Jaws (1975)
When Mr. Mich asked me to pen some blogs for Season Two of the Mandalorian I was flattered, humbled and terrified. I grew up with Star Wars. Episode Four was the first movie I ever saw in theatres. This is not uncommon for my generation. My fear in writing for a larger Star Wars fanbase is based in the fact that I never went ALL IN on Star Wars. I never read the novels (are they canon now?). I never watched an animated series (they are canon now, yes?). And I never saw the Holiday Special (now I KNOW that is not canon, but hey, didn't Mando's gun originate in the special??). My "Star Wars" are the films. Full stop. Yes, even the prequels. My knowledge of the SW universe mostly originates in what I see on the big screen. That's not to say I think ill of the rest of the canon oceans, I just never dove in.
Star Wars has always seemed like a world of extremes to me from a fan perspective. You either consume all and cherish every morsel, or you ignore it and scream at the internet when you find something you don't enjoy. When I talk to my friends who are Star Wars Masters, I feel like the student who took a semester of French and then suddenly relocated to Marseille. I understand a quarter of what they are saying. Have I set your expectations for my blogs at a sufficient low level? If so, please enjoy:
Chapter 9 The Marshal
The first episode in the new season is a case study in why I love that the franchise (hopefully) is solely in the hands of Jon Favreau. He is not afraid of creating a beautiful Frankenstein Monster of a series paying homage to not only what has come before on screen, but also winking at films and series that influenced him growing up outside of the SW universe. Is what follows an overly simplistic interpretation on my part of the first episode? Youbetcha. But I saw the wink.
Jaws is my favorite film. Always has been. I could go on and on and on and on... The Marshal, in my eyes, pays homage to the story beats and allegory of Spielberg's masterpiece. Even beginning with a pre-opening sequence of someone getting taken by an unseen monster(s) in the dark.
 |
| Photo by Chris Mich |
For the sake of this blog, the village of Mos Pelgo on Tatooine is Amity Island. A once bustling small town besieged by a terrifying monstrous creature. I love the gritty look and feel of this series. Like the original trilogy everything in Mando looks grimy and lived in. And much like Jaws, in this episode you can almost feel the grains of sand between your toes. And as Mando rides into town, buried in the sound mix, you can hear a repetitive clanging of a bell in the soundtrack. To me and my ears, a bell eerily similar to the bell on the buoy that Chrissy clings to for her dear life. Nice touch, Mr. Favreau.
Marshal Cod Vance is Chief Brody. A lone lawman way out of ideas on how to protect his community.
Mando could be viewed as Quint on the surface. Down to being swallowed whole by the creature in the end. Little shaken, little tenderizing and down you go. He is employed (in a way) by the Marshal to help kill the creature. I view the Sandpeople as Quint, the spiritual heart of the story (more on that below).
When the Marshal and the Sandpeople realize they must work together to kill the beast, they share a foul smelling drink as an unofficial sign of partnership “here's to swimmin with bow legged women”...
There's even a kind of funny “you’re gonna need a bigger boat” moment when the monster makes it's full on-screen debut and takes the fleeing Sandperson instead of the big piece of bait bantha. “They might be open to some fresh ideas...”
The look of the creature rising from the sand even invoked my childhood memories of seeing Bruce for the first time coming out of the depths. All teeth.
The big showdown with the creature starts with the heroes firing arrows at the monster in an attempt to slow it down (yellow barrels, anyone?). Mando destroying the beast by igniting an explosive from inside?? Well...
Speilberg has said that Jaws is simply "a film about my fear of swimming". But many, like me, read (probably foolheartedly) a lot more into it. I found The Marshal to have the same "three aspects of humanity" attempting to solve a problem that affects all as Jaws had. Science (represented by Mando/Hooper), Spiritualism (Sandpeople/Quint) and the Common Man (The Marshal/Brody). Only by working together can the common problem be solved. It is impossible for one alone to solve it without the others. Working together... imagine that.
I also love how this episode hints at what's to come this season, from Fett to Jedi. I remember watching this episode with my daughter and immediately the speculation began as to who the Jedi will turn out to be. In no way did I dare to dream they would have the cojones to do what they eventually did. And never did I think it would have the profound impact on me that it had. But that's another story for another blog entry.
Comments
Post a Comment