“The Rise of Skywalker” Trailer Reaction

Written by Tom

Just like last time, let me preface this by admitting that I’m not a fan of Star Wars. Honestly, we should stop allowing big Star Wars stuff to happen on weeks when I’m writing the blog – I’m the guy who’s on record as saying that The Last Jedi is the only interesting Star Wars film; me and the fan base don’t get on. Still, a big thing just happened and my Doctor Who posts refuse to be in a publishable state so let’s look at the new Star Wars trailer and see if I can produce something that’s not going to piss everyone off.

Rey is standing a desert, preparing herself. A gruff man says “We’ve passed on all we know”. The camera pans down to her lightsaber. She picks it up and gets ready. “A thousand generations live in you now…” We see a spaceship coming for her, on the attack. Back to Rey. “But this is your find”. A caption appears: “Every generation has a legend”. Rey does a cool back flip. The implication: every generation has a legend, and this is ours.

If NuStarWars (as I like to call it) has been about anything, it’s been about how the past exists to be understood and moved on from. The Force Awakens introduced us to a new set of characters who lived in the detritus of the Original Trilogy. By interacting with characters from the Original Trilogy over the course of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, these characters learned how to be heroes in the classic mode. But NuStarWars has always been quick to stress how much it’s world has changed since the Original Films. This is particularly true of The Last Jedi which tore apart the series’ traditional narrative structures left, right and center as part of it’s ultimate moral message: the reason why you should understand the old so that you can reject it and do better things in it’s stead. So over the course of trilogy, the old guard kept dying off, leaving the new generation to take over. And they needed to be different. They needed to belong to the universe as it was, not holding onto the universe as it had been.

From a galaxy far, far away: A Thought Piece on Everyday-Cosplay

Written by Daniel – The clothing brand ‘Her Universe’ have announced a new line of Star Wars themed clothing called ‘Sisters of the Force’ to be unveiled at Star Wars Celebration 2019. Founded by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels) nearly a decade ago, one of the companies first line of clothing was a Star Wars series of apparel. This featured many conventional t-shirts and dresses with Star Wars iconography, but it also contained a few more unique pieces, which at first glance appeared to be replications of costumes from the films and TV animated series. But, on closer inspection had subtle differences designed for everyday wear, such clothing has become known as ‘Everyday-Cosplay’ or ‘Casual Cosplay’.

Her Universe – Padmé Lakeside Dress

Her Universe – Sabine Wren

Her Universe – Rose Tico

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a PhD student specialising in cosplay, in particular looking how we can use costumes to explore our own identities and communicate with those around us. But, what is everyday-cosplay, and how does it differ from cosplay? Where cosplay is the costumed performance of a character (from popular media), everyday-cosplay is typical the act of wearing clothes which evoke a popular character. It’s not uncommon to find lists of clothing on ‘Pinterest’ featuring collections of clothes (often from numerous different brands) which compose an outfit evocative of a character. For example, ‘Disneybound’ have produced numerous ‘Pintrest’ collages of clothing one could wear, so that the individual may evoke some of their favourite characters through their everyday clothing. 

Everyday-cosplay is a type of dress which goes beyond wearing a logo on a t-shirt. It implies a sense of creative expression among fan communities, but also a means of expressing ones-self. Cosplay is momentary, a performance which is ‘put on’ for an afternoon, or a photo-shoot, before the participant returns to their usual self. Every-day cosplay however implies a deep connection between the individual and the fictional character. The reasons for which will be many, including but not limited to the desire to try and be more like someone you admire, to express who you really are, or perhaps simply because you feel an affinity with the character, as if they are like you. Everyday-cosplay might be best seen as a form of adaptation, a means of re-imagining a character (or characters), to re-tell popular characters stories within a new medium, this new medium being the practicalities of real life. These adaptations, much in the same spirit to cosplay allow fans to get creative, to mix an match clothes, or even to design and produce their own clothing which evokes their favourite characters. We can just look on ‘Etsy’ to see a whole host of indie clothes manufacturers who have created their own everyday-cosplays for fellow fans to purchase. Such as: a Chewbacca dress by CrystalCottageCrafts, a Padmé Amidala running top by SundayMorningActive, or a Han Solo inspired skirt by RushHourCosplays.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (Review)

Written by Tom
A few thoughts on The Last Jedi, read in the relation to texts like Batman vs. Superman and Thor: Ragnarok.

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I probably shouldn’t be writing about the Star Wars films. My dirty secret is that I’m not actually that interested in them. It’s nothing to do with the films themselves – for the most part, they’re extremely well made pieces of entertainment with more iconic moments and images than it should be feasibly possible for one franchise to contain. This absolute iconicness is most of the problem for me though: the simple fact is that Star Wars is so omnipresent in society and culture that I’ve never felt the need to actually watch it. I’ve only seen each film once or twice but feel like I know them all inside and out because I’ve also seen the countless parodies of them, and the films which are trying to be them, and I’ve read the essays about them, and the blog posts, and the memes, and I’ve talked about them with friends, and I’ve seen them discussed in chat shows, and I’ve seen the toys discussed in documentaries, etc, etc, etc. I remember when The Force Awakens was released and how the internet dedicated itself to that film for a month. I didn’t actually watch the film until a year after it was released, mostly because at the end of that month, I already knew all the main moments, and knew all the characters, and knew all the plot twists, and knew all the spoilers. I knew the film inside and out. It became such a fundamental part of pop culture, actually watching it was surplus to requirements.

But even with this omnipresence, there was something exciting about The Last Jedi. I watched the trailer for it and it was beautiful. Bold colours of red, white and black; frankly mythical images like the Ice Foxes (whatever they’re called) juxtaposed with dirty metal monstrosities; extremely stylised shots that made the designs pop in ways the series never has before – they were doing something with this. It was interesting. For the first time, I really wanted to watch a Star Wars film.

So having just seen it, what could I tell you about it? Well, I can tell you that it’s beautiful; that its design work is some of the best I’ve ever seen; that the casino scenes are perfect; that Rey’s mirror scene is genius; that the ecosystem on Luke’s island is expertly sketched; that the third act uses comedy perfectly in order to the keep it refreshing, producing the best Third Act of a blockbuster I’ve seen in years; and that the Porgs are adorable. In short, I can tell you that it’s a pretty great film. What I can’t do is tell you particularly about the lore or how the movie fits in with the Star Wars universe in general. Weirdly though, what I did notice was that there was an awful lot of Batman vs. Superman in this film and that the two films have very similar functions to each other. As such, if I was to write about The Last Jedi for, say, a media blog or something, what I could tell you about is how it works as the midpoint in a modern movie trilogy and what some of the pitfalls of that are. So let’s do that.