Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil: Outgeeking Bainbridge

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Outgeeking Bainbridge

Now, I'd never take on Professor Bainbridge when it comes to wine: I haven't the taste buds. And on corporate law? More fool me to challenge the guy who authors textbooks. But outgeeking? There we're on more equal ground. And I'm afraid that his accusation that George Lucas has sold the soul of Star Wars to the Democrats just rings hollow.

Basically, the good Professor is upset because:

...Lucas betrayed the basic story arc of the Star Wars mythology in order to score these cheap political points. In the original trilogy, Luke struggled against the absolutism of Obi-Wan and Yoda. It was Luke who insisted that there was still good in Vader, which Yoda and Obi-Wan rejected.

The betrayal in question is in having Obi-Wan say to Anakin, after the latter has muttered some you're-for-me-or-against-me line, "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes."

Now, I've not seen the movie yet, and to the best of my knowledge, neither has Prof. Bainbridge, but to my mind his internal critique doesn't hold up. Bainbridge spends a great deal of time talking about how an older (presumably wiser) Obi-Wan was still doctrinaire and absolutist in his consideration of the Force. But if we consider this Obi-Wan to be less mature than Alec Guinness (and who wouldn't), then the plot still hangs together. Obi-wan may just be full of it. And there's no "betrayal" for "cheap political points" so long as the elder Jedi isn't doing anything more than the lightsaber equivalent of Godwin's Law: you know the conversation's over (and someone's limbs are about to go) when somebody mentions the Sith.

So why are so many assuming that Old Kenobi needs to be taken seriously? It seems that the New York Times found political meaning in the film:

"This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause," Padm observes as senators, their fears and dreams of glory deftly manipulated by Palpatine, vote to give him sweeping new powers. "Revenge of the Sith" is about how a republic dismantles its own democratic principles, about how politics becomes militarized, about how a Manichaean ideology undermines the rational exercise of power. Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes." You may applaud this editorializing, or you may find it overwrought, but give Mr. Lucas his due. For decades he has been blamed (unjustly) for helping to lead American movies away from their early-70's engagement with political matters, and he deserves credit for trying to bring them back.

Dear goodness, we can only hope. I mean, if Democrats can't do better than Lucas's tin-ear for dialogue for their political bumper stickers, then I suspect the Republicans will get the geek vote. But now the New York Times has done the impossible: it's made me curious about the final Star Wars film.

Let's face it: Lucas is about as subtle as a chainsaw running through a screen door, at least when it comes to dialogue. I'd expect that even if Chewbacca were mouthing Bush-lite rhetoric, you wouldn't need to be Han Solo to figure out the reference. On the other hand, the New York Times could probably scan Beowulf and find hidden anti-Bush meanings.

So who is it? Is George L. taking on George B.? Or is this all a figment of the Times' fevered fantasies? Sadly, I'll have to see the film to find out, because when it comes to a conflict between the Lucas lack of subtext and the Greying Lady's determination to find same, we reach a level of difficulty almost equal to that of the Great Sci Fi Paradox: What happens when a bunch of clueless red-shirts, guaranteed to survive less than three minutes after a beamdown, meets a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers, who can't hit a barn from inside it?

Comments

This article on a Cannes press conference might save you the trouble of going to the movie.
http://midwestsummerassociate.blogspot.com/
A wise man once pointed out that "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar", and I think someone needs to remind Prof. Bainbridge that sometimes a trashy sci-fi B flick is just a trashy sci-fi B flick.....
The "wise man" was Freud, on the sometimes-noninterpretation-of-dreams. Less well known is his debt to Kipling. The original line went something like "Wine is only wine, but a cigar is a smoke."
I've noticed that people who are absolutist often think that they are nuanced. (Often because they know other people on their own side who are even more extreme, or have unexpressed feelings which are much nastier.)
TTP: I know it was Freud; I was under the impression that the quote was familiar enough that nobody (at least nobody well educated enough to be follwoing a first person narrative of American legal education) needed to be told who said it. :-)
Oh, perhaps I've underestimated folks. I was under the impression that a lot of people didn't know the source. Eh. Also I was trolling for the exact phrasing of the Kipling quote.
"Now, I've not seen the movie yet, and to the best of my knowledge, neither has Prof. Bainbridge..." And thus continues the conservative tradition of critiquing movies without having seen them. :)
If you notice, Dave, the above isn't a critique of a movie, but a series of questions about it. And having now seen the movie, if you want to carry water for Lucas's dialogue, I hope your back's pretty strong.

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All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

4610813053 b9f0eb6556 All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Station in Lhasa

Ryan’s a man of superlatives so when we got word that Tibet was home to the ‘world’s highest train,’ I had no other choice than to jump on board. The fact that the it meant we had a 37-hour train ride ahead of us meant nothing to my better half.

4610803397 8eb0dabdc6 All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

The slick lobby of the Lhasa train station

In 2007 China celebrated the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest rail line in the world. The 1,200 miles of tracks are the result of engineering genius, traversing 342 miles of permafrost, much of it at altitudes exceeding 13,000 feet. Since Tibet was incorporated into the the People’s Republic of China in 1951, China has dreamed of uniting this mountainous province with the rest of the country. After nearly half a century, the world’s highest locomotive was achieved and now gives people from Beijing, Shanghai, and other major Chinese cities direct rail access to once remote Tibet.

4611418884 a69ae0d3f9 All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

Chatting up my 70-year old roommate in the train car

Providing passengers with enough oxygen was one of the biggest technology challenges the Chinese faced. The thin air on the Tibetan plateau makes breathing a challenge and altitude sickness prevalent. To remedy the situation, the Chinese increased the amount of oxygen circulating the train cars with generators that suck in the good oxygen from outside air and release the other gases into the atmosphere. Genius.

4611428046 b4243f402c All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

Ryan's morning Budweiser in the dining car

Lucky for me, the world’s highest train turned out to be one of the world’s poshest trains. We had a 37-hour ride in order so splurged on the first class ticket. A darn good splurge it turned out to be! Although we had to share our train car with two others, it included individual TV’s for each passenger, hangers for clothes and even a lace tablecloth topped with a vase for the table. The best part was a first-class dining car where we took in the scenery, sipped on Budweisers (yes they serve Budweiser at 15,000 feet) and passed the time with our new-found Tibetan traveler cohorts. The comfort of the train was only rivaled by the breathtaking views.

pixel All Aboard: The World’s Highest Train

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  1. Cate says:

    I went through Tibet as they were putting the last tracks in for this train. Wish I had waited a few more years and done this trip. Next time. Loved reading this post!
    Cate´s last [type] ..Old Fort Lauderdale