A reminder of those who lived–and died–before him. Sure, they’re not the suns of Tatooine, but they certainly signal this recurring motif, except this time, the suns aren’t a representation of choice, but a reminder of sacrifice. The last thing Luke sees before he disappears into a pile of empty robes is a pair of suns. Luke dies a warrior death out on the far-off planet Ahch-To, but not before catching a glimpse of the Binary Sunset again. With Rey’s help, Luke finally accepts his failure, learns from his defeat, and makes a legendary sacrifice, his final stand against that blood red sun. But in The Last Jedi, he’s finally brought back into the light. Resigned to a solitary life away from the rest of the Galaxy, cut off from the Force, Luke became a shadow of the hero he once was. In the years we’d been away from him, Luke had failed–he failed to bring the Jedi Order back to life, failed to train his nephew Ben Solo, and worst of all, failed himself. The Luke Skywalker of Episode VIII is callous, old, and dejected. But in The Last Jedi, Luke isn’t quite the same as we’d known him before. It isn’t until the second film of Disney’s new trilogy, 12 years after Episode III, after Kathleen Kennedy had brought the franchise back to its feet, that we see those suns–and Luke Skywalker–again. We don’t see the Binary Sunset again for a long time. There are two suns: one for each of Padmé’s twin children. Yes, the Galaxy has been lost to Lord Sidious, yes, the “chosen one” has gone the way of the Sith–but at the end of the prequel trilogy, we’re reminded that there is still hope. Whereas before, this image represented a choice between light or dark for the savior child, here, years before Luke’s story even really begins, the Binary Sunset is a signal of hope. Owen and Beru, two moisture farmers on the nowhere planet Tatooine, catch a glimpse of the Binary Sunset after being trusted with what will prove to be the Galaxy’s last hope: the infant Luke Skywalker. This time, they’re the final image we see. Get it?Ģ8 earth years later, but a few decades on the Star Wars timeline backward, we see the suns again in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. In Return of the Jedi, we learn that it’s up to Luke to decide which one of those suns he’s going to let set on him. A few scenes later, his foster parents will be burned to death and he’ll be yanked away from Tatooine to contend with a father who's dragging his only sun into a genocidal–yet all-powerful–Sith regime. By the end of that trilogy, we come to understand, in this formative moment, Luke was gazing right over the threshold. It’s a striking image, one that, especially with the majestic french horn from John Williams’ orchestra, inspires a lot of wonder. In Episode IV, Luke sees one sun that’s whitish with a pink outline, and another that’s blood-red. They rhyme.” Whether or not you believe Lucas really had the entire nine film “Skywalker Saga” in mind when he first set foot in Tunisia to film A New Hope (then just called Star Wars), the recurring image of Tatooine’s twin suns seems to function, like he says, less as narrative text and more as a poetic device. In the excellent Phantom Menace making-of documentary, The Beginning (which is oddly available in full on Youtube for anyone interested), George Lucas explains to producers of Episode I that his movies are like “poetry.sort of. In fact, as I unpack each occurrence of the Binary Sunset throughout the nine-film series, I’m realizing that these two suns may be the connective tissue holding all the many branches of the Star Wars saga together. But that’s not to say this image is meaningless. Unlike a lot of the recurring motifs of Star Wars, which are almost always just plainly stated out loud, the Binary Sunset is left open to interpretation. Every Star Wars Movie, Ranked From Worst to Bestīut what does it mean, really? Today on May 4th–the pop culture holiday that’s come to be known as Star Wars Day–I keep thinking, after all these years, why do we keep seeing this Binary Sunset in Star Wars? The image is so significant to the series, appearing in Episodes III, IV, VIII, and IX, but it’s always understated.The Best Star Wars Prequel Is Now On Disney+.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |