one with the ability to resist first order programming?
Well no
it's possible for other soldiers to reject their conditioning in fact the first order has a protocol for exactly this kind of non-compliance as
FN-2187 reported from a tradition well evaluated and sent to reconditioning. No prior signs of nonconformity
this was his first offence. General] and yet Finn rebels anyway
Finn's very existence stands in contrast to the rest of the stormtroopers in the force awakens
I mean on the one hand we have a likable humanized
stormtrooper who switches sides and on the other hand we have all his fellow stormtroopers who the resistance kill without a second thought
and
This is why it feels like the film has a confused
dissonant relationship to one of its own plot points
Why it feels like it doesn't really buy into its own premise
Because if Finn can remain so very human despite years of programming and conditioning
And that must mean the same could be true for all other stormtroopers
Unfortunately the writers responsible for this movie
Don't seem at all interested in pursuing any of the morally complex questions that arise from this fact
Preferring instead to indulge in more action scenes built around blasting more Mindless automatons
[Can I try that] In fact blasting stormtroopers has become so mundane that it's an in-universe joke often played for laughs
[I like this thing]
Stormtroopers are framed as easy to kill both literally and figuratively and they are killed, a lot
[Lasers, explosions, and Wilhelm Screams]
over the course of the Force Awakens' two hour and fifteen minute runtime
We see a total of 68 stormtroopers shot stabbed or a vaporized and those are just the ones that we can see die on screen
Again these are child soldiers that we're talking about here
Which is even more reason for the film to at least acknowledge the underlying tragedy of their circumstances.
but it never does. I mean it's easy to imagine a more emotionally complex plotline
perhaps something that focuses on a group of disillusioned
Stormtroopers who organized a resistance cell to subvert the first order but from the inside?
Remember that Finn's awakening is triggered not by the death of some innocent Villager, but by the death of its friend a fellow stormtrooper
This is the event that quite literally leaves the mark on him
and yet the film quickly forgets this key transformative moment
Because minutes later we see Finn whooping and laughing while blasting his former teammates
now you might say that Finn and the rest of the resistance are acting in self-defense and
You'd be right. I mean star wars is after all a story about resistance and
When faced with an oppressive police or military force sometimes violence may be necessary to achieve liberation
But having to hurt one group of people in order to help another is always a tragic trade-off
even if it's necessary
If there's a core message to Finn's redemption story in the force awakens
something that the film really wants us to believe in. It's that people can change and
If we accept that, then the possibility must also exist for other stormtroopers to change as well
Now perhaps their transformation is unlikely, but not any more unlikely than Finn's own awakening
And isn't that the idea at the heart of the original Star Wars Trilogy?
[I know there is good in you, the emperor hasn't driven it from you fully]
That there still exists good and in even someone as evil as Darth Vader
Because if that's the case and I think it is. [You were right about me]
Then that means the fall of every stormtrooper
represents the death of the possibility of redemption
the possibility of another Finn
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