a food vendor notices a shiny trooper just kind of staring hungrily at their cart at one point and just. ‘want something?’ the kid startles, looks guilty. ‘oh – sorry, sir. i don’t have any – i mean, i can’t pay for – no thank you.’
clones or not, it’s a damn shame that these boys are dying for the republic and not getting any money or anything back out of it, so the vendor waves him over. ‘it’s on me. pick whatever you want.’ and, aw, hell, the kid’s eyes turned wide when he said that, staring at the different choices, so the vendor, making a decision, just gives him one of everything.
‘for your service, ‘n all.’ they say, with a half-smile and a salute, and they get. the experience of someone who’s never tried anything but ration packs before in their life getting to try something new and just. the shiny stares at the food after cautiously taking a few bites.
‘ this is literally the best thing i’ve tasted in my entire life what the kriff – ‘
from then on it becomes a point of competition between the vendors and restaurants of coruscant; they give the troopers free meals or snacks and see which becomes the most popular
it’s also a little bit of a shiny hazing ritual to take them to get ice cream because without fail, they’ll either: a) just take a big fucking bite and suddenly make that pained ‘my TEETH’ expression or b) hoover it down like anything else and get the worst fucking ice cream headache
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: “You’re breaking my heart.”
aka: I will FIGHT U that Hayden wasn’t the perfect choice for Anakin, because that is some A+ Unhinged Face, that’s a guy you’re supposed to be uncomfortable watching, you’re supposed to be on edge watching him because he is Not Right.
I applaud Lucas’s insistence that Anakin be the most attractive when he is at his moral worst.
I really am wholly onboard with this, all the more so because it’s exactly how Anakin Skywalker was meant to be portrayed–he’s the most beautiful of all the angels before he fell, that he had to be this beautiful before he was burned–and, as George says, he has to be burned up for what he did to the Republic, to the Jedi, to the children–to illustrate the tragedy of his fall even more.
You see someone so attractive and bright and full of all this possibility and promise, someone who is gorgeous to look at, but he’s burning himself to ash and the physical handsomeness of Hayden in these scenes is there to be a further highlight to that fall into darkness and burned ashes.
Allow me to add: Crazy Wild-Eyed Psychopath Who Committed This Giant Murder Spree For You Because He Cares is one of my favorite Anakin Moments. I think Hayden did a great job here. I always half-expect him to break into insane laughter; he’s so unhinged in this part.
YES, I LOVE HIS ACTING IN THIS MOMENT, TOO. When I first watched it, I had this really uncomfortable feeling about it, like, I DO NOT ENJOY WATCHING THIS, and it was hard not to slide into the idea that it was Bad Acting because of it.
But I think, instead, it’s uncomfortable and weird and awful because it’s supposed to feel uncomfortable and weird and awful. You’re supposed to feel like you just watched someone that you cared about do horrible things and you’re not sure what he’s going to do next. You’re supposed to feel deeply uncomfortable by someone who has become so deeply unhinged that he’s justifying the murder of children as “bringing peace to the Republic” and that they don’t have to run away because IT’S JUST FINE EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FINE.
You feel how brittle and fragile Anakin is in these moments, how desperately he clings to his ever-shifting justifications–”We don’t have to run away any more. I have brought peace to the Republic.“ he says one minute. “I am more powerful than the chancellor. I- I can overthrow him.” He is trying so hard to stumble his way through this, he trips over the words and stutters and, oh, it’s so awful and awkward because it’s supposed to be awful and awkward.
And it’s supposed to feel like he’s just Trying Way Too Hard in this scene and I think it’s easy to forget that that’s exactly what’s going on here, but it’s not Hayden trying too hard, it’s Anakin that’s trying way too hard.
It’s Anakin who desperately wants Padme to buy what he’s selling, it’s Anakin who desperately wants to convey this thing he feels so strongly about, it’s Anakin who is blatantly not actually believing it, but trying so, so hard to justify it and sell it to those around him.
LOOK AT HIM. This isn’t a guy who is comfortable in his own skin, this isn’t a guy who believes what he’s selling, this is a guy who is desperate for validation from Padme that he did it for her and that he was right.
But then Padme backs away from him, doesn’t know him, he chokes her for disagreeing with him, for not fitting into his narrative, and Obi-Wan shows up and is like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, ANAKIN? Obi-Wan’s “Your new Empire?” reaction, like he cannot fucking BELIEVE what he’s hearing, is perfect because that’s what we’re feeling as well, like, whoa, WHAT THE SHIT, ANAKIN, THIS IS NOT A GOOD ROAD, this is a deeply WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, ANAKIN? road!
And literally like a minute later, “I have brought peace… freedom, justice and security to my new empire.“ What happened to the Republic that he was so passionate about protecting and killed the Jedi because they betrayed it? It was just a desperate grab for a reason that the things he did weren’t horrible mistakes.
We’re so used to expecting someone who is in control of their anger and how that’s expressed, that it’s a controlled unleashing of it finally when they pick up a stadium and threaten to drop it on everyone. There’s a smoothness in the way most characters “finally breaks into being a villain and unleashes hell” acting that we expect a certain thing.
But Hayden doesn’t deliver it as someone who is in control of this thing he’s unleashing. He delivers it as someone who is genuinely unhinged and dangerous, like a gunman on a ledge with nothing left to live for and a whole cartridge full of bullets. That thought hits a deeply visceral uncomfortable place, a cringe factor that I think it’s easy to mistake for bad acting, when instead it’s about showing that this isn’t some awesome FUCK YEAH moment, but a character who is breaking.
And all the while he is SO PRETTY while he’s doing it, because this is an angel falling, because it reflects the beauty of who he was before, all that kindness that he had, all that desire to help people, his beautiful face was an extension of that, it was a representation of someone who was supposed to be a good person, but then chose to go down this horrible, horrible path.
So, like, I appreciate this just on a purely aesthetic level because GOOD LORD HE IS SO PRETTY but I also appreciate it for what it gives to the story and what it says about Anakin’s journey, that Hayden was the perfect choice for Anakin and I WILL DEFEND HIM ALWAYS.
so i was talking with @evaceratops and may we present….. Jedi Shaming, or, the signs each clone commander (or captain) makes their jedi general (or commander) hold up:
high general kenobi: “i haven’t slept in 72 hours”
general skywalker: “i’ve had 20 near death experiences in the past week”
commander tano: “i contributed to at least half of anakin’s near-death experiences”
high general fisto: “i take any opportunity to strip off my tunics”
high general ti: “i was this close to introducing nala se to the business end of my lightsaber”
general secura: “i flirt with my commander during important meetings”
general vos: “i am a fucking moron”
high general piell: “i make gods-awful puns about my partial blindness and stature”
high general kenobi, again: “i spent half an hour flirting with the enemy general”
high general plo: “i adopt at least three small children and/or feline creatures per planet”
high general plo, again: “i tried to adopt a gundark”
high general mundi: “i haven’t spoken with my wife in seven weeks and am driving the entire batallion insane because cerea is a warzone and i’m snapping at everyone but not pICKING UP THE DAMN COMMUNICATOR”
high general windu: “i pretend not to pick up on the chancellor’s orders until my former padawan repeats them”
high general yoda: “explain my battle strategies in metaphors, i do”
general unduli: “i believed my padawan when she told me she was fine”
wait: anakin only had one gene donor. the only genes he’s carrying, apparently, are his mother’s, and the force bullshitted the rest. so, if you were to try and clone him – wouldn’t you just get clones of shmi?
imagine palpatine trying to clone vader and ending up teenage shmi skywalker, here to fuck you up
That might explain Rey…
That… That’s.. A shockingly good idea. It helps that it fits the casting perfectly.
If this were the case, it would mean that Rey could legitimately say to Luke “I am your father.”
Master, I’ve disappointed you. I haven’t been very appreciative of your training. I’ve been arrogant, and I apologize. I’ve just been so frustrated with the council.
FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW: THERE IS ANOTHER by Gary D. Schmidt
And it was right at that moment–at that exact moment–that Yoda felt Obi-Wan grow suddenly stronger, and stronger, and stronger, and then move in a quick burst into the netherworld of the Force. And Yoda felt Anakin fall even more deeply into painful loneliness. A loneliness so terrible that Yoda almost felt pity for him.
konekorambles 