2B — Thursday, December 10, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A Long Time Ago in a Family
Room Far, Far Away …
I remember the first time I
watched
“Star
Wars.”
Sitting
among the rows of white, plastic-
shelled Disney movies and sing-
a-long tapes that no doubt drove
my parents slightly insane was the
black-bound VHS boxed set of the
original trilogy: “A New Hope,”
“The Empire Strikes Back” and
“Return of the Jedi.” They were
an alluring alternative compared
to the brightly illustrated cartoons
that I regularly watched. Summon-
ing the courage, I asked my mom if
I could watch one of them.
“Only if you watch them with
Dad,” Mom said, still fighting to
preserve my wide-eyed innocence.
So I waited impatiently until
my dad came home from work. I
asked him to watch it with me, and
thankfully he agreed.
Oddly
enough,
I
watched
“Return of the Jedi” first. Sure, plot
details were lost in my young mind,
but I was enthralled as a small band
of heroes triumphed over an intim-
idating Empire, two black-caped
villains and a giant slug. There
were laser guns, spaceships and the
iconic lightsabers — everything my
young heart could desire.
Over several viewings, I learned
the names of these heroes and vil-
lains. I’ve watched the growth of
Luke Skywalker from farm boy to
Jedi, the romance between Prin-
cess Leia and Han Solo and the
final redemption of Darth Vader
more times than I can remem-
ber. The creator, George Lucas,
became an idol along with his col-
laborators, including University
alum Lawrence Kasdan, the writ-
er of “The Empire Strikes Back”
and “Return of the Jedi.”
The series remains a timeless,
cultural landmark, even as it must
withstand aging and a disappoint-
ing prequel trilogy. Now with
Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm in
2012, a new wave of “Star Wars”
films approaches, beginning with
the upcoming release of the sev-
enth installment, “Star Wars: The
Force Awakens.”
An industry perspective
“The
big
thing
everybody
points to in ‘Star Wars’ is that it’s
modern myth,” said Oliver Thorn-
ton, a Screen Arts and Cultures
lecturer. “It’s a story, even when
we teach screenwriting here at
the University, that’s the univer-
sal point of reference that every-
body knows. If you want to talk
about the ‘Hero’s Journey,’ we can
always say at the end of the day,
30-some years later that most stu-
dents have that frame of reference
of Luke Skywalker and that first
basic journey he goes through.”
Sitting down for an interview
with the Daily, Thornton elaborat-
ed on the appeal of “Hero’s Jour-
ney,” outlined by Joseph Campbell.
“I think there’s just something
about that story, about that basic
hero of somebody who’s a nobody
who ends up being a somebody and
ends up heeding the call of adven-
ture,” Thornton explained. “It’s
universal and that’s why kids love
it and why we continue to go to it.”
On the sixth floor of North Quad
— a few feet from Thornton’s room
— is the office of fellow lecturer
Dan Shere, who echoed Thornton’s
statement in a separate interview.
“I think that George Lucas, in
the originals especially, tapped into
something very deep in the human
psyche,” Shere said. “He created
stories that are enduring precisely
because they sort of follow this
mythic structure. It follows the
same story template you see from
the Bible to Greek mythology and
he put a new twist on it and infused
that age-old tem-
plate with this
brilliant creativ-
ity of his.”
That
creativ-
ity, according to
Shere,
spawns
from the marry-
ing of the fantastic
future with the
ancient past into
something oddly
recognizable.
“They gave us a vision,” Shere
said. “Even though it’s a galaxy
that’s far, far away, we’re dealing
with futuristic technology, which
is this incredible fantasy world.
We as kids, and even adults, want
to be able to get in a spaceship and
zoom into a galaxy far away and
yet the spaceship itself is really
like an old, beat-up Chevy. The
Millennium Falcon is both futur-
istic and cool, but also completely
familiar because it’s always break-
ing down and Han Solo and Chew-
bacca always have their tools and
are always working on it. So it’s
at once forward looking and also
completely familiar as this arche-
type, and I think that’s overall
what the films did well.”
Shere’s career is closely inter-
twined with “Star Wars,” thanks
to a short film made early in his
career.
“The year, I believe, was 1999
and I was just freshly graduated
from the University of Michigan,”
Shere said. “I moved out to Los
Angeles and lived with my good
friend Joe Nussbaum, who had just
graduated from USC film school,
and he was an aspiring director
and looking to get his start in the
industry by making a short film,
and he had a little bit of money
saved away and was looking for
an idea for a short film. So he and
another friend came up with this
idea, ‘George Lucas in Love.’ At the
time in ’99 we were all anxiously
awaiting the first of the prequels
and then also ‘Shakespeare in Love’
had just won some awards, it was
popular at the time. It just all kind
of clicked and once he brought me
that title, we sat together and kind
of brainstormed a six, seven min-
ute short film that would describe
a young George Lucas in 1967 as a
film student at USC trying to write
his thesis screenplay and he’s got
terrible writer’s block.”
Over the course of the film, a
young Lucas draws inspiration
from around his college campus,
including a girl who “leads the stu-
dent rebellion,”
a
pot-smoking
roommate who
rants
about
a
mystical
force
and a guy who’s
always
trying
to fix his Chevy
with the help of
his
incredibly
hairy friend, all
of whom serve as
predecessors to
Lucas’s classic characters.
“We really crammed as many
little ‘Star Wars’ references into
seven minutes as we could and
I think we did a pretty good job
at it,” Shere said. “And definitely
‘Star Wars’ fans have appreciated it
throughout the years.”
Moving into his professional
career, Shere drew inspiration
from the series that captivated him
at a young age, especially when
working on the 2013 film “Epic.”
“I had this scene where the
good guys steal the uniforms of
the bad guys in order to infiltrate
their evil lair,” Shere said. “And
I was reminded really quickly by
my friend, ‘Oh you mean just like
how Han Solo and Luke dress up
STAR WARS
From Page 1B
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
2015 is coming to a close
and The Weeknd had his best
year yet, musically. He had two
number-ones,
a
sold-out
arena
tour
and has been
nominated
for
Record
of the Year
(“Can’t
Feel
My
Face”)
and Album of
The Year (Beauty Behind The
Madness) — but more than that,
the Canadian R&B star now has
a brand. The Weeknd’s brand
is sleek, sexy, a little danger-
ous and a whole lot of fun. His
newest music video “Into The
Night” is a continuation of that
brand.
The Weeknd plays opposite
current-girlfriend Bella Hadid
in a gangster love story complete
with strip clubs, assassinations,
slit throats and mass amounts
of sexual tension. The song
explores dark themes of sexual
abuse and sex work. Hadid per-
forms as a young woman under
the thumb of a ruthless gang, as
The Weeknd yearns to help her
out of her detrimental situation.
The music video climaxes as
the Weeknd feels a gun pointed
at the back of his head in the
hands of the gang’s leader. Just
as viewers come to grips with
the death of the video’s protag-
onist, “Into The Night” twists
the narrative as a bullet punc-
tures the back of the gangster’s
head. Hadid emerges from an
abandoned building and the
two ride off “Into The Night”
on a motorcycle.
The video’s plot isn’t pioneer-
ing, but with the MJ-inspired
sound, tangibile content and
trippy imagery, paired with the
failure to paint Hadid as a dam-
sel in distress, the video adds
one more success under the
Weeknd’s year.
- CHRISTIAN KENNEDY
REPUBLIC RECORDS
A
Into the
Night
The Weeknd
Rain or snow, the
one true love of my
life never fails to
bring what I require
By CAROLINE FILIPS
Daily Arts Writer
Of all the men I have loved
and lost, there is one to whom
I’m forever indebted. Between
his charm, charity and coy
shrug that always follows my
expressions
of
gratitude,
I
cannot fathom a more suitable
suitor.
Here’s looking at you, Mr.
Delivery Man — my one true
love.
It’s strange to feel you’ve
cracked the code that’s crippled
the curious and puzzled poets
for lifetimes, centuries, rainy
afternoons, etc. Since the first
savages of this Earth subsisted
on a Paleo diet before peak
trendiness,
some
force
has
driven us heathens together —
science says it’s for procreation,
I say it’s for the euphoria of
seeing
him
standing
there,
deadpanned gaze, logo-bearing
hat, cardboard box in hand.
Though
I’m
certain
that
ours is the love of a lifetime,
it wasn’t always that of fast-
food fairytale. Before college,
friends spoke highly of him, yet
he and I seldom crossed paths.
I only called when I pined for
pepperoni, when I ached to
have my arteries clogged. But
as college began last fall and the
temperatures plummeted the
following winter, I needed him
more than ever.
And now, here he is, knocking
at my door.
His eccentricity never ceases
to amaze me. Unlike the other
boys who ask their dads how to
shop for women, he’s known all
along. His insight is remarkable
— all too often, there he is,
static and slouched, holding the
universe together — with extra
cheese, no less.
And,
though
his
actions
speak louder than his words, he
knows what to say when I’m at
my worst.
“Sign here, please,” he says.
Cue the dopamine.
When I just can’t bear the
outside world or brave the
elements, he does the opposite.
Just last week, he endured the
snow and the wind and the
deathly cold — by bike, by bike
— all to bring me fried rice.
I know, right, he’s a moment
maker! How lucky am I to have
found The One so young? And
still in my pajamas!
He keeps our love alive even
through the most trying of
times. During finals week, when
I want nothing more than a quick
exchange of cash for carbs, he’s
there to balance my emotions
with his emotionlessness.
“Here’s your sandwich,” he
says, blank as ever, passing the
torch. He gives, I take. I smile,
he frowns. It’s perfect.
He’s the trustiest of steeds
and the only phone call I look
forward
to.
Unlike
routine
check-ins with mom, he doesn’t
ask the hard questions. With
him, it’s never about my GPA,
just my needs. He’s there to ease
the troubles and so graciously
take orders.
When
I
overanalyze
our
interactions, I realize the one-
sidedness of our relationship. I
put in zero effort, but for some
reason he keeps coming back
for more — with more food. I
literally just call his name —
whatever his name is that day —
and he’s there in 45 minutes or
less. God, he’s so agreeable.
So yeah, my only intimacies
are accidental — the last time a
guy touched me was when Mr.
Delivery Man handed over the
goods and grazed my hand. I
tipped big.
My midnight booty call isn’t
a booty call at all — it’s a speed
dial to Pizza House. And when
my hotline blings, bae doesn’t
arrive, a pizza does. I know what
you’re thinking, it’s too good to
be true. But it’s not all serotonin
and Szechuan chicken.
As with any great love, the
doubt seeps in. I can’t see us
working out long term. Between
my neediness and his near-
sickening
devotion,
natural
selection will take us out soon
enough
(and
take-out
will
prevail). But for now, when my
relatives ask about the boys in my
life, I reply honestly. Yes, Aunt
Barb, there is a man in my life.
And unlike your ex-husband, he
consistently delivers.
An emotional ode
to delivery men
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
VIRGINIA LOZANO/DAILY
Ann Arbor local Connor Kessler looks at the Star Wars books on display at Vault of Midnight.
“Star Wars”
hasn’t just
endured — it
has thrived.
How lucky am
I to have found
The One so
young?
in Stormtrooper uniforms on the
Death Star.’ Even something like
that which I knew wasn’t directly
thinking of ‘Star Wars,’ it’s always
sort of hovering there in the back
of my mind, influencing on a very
subliminal level a lot of my cre-
ative instincts.”
“I can’t say everybody, but most
people from my generation, I feel
like when you say, ‘Why did you
go into film or TV or anything
media related,’ points to ‘Star
Wars’ when they were little and
just wanting to do that,” Thornton
said, reflecting on the widespread
influence of the series, an experi-
enced shared from one generation
to another.
“It’s still a good story, but it was
also this shared cultural experi-
ence from when my generation
was kids, and now sharing that
with another generation is a way
of keeping that experience that
we had alive. It’s something
you pass down. ‘Star Wars’ still
evokes this remembering what it
was like to be a kid and to go to
the movies and have this fun and
innocence. I want my kids to have
the same thing.”
Entering the vault
“Star
Wars”
hasn’t
just
endured — it has thrived. With
the upcoming release date of “The
Force Awakens” comes numerous
pieces of additional merchandise
— comics, books, toys and any
number of future collectibles.
Few places in Ann Arbor are as
acquainted with these forms of
storytelling as Vault of Midnight.
Located on Main Street in down-
town Ann Arbor, the award-win-
ning store is a local centerpiece
for geek culture.
Entering the store on a snowy
Sunday morning, I randomly
browsed the rows of comic books,
graphic novels, action figures and
clothing. Though wide open in
space, the Vault is chock full of the
latest entertainment and issues
from a wide variety of publishers.
I walked to the register and
the assistant manager, Marcus
Schwimmer, gave me a more
guided walk through the store.
After showing me the all-ages
material, including cartoonist
Jeffrey Brown’s popular series,
“Jedi
Academy,”
Schwimmer
brought me over to Marvel’s lat-
est offering of “Star Wars” mate-
rial. Circling the multi-tiered
display, Schwimmer gave a brief
rundown of every series and book
in sight, the knowledge coming
effortlessly. A comic grabs his
attention, “Star Wars: Chew-
bacca.” He grabs the comic and
carefully opens the
plastic
bag that encases it. He mentions
the artist, Phil Noto.
“The guy was put on this
planet to draw Chewbacca,”
Schwimmer said as he showed
off the artwork. One image shows
Chewbacca, Han Solo’s Wookiee
companion, all by himself, lying
in a field of light pink flowers. The
character, usually seen in pitched
battles or letting out his distinc-
tive roar, is at peace in the field.
It’s hard to argue with Schwim-
mer about Noto’s beautiful art-
work.
My attention was then brought
to Curtis Sullivan, owner and
operator of Vault of Midnight.
Guiding me down into the base-
ment-level game room of the
Vault, Sullivan, another long-
time fan who claimed to receive
“Star Wars” toys every birthday
and Christmas for years after
seeing “The Empire Strikes Back”
for the first time in theaters, sat
down for an interview.
“Comics and ‘Star Wars’ have
a long, awesome history and most
recently Disney bought Lucas-
film,” Sullivan said. “Disney
also owns Marvel Comics, the
original publisher of ‘Star Wars’
comics way back when it started.
Marvel now has the ‘Star Wars’
license again for comics and it’s
a really great homecoming. They
have ran with it and made the
best ‘Star Wars’ comics in my
time of reading ‘Star Wars’ com-
ics, which is 30-plus years. It’s the
best time to be a reader of ‘Star
Wars’ comics.”
In explaining the “Star Wars”
universe to me, Sullivan clari-
fied the somewhat complicated
nature of the “Star Wars” canon,
which already had an expansive
set of stories and histories known
as the Expanded Universe.
“This
Expanded
Universe
is now referred to as Legends,
it’s not canon proper,” Sullivan
explained. “But, everything we
have now from Marvel, ‘Star
Wars’ and the new novels is now
canon proper. Until who knows
when they reboot it. Most of our
readers in our store are just look-
ing for a good ‘Star Wars’ story. I
know you got some die-hard fans
who will talk about every stitch
and every piece of clothing, but
a lot of people we talk to or sell
comics to are cool with a good
‘Star Wars’ story and aren’t wor-
ried that it fits every nook and
cranny that they think is estab-
lished canon.”
And now is the perfect time
to find those “Star Wars” stories,
according to Sullivan, who reit-
erated the consistent strength of
Marvel’s latest series of comics
that fill in the gaps between the
original trilogy films.
“They expand, they go in
between the movies and they are
also leading us into ‘Force Awak-
ens,’ ” Sullivan said. “So there’s a
great book (‘Shattered Empires’)
right now, that just wrapped up
that takes us to the end of ‘Return
of the Jedi’ right into ‘Force
Awakens.’ So it fills in all these
great gaps and they’ve hired the
top talents in the industry to do
this, they spared no expense cre-
atively. So the writers and the art
teams on these books are the best
in the business.”
From Phil Noto to other artists
like Salvador Larroca, who illus-
trates the “Darth Vader” series,
Marvel has enlisted some of the
most exciting comic book talents,
including writers like Mark Waid
and Charles Soule who wrote
series about Princess Leia and
Lando Calrissian, respectively.
Sullivan also mentioned Jason
Aaron, an author he claims is, “one
of the best writers of all of comics,”
and also helms the comic series
known simply as “Star Wars,” a
personal favorite of Sullivan’s.
“Every book they’ve put out
has been a world-class writer
and a world-class artist and just
the best in the biz, not cheap,
page-rate employees,” Sullivan
said. “They seem like considered
editorial decisions like, ‘Who is
the good writer to do this book?’
they’re not just grabbing a big
name for the sake of ‘Oh this,
is a popular writer.’ It feels like
they’ve selected the right people
for each project.”
Speculating on the popular-
ity of these series, Sullivan could
only see growth in the future.
“ ‘Star Wars’ fever is kooky
right now, it’s very high,” Sulli-
van said. “But I don’t think we’ve
begun to see the beginning of
‘Star Wars’ fever. Let’s talk about
this again the week after the
movie releases. I think it will be
inescapable.”
In the meantime, Sullivan will
keep selling comics and waiting
for the release of the next film in
a series that has touched so many.
“The last trailer for ‘Force
Awakens,’ like many people, I
was damn near crying watching
the trailer,” Sullivan said. “I just
thought that it invoked all the
feelings that are bigger than ‘Star
Wars.’ It’s bigger than lightsabers
and spaceships. It’s a feeling you
get when you hear the music and
the sound effects and the charac-
ters. I just can’t wait.”