Kevin Marshall's America
"And I was like, what the Hell YOU lookin' at, Storm Trooper? Eat a rock sandwich! HA!"
I was having a late lunch with fellow TU blogger Kacey Bruce (see her posts on Savings Source and Press Start) recently and she said something that, even as someone who isn’t a hardcore Star Wars nerd, made me almost fall out of my chair: her favorite installment of the original trilogy is “Return of the Jedi.”
Coming on the heels of the 30th Anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back” – which I consider not only the high watermark of the franchise but also a great film on its own merits – I found this to be nothing sort of sacrilege. But Kacey? She has her reasons. Those reasons?
Those damn Ewoks.
It’d be nice to think that Lucas created the Ewoks purely to make a statement about the dangers of an over-reliance on technology at the expense of community, culture, and family. The little fur creatures do, after all, fight off the advance of a seemingly insurmountable army of clones (we find out later through movies we’d rather forget) with all the resources of the Universe at their disposal. Laser rifles, AT-AT Walkers, and jet bikes are no much for little tiny adorable ape-men with their cute little nets and their cute little rocks and their cute little booby traps. It’s all so meaningful and adorable that you aren’t bothered by the fact that they’re slaughtering all these poor soldiers and later use their severed heads for musical instruments.
Yeah, they were just helmets. You keep telling yourself that.
Truth is, the real reason Lucas created the Ewoks is because he thought they were more marketable than, say, a planet of Wookies. Yeah, it’d be really cool if it was bad-ass Chewbacca’s home planet, and it may make more sense that this giant warrior race is able to fend off the advances of the Empire. But would it resonate as well with children?
Some would say yes, but people like Kacey disagree. For all the cynicism of myself and various other nerds, the Ewoks did something that two of the greatest sci-fi epics of all time weren’t able to do: it brought her in on something that we all enjoy. No longer would she feel left out when discussion turned to light sabers and parental revelations. She could belong.
As I was cynically ranting, Kacey told me how she used to watch that film as a child nearly every day. She developed a love for those little creatures who have been the subject of scorn and ridicule. And while I was sitting there and going “oh brother, they ruined the movie for me,” Kacey’s smile widened as she talked about all the great memories that film invokes for her. Her eyes, which always give her away, expressed an enthusiasm that was contagious.
Boy, did I feel like a jerk. Not that she cared what I thought. Well, I suppose she cared in the sense that she didn’t think me a bad person for disagreeing on the Ewoks, but it didn’t affect her enjoyment of the film.
It brought me back to something I’ve touched on a lot of times. Often, we let our cynicism get the best of us. It can be entertaining and cheeky, but it’s rarely charming and while it may elicit laughs from others, it doesn’t and won’t bring us any happiness. You can criticize and disagree, but you can’t take away from Kacey’s enjoyment of the Ewoks.
And why would you want to?
So Ewoks, if you’re reading this (which means you’re actually real and Lucas was simply telling a real tale that did happen in a galaxy far far away which means Scientology is REAL): I don’t like you and you don’t like me. But you know what? I’m okay with your presence. I’ve made my peace with the fact that you exist, because you brought some measure of happiness to a good number of children. Besides, your presence in one movie doesn’t take away from the happiness of the various other installments of the film.
You may not work as a metaphor for technology in society, but you work wonderfully as a valuable life lesson: not letting something you don’t enjoy overwhelm all those other things that make life wonderful. Besides, you gave Kacey and I something to talk about over lunch. Otherwise, we would’ve just moved our food around the plate and occasionally cleared our throats to alleviate awkward moments of silence.
Thanks, Ewoks. I owe you a solid.
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22 Responses to Ewoks: The Source and Solution of Life Problems
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STALK ME
hahahah “Scientology”
The Ewoks took out AT-ST walkers (two legged) in Return of the Jedi; AT-AT walkers are the four legged ones.
(Hides face in shame…)
K-Wing – Give me your lunch money right now!
Go Kacey – I am a Star Wars fan and Jedi is my favorite Episode too. People are just threatened by those who are short, cute…yet powerful.
Geeks of the world unite!
I have no problem with the Ewoks…but I wonder if there was a don’t ask,don’t tell policy for the Storm stroopers?Some of them had a little sashay in their walk.Just saying, not judging.
My parents made Star Wars mandatory viewing for me as a child. You see my uncle was a big Trek guy, and had me watch all the TOS episodes on his Betamax. It was kinda awesome. So Dad, who was a big Star Wars guy, decided that I needed to be a cultured geek child and had me watch Star Wars.
As a child, I loved A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. The first had fun action and adventure and the sense of camaraderie that you got with Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Just substitute Han Solo, Luke and the droids. Empire Strikes Back, as a wee lass of 5 or 6 was just a little too dark for me. Jedi had the staged romance, and the cute Ewoks. As a kid I ate it up.
As an adult, I appreciate Empire for what it is, and didn’t need Dante and Randell to explain it to me. Still, a part of me loves how as a little girl I liked Ewoks even though as an adult I know that they are celebrating the end of the Empire by playing music on skulls.
Of course, let’s be honest – when Lucas remade the ending and took the cute song out, he showed fireworks across the galaxy. Any Imperial Gov. who saw those fireworks was going to slaughter populations to try to keep control. Let’s be honest about things here.
Ewoks were the worst characters in the Star Wars universe… until George Lucas came up with Jar Jar Binks. QED.
Those little dudes totally kick butt! =)
Okay, I’ll buy it. But try that logic wrt Jar-Jar Binks, and I’ll laugh like hell at you.
K-Ma- you’re in the right here. You can generally make a world-personality-intelligence etc. dichotomy between those who think Empire Strikes Back was the best of the trilogy or Return of the Jedi. Don’t ask me why the original is so rarely the choice as best- I think there are some good arguments for it.
But ESB is the pinnacle- From Yoda to Hans and Leia in the asteroid field to the biggest twist in movie history…its the best film by far…
But I still remember as a kid loving the Ewoks and even watching the crappy Ewoks adventure movie that was made. Sure I cringe watching Return of the Jedi now during the Ewok scenes. But like many movies you watch as a kid and then as an adult, the entire series isn’t quite as thrilling the older you get. You can find enough clunky dialogue to foreshadow the failure of episodes 1-3 in any of the films.
Should we castigate the Ewok lovers? No…I’m with you at being at peace with those who like Return…doesn’t mean we have to pretend that movie lives up to ESB…
I was watching an older TV show this past weekend and there was quite a bit of anti-Ewok dialogue in it. I had no idea it even existed! How did I miss this for so long?
I LOVED Ewoks as a kid– the movie, the cartoon, even that made-for-TV movie and miniseries. They were cute, fuzzy, and lived in some pretty sweet treehouses. Even if they were simply a marketing ploy, I kind of feel like hating Ewoks is like hating bunnies. Well, bloodthirsty bunnies who decapitate people.
A lot of people cry at the part in Return of the Jedi where the one Ewok died. You know, I’ll bet the Imperial equivalent of Fox News played that clip nonstop during their broadcasts to show how well the War on Terror was going. They probably used photoshop to occasionally paint him a different color or give him a funny little mustache or something just to add variety.
I watched original Star Trek back in the day…but after that never kept up. If you would like to discuss “Babe,” however, daughter watched it almost a billion times when she was little …. me too!
Ewoks are cuter than teletubbies.
YUB NUB
There are so many reasons to hate ROTJ, ewoks being the first reason. The overt disco vibe being a close second, embodied by the song “Lapti Nek” (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lapti_Nek)
I think the little bears (as I call them) are too cute :)
I have in all honesty never seen any of the Star Wars movies…but these little things are cute….I want one!!
Never liked the Ewoks. They didn’t ruin the movie for me, but they were certainly another sign that Geoge Lucas was capable of some very, very poor judgement.
When I saw them originally as they came out, I thought “Empire” was easily the worst of the three, because it just . . . . ENDED. There was no resolution. “Star Wars” tied everything up nicely as a standalone piece (since we didn’t know we were getting a trilogy when we saw it) and “Jedi” tied the trilogy up nicely, so they both satisfied in that regard, while “Empire” was all loose ends and unresolved drama that just left us unsatisfied knowing we had to wait for ages to see what happened.
Even in other older movies that were part of series, I can’t think of another case prior to that where the story was left so often-ended, pending the (next) sequel. It felt really disappointing at the time, like we got ripped off or chumped somehow.
Watching the flicks now, all these years later, I would still probably declare the first to be the best of the bunch, but “Empire” is definitely a better flick than “Jedi” with 20/20 hindsight, even with the stupid Ewok party music having been edited out in later editions.
For the record, I also watched the “Star Wars Christmas Special” live when it aired . . . wow.
J. Eric…Ralph Bakshi’s TLoR.
BL . . . saw that, too. Great point, in re it just ENDED. It was so horrid that I’d blacked it out, though . . . .
Bakshi’s “Wizards,” on the other hand, now that was some fine subversive ’70s sci-fi . . .
Personally I though Revenge of the Sith was the best but Empire is a close second. Darth Vader is easily my favorite character – I remember reading the books when I was a kid and one of them not sure which but probably Jedi actually described how Vader was put in the suit so it was cool to actually see how that happened.
Ben did lie to Luke though about how his father died. In IV he hesitiated when asked…instead of the line he gave Luke he should’ve said “Well Luke I chopped off his legs and arm and then left him to burn on a lava planet”