Chris Fritz's Blog - Posts Tagged "baby-yoda"
How Star Wars Grew Up
I’ve written a lot about Star Wars. I admire how it’s been around for so long and how many lives it’s touched throughout the generations. A series that has been going on for so many years has had to change in so many ways. Now there’s one way it has changed that evolves one of the ideas that is at the stories very core and that transformation comes in the form of the Mandalorian. Now the basic story of the Mandalorian follows a bounty hunter named Din Djarin who has taken it upon himself to to care for a small child that the fans have affectionately named baby yoda. I don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that this Mandalorian bounty hunter has adopted this little baby and acts as a father to the child. This is contextually significant to the over all story of Star Wars. Now let’s go back to the original trilogy. The plot of the first three movies can boiled down to the relationship between our main character Luke sky walker and his father Darth Vader. The audience can live through and relate to the story through Luke as he grapples with his father. He specifically has to grapple with the sins of his father how Darth Vader committed evils acts the son doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of the father and go down a righteous path.
The father also tries to corrupt the son as if it were destiny that they were meant to walk the same path. The son ends up redeeming the father and proves that even the most corrupted people can choose to come to the good side. A story as old as time and a good lesson learned by all. Now lets fast forward fourth years in our time but five years in their time and we are given the story of the Mandalorian bounty hunter and his child. The audience is made to relate to Din Djarin as he goes on his adventures and raises his baby. We love to watch the bounty hunter make his way in the world trying to make good choices and mold the child into a good adult. Now on an essential level the relationship between Luke and Darth Vader is the same relationship between Mando and baby yoda. A relationship between father and son but here’s where the evolution is. The viewpoint character has changed from son to father. Luke portrays the son as a protagonist and Mando portrays the father in his own story. In the old days the Star Wars audience was mostly made up of children who could relate to Luke. Identify with this young man and his troubles with his father. They relate to the son.
But time passed and those fans grew up. The fans became more mature and maybe even some of them became parents themselves. So they are in a prime situation to relate to a character that goes through parental drama. So star wars was in a prime position to oblige. Now a perfect character to through into the show is Boba Fett. From what little we’ve seen Boba’s relationship to his father is very vital to him. He follows his father’s path becoming a mandalorian bounty hunter. He wears his fathers armor, flies his fathers ship and does his fathers job. There are even points when he tries to avenge his father’s death. The relationship between Boba and his father is very static and stagnant. Boba tries to be exactly like his father not doing better or taking a different path. Boba and Jango take the same path and their path even ends the same way. They both die fighting. This relationship acts as a foil to the main father son relationships in Star Wars. Boba is not like Luke because he doesn’t feel conflict to change his path. Jango isn’t like Din Djarin because he doesn’t want to radically change his ways for the betterment of his son. One could even say that relationship is the worst case scenario of what a father son relationship can be. Patterns of behavior are repeated throughout the generations. The cycle of violence that encapsulated them both keeps turning and swallowing them up. The end result is degradation and stagnation. Luke and Din Djarin break the cycle of violence that has tried to swallow them up and do damage to their family members. Luke succeeded in this and maybe as the show goes on the Mandalorian will succeed and save baby yoda. This story tells as that a relationship between a father and a son is important. This is the way.
Just as an addition I thought I'd give you guys an update. I've just started my third book in the magic metal war saga. I'm really excited to write this third instalment but some things might get in the way. The Covid 19 pandemic is coming to an end as more people get vaccinated. Things are opening up and getting better. Also my day job has me going back into the office full time so that is definitely going to put a damper on my writing. I'm also getting more opportunities to do stand up so that's also going to take a big chunk of my time. With all this starting up I do have some concerns about being able to finish writing my third book. I'll try to keep you guys updated on how it's going but as many of us have learned the hard way recently the future is impossible to predict.
The father also tries to corrupt the son as if it were destiny that they were meant to walk the same path. The son ends up redeeming the father and proves that even the most corrupted people can choose to come to the good side. A story as old as time and a good lesson learned by all. Now lets fast forward fourth years in our time but five years in their time and we are given the story of the Mandalorian bounty hunter and his child. The audience is made to relate to Din Djarin as he goes on his adventures and raises his baby. We love to watch the bounty hunter make his way in the world trying to make good choices and mold the child into a good adult. Now on an essential level the relationship between Luke and Darth Vader is the same relationship between Mando and baby yoda. A relationship between father and son but here’s where the evolution is. The viewpoint character has changed from son to father. Luke portrays the son as a protagonist and Mando portrays the father in his own story. In the old days the Star Wars audience was mostly made up of children who could relate to Luke. Identify with this young man and his troubles with his father. They relate to the son.
But time passed and those fans grew up. The fans became more mature and maybe even some of them became parents themselves. So they are in a prime situation to relate to a character that goes through parental drama. So star wars was in a prime position to oblige. Now a perfect character to through into the show is Boba Fett. From what little we’ve seen Boba’s relationship to his father is very vital to him. He follows his father’s path becoming a mandalorian bounty hunter. He wears his fathers armor, flies his fathers ship and does his fathers job. There are even points when he tries to avenge his father’s death. The relationship between Boba and his father is very static and stagnant. Boba tries to be exactly like his father not doing better or taking a different path. Boba and Jango take the same path and their path even ends the same way. They both die fighting. This relationship acts as a foil to the main father son relationships in Star Wars. Boba is not like Luke because he doesn’t feel conflict to change his path. Jango isn’t like Din Djarin because he doesn’t want to radically change his ways for the betterment of his son. One could even say that relationship is the worst case scenario of what a father son relationship can be. Patterns of behavior are repeated throughout the generations. The cycle of violence that encapsulated them both keeps turning and swallowing them up. The end result is degradation and stagnation. Luke and Din Djarin break the cycle of violence that has tried to swallow them up and do damage to their family members. Luke succeeded in this and maybe as the show goes on the Mandalorian will succeed and save baby yoda. This story tells as that a relationship between a father and a son is important. This is the way.
Just as an addition I thought I'd give you guys an update. I've just started my third book in the magic metal war saga. I'm really excited to write this third instalment but some things might get in the way. The Covid 19 pandemic is coming to an end as more people get vaccinated. Things are opening up and getting better. Also my day job has me going back into the office full time so that is definitely going to put a damper on my writing. I'm also getting more opportunities to do stand up so that's also going to take a big chunk of my time. With all this starting up I do have some concerns about being able to finish writing my third book. I'll try to keep you guys updated on how it's going but as many of us have learned the hard way recently the future is impossible to predict.
