Star Wars is a Great Bullshit Detector

Star Wars is such a fascinating franchise. Whored to death of course. But what really intrigues me about these movies is that the context of the story is entirely dependent upon whether you watch it in its broadcast order (4-6, 1-3), or its intended order (1-6).

Episodes Four to Six

Watching the original run, we jump into a fully-fledged universe (of which I am always a fan of). The backstory is revealed eventually, but the key is that the mystery is not shown. It is up to the viewer to form this. The effect is great, you get the story, you get the inspiration for the viewers to imagine, and you get a franchise. Ker-ching.

Episodes One to Three

Let us ignore the significant drop in quality of the movies. What I find interesting about these movies (apart from the fact that filling in the backstory removed the inspiration for imagination in the audience – no wonder people got angry!) is that when you look at the overall narrative, it completely changes from a story about Luke to a story about Anakin – it has always been about Anakin.

We’ve seen the same context-switching structure in Lost – we initially think the story is about the struggles of the survivors of Flight 815. We later find out that the story is actually about the war between Jacob and his brother, with the survivors being the last battle.

The Bullshit Detector

We are constantly spoon-fed series of events which are revealed out of full context, so that they can fit a convenient period of time in a broadcast, a number of lines in a newspaper, or an established narrative. Without the full context, we must be aware that our imaginations will fill in the gaps; we will misinterpret.

Take the ‘political correctness gone mad’ narrative, which over time has carefully been interwoven with the ‘health and safety gone mad’ narrative. A lot of the stories reported in the press – such as councils banning the display of England flags on taxis – are reported and then virally spread. The councillors are not being racist, or denying patriotism. They are acknowledging that a taxi is a place of work, and more specifically a service. Health and Safety law applies. If you were to fly a German flag, you may be set upon by a drunk in a taxi rank, especially if you were flying that flag on the night England lost to Germany. Oh, injured at work? In goes a claim against the employer’s insurance – you could sue someone for something you caused, because they failed to prevent it.

The decision is therefore preventative, not just for the sake of health and safety, but for the sake of reducing insurance claims (which increase as a result of successful claims), the time spent in court and the cost to the public.

The issue of the rules and regulations regarding advertisements on taxis also arises. Again, the flag flying is a potential breach of those rules and so a preventative decision is taken to reduce the cost if the advertisers complain.

This suddenly changes the entire context of the story, and ridicules hooligan organisations who report such stories as more evidence of the Islamification of Britain.

Next time you’re being fed a narrative, such as Winterval, remember Star Wars.