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Solo: A Star Wars Story
What did we think of Solo: A Star Wars story?
What connections did we see between "Cowboys in Space" by Douglas Brode and the film? What did we see as the connection between classic Westerns and Solo?
Cowboys in Space
think/pair/share
An Archetypal Saloon Showdown
Critical Viewing
-0:35:45
Law and Authority in Star Wars
Law and Authority
Brode says Westerns and Star Wars films concern themselves with “The Law: the social law of its world and the moral dimension that stands behind rules of order.” These films “demand adherence to a code represented by that law.” If one defies it, they create “cosmic chaos that will destroy many, these ultimately including himself.”
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far way.
It is a lawless time.
CRIME SYNDICATES compete for resources--food, medicine, and HYPERFUEL.
On the shipbuilding planet of CORELLIA, the foul LADY PROXIMA forces runaways into a life of crime in exchange for shelter and protection.
On these mean streets, a young man fights for survival, but yearns to fly among the stars…
Loyalty to The Empire, Syndicates, and Compatriots
Viewings
Viewing
-2:12:46 - Street urchins fight over trinkets.
-2:09:46 - Lady Proxima explains Qi’ra’s emotional slavery.
-2:02:38 - The human scale of Star Wars. People, the law, and war.
-2:01:35 - The bureaucracy of Star Wars
-1:26:23 - Conflicting authorities and alliances - who has authority over the fuel?
-1:00:04 - Throwing off the chains as a distraction
-0:37:47 - everyone serves someone versus outlaw identity
-0:33:33 - rebellion against the syndicate
-0:17:30 - betrayal to authority
-0:16:02 - a final showdown, a dishonorable shot
Film Noir
A film style originally used to describe American thrillers of the 1940s and 1950s. Like any genre, it has many iterations and expressions as it has proved to engage the public consciousness.
Roger Ebert's Characteristics of Film Noir
"The most American film genre, because no society could have created a world so filled with doom, fate, fear and betrayal, unless it were essentially naive and optimistic."
What is Noir?
- Crime films of the 1940s and 50s
- Black film or film of the night
- Low key lighting - stark light/dark contrasts
- Camera angles and shots designed to disorient
- Frequently involve flashbacks or a disrupted narrative sequence
- Voiceover narration is common
- Crimes, murder, jealousy, heists, cons, conspiracies, betrayals
- Protagonists are flawed or morally questionable
- Femme fatale
- The setting is an urban labyrinth
- Films are pessimistic, defined by a lack of hope
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Billy Wilder
Wind River (2017)
Taylor Sheridan
The Style of Noir
After the Great Depression and World War II, American audiences begin to seek out pessimistic stories about corruption and Hollywood begins to evolve the film noir to satisfy that demand. As the decades pass, film continues to evolve to serve pessimistic crime stories.
"Film Noir the Genre Defined"
by William Park
"Film Noir: The Genre Defined"
"...No job or profession or skill makes one immune to corruption. Film noir can happen to anyone. It is a situation" (24).
Do we see stories of corruption in films today?
The Basic Noir Template
Film Noir Defined
"Its subject is crime... Its locale is the contemporary world, usually a city at night. Its character is a fallible or tarnished man or woman. From these givens, from this situation, an investigation almost always ensues which further involves the protagonist as it unravels the web of misadventures" (25).
The Noir Protagonsit
The Noir Protagonist
"In the 1930s, Hollywood gave us heroes and heroines who were resourceful, energetic and interesting, but, on the whole, innocent. If they fell, as in the gangster films, one could usually blame society and the class system. The protagonists of the 1940s are not only confused but culpable, and if they fall, it’s their own fault, or it’s because the mistakes of a former time catch up with them" (26-27).
Neo Noir
Noir storytelling persists after the 1950s, but it begins to evolve. Park claims that the "main difference between the classic and neo versions lies in the depths of evil they portray" (28).
"Whereas classic film noir always provided a saving framework of law (crime did not
pay, and if the mayor was corrupt, the governor was not), neo-noir presents a
paranoid, nightmare world where everyone is victimized and no one can leave Las Vegas" (28).
A Modern Noir
How do we see the themes and ideas of film noir reflected in this film?
Gurgaon
- A city with outstanding economic development in India,
- Development began to flourish in the 1970s,
- Produced by JAR Pictures which began makings films in 2012,
- First film from director Shanker Raman,
- In Hindi and Haryanvi