Creatively Frustrating Fandom

"One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three"; "Why am I watching this?"; "Was that a beer bottle?" These were just some of my thoughts while watch Star Wars: A New Hope Uncut. The crowd sourced film is equal measures entertaining, creative, and entirely frustrating to view.

The positives of this work truly stem from the creativity and loyalty of Star Wars fans. Some takes were smart, homemade versions of the original scenes (i.e. "Obi One" and "Darth Vader" playing chess on the beach for their epic battle), others displayed true talent on the part of the creator (any of the CGI, computer generated scenes). The Uncut version depicts the loyalty of fans and their attention to details.

The difficulty of the film comes from the hyperactive switching between cuts to generate the entire film. Watching the original Star Wars allowed me time to think and process what was happening: the Uncut version forced me to focus on everything that was taking place in order to orient myself to what exactly was happening. Around the forty-five minute mark I worried I wouldn't be able to finish. At the hour-and-half timestamp I was sure my brain was fried. By the time the film concluded I simply went to bed out of exhaustion.

My most conclusive thought to come out of this film is Luke's reactive to Obi One's death. Last week we noted that he moves on rather quickly from his aunt and uncles deaths, a note we chalked up to a plot device to skip forward to more interesting story-lines. Obi One's death has a more profound influence in comparison, though. For whatever reason the Uncut version drew my attention to this detail as Luke, Leia, R2D2 and C3PO sat around the booth in the Millennial Falcon.

 

Imaged sourced from theverge.com. Scene originally from Star Wars: A New Hope Uncut. https://www.theverge.com/2012/1/21/2721993/star-wars-uncut-directors-cut