THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Irvin Kershner, dir. USA (Norway, UK): Lucasfilm (prod.) / 20th Century-Fox (release), 1980. Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, script; story by George Lucas. George Lucas, exec. prod.

Sequel to STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, q.v. this Category. Many images of containment within machinery are contrasted with the open, snow-covered plains of the base-planet for the Rebel Alliance in the opening sequence, and the swamp where Yoda trains Luke Skywalker. Usually, the containment within machinery is immediately or potentially dangerous for the good characters in the film; the shots of Darth Vader's exits from his meditation chamber suggest the demonic. (See under Fiction D. F. Glut The Empire Strikes Back.). Note Skywalker's prosthetic hand at end of film, arguably a variation on the theme of the Hand of Rotwang (METROPOLIS, DR. STRANGELOVE), with the prosthetic neutral or strongly positive. Discussed at great length under STAR WARS initial trilogies on the Web.[1][2]

For a quick version (48 minutes) using most of the relevant motifs (48 minutes), see the parody, Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (2009).[3]

RDE, initial; finishing 29Ap23