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Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things

2016-01-12 · letter vlog · John · 3:35 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, community lore

John mock-laments that The Force Awakens, called a rehash of Star Wars, severs no hands, defends its nostalgia, and argues that creators like George Lucas must let their work go once it is out in the world, because readers remake what they love.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Fourth viewing of The Force Awakens; rehash complaints and Lucas's "retro movie" remark; where are the severed hands?

  • ★ John says he saw the Star Wars movie (The Force Awakens) again this weekend, his fourth viewing. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John says many complain that The Force Awakens is just a rehash of the original Star Wars, but he thinks that view oversimplifies the movie. (hedged) — 00:00:13
  • ★★ John reports that George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, said of The Force Awakens that they wanted to do a retro movie and he didn't like that. — 00:00:18

00:00:29 — Star Wars severed-hand lore: Hank's count of 13, Anakin, Cho Mai, Hammurabi's eye for an eye, Obi-Wan's nine limbs, Lucas's 'play with swords'; none in The Force Awakens

  • ★★ Citing Hank's video from over five years earlier, John says the first six Star Wars films contain at least thirteen severed hands, Anakin Skywalker losing one three separate times. (playful) — 00:00:32
  • ★ John says the Star Wars universe has a phrase, Cho Mai, for using a lightsaber to amputate an opponent's hand. — 00:00:44 · Cho mai
  • ★★ John says that 3,750 years ago the Babylonian king Hammurabi developed a legal code that famously takes an eye-for-an-eye approach to legal retaliation. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ John notes that Anakin Skywalker also cuts off three hands over the films, calling Star Wars justice 'a hand for a hand': cutting off a hand risks losing your own. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • ★ By John's count Obi-Wan Kenobi removes nine limbs from people while keeping all four of his own. (playful) — 00:01:12
  • ★★ John says that when George Lucas is asked about all the severed hands, he always answers that that's what happens when you play with swords. — 00:01:22
  • ★★ With mock outrage, John notes that despite plenty of swordplay, no hand is severed in The Force Awakens. (playful) — 00:01:27

00:01:37 — Kevin Feige: Marvel's Phase Two films all feature an arm amputation as homage to Star Wars

  • ★★ John says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said all Phase Two Marvel films feature an arm amputation because of Star Wars: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man 3 and, kind of, Ant-Man. — 00:01:43
  • ★★ John notes that nobody criticizes the Marvel films for their nostalgia, even though they pay homage to Star Wars. — 00:02:02

00:02:02 — John liked The Force Awakens; nostalgia is not all bad; the original Star Wars was nostalgic too

  • ★★★ John says he really liked The Force Awakens; it is at times nostalgic, but he doesn't think nostalgia is all bad. (hedged) — 00:02:04
  • ★★ John argues the original Star Wars was nostalgic too, harking back to American Westerns and to a non-existent bygone era when good was good and evil was evil. — 00:02:10

00:02:26 — Blowback from success; creators must let their work go: the book someone reads is never the book you wrote (Gatsby, Grease 2); Wookiee punchline; sign-off

  • ★★ John thinks some of the blowback against the film comes from its commercial success: most people are never comfortable loving something unironically, especially once it is popular. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John thinks George Lucas's feelings about the film run deeper: it is really hard for creators, even successful ones, to see their work loved for reasons they didn't intend. (hedged) — 00:02:34

  • ★★★ John finds that a pleasure and terror of writing for an audience is that readers bring their own experiences, expectations and desires to a story and so change it. — 00:02:49

    “the book someone reads is never quite the book you wrote”

  • ★★ As an extreme example, John says he read The Great Gatsby in high school and thought it was crap, which wasn't the book's fault. — 00:03:03

  • ★★ As little kids, John says, he and Hank watched Grease 2 over and over on VHS and, by loving that mediocre movie, somehow made it great. (playful) — 00:03:09 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ Without minimizing creators' responsibility to their creations, John says that once you've done your best and something is out in the world, you have to let it go. — 00:03:18

Humor (significant)

  • Having asked where the severed hands are, John hides his own hand off screen. — 00:00:29

    “I severed my own hand by accident over here, but I still got it! Don't worry.”

  • Hand-cutters in Star Wars lose their own hands, except Obi-Wan, who removes nine limbs from others. — 00:01:12

    “while somehow managing to remain a tetrapod.”

  • After defending the film's nostalgia, John returns to his only real complaint. — 00:02:21

    “Really, if it hadn't been for the inexcusable failure to chop off any hands, The Force Awakens would have been a great movie.”

  • Arguing creators must let their work go, John compares making stuff to a Wookiee, the species that rips arms off. — 00:03:26

    “If you try to hold onto the stuff you make with too tight a grip, it'll rip your arms right off.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: nostalgia · reader-response criticism · Star Wars · Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Also: People: George Lucas · Hammurabi · Kevin Feige

Works: Ant-Man · Captain America: The Winter Soldier · Code of Hammurabi · Grease 2 · Guardians of the Galaxy · Iron Man 3 · Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two · Star Wars (film) · The Great Gatsby

Organizations: Marvel Studios

Terms: Cho mai

Concepts: eye for an eye · tetrapod · Western (genre)

Characters: Darth Vader · Obi-Wan Kenobi · Wookiee

Also centred on nostalgia: Like a Snake Swallowing an Egg: Thoughts from Florida · Hanging with High School Hank · You Can't Go Home Again, but I Tried

Also centred on reader-response criticism: Looking for Alaska Five Years After the Printz Award · On the Death of the Author

Also centred on Star Wars: 13 SEVERED HANDS! (1) · 13 SEVERED HANDS! (2) · Disney Buys Star Wars and DFTVA! · The Myth Reawakens

Also centred on Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Myth Reawakens

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