Strange Thoughts from an Overthinkier

I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm a bit of a movie geek. I love movies. Growing up, movies were a huge part of my life. My entire family loved watching movies together and spending that time not only watching and enjoying the movies, but also analyzing them. Unfortunately, this means that many movies are not very surprising because I have been taught what to expect and how to figure out what is going on in the movies. However, I still find ways to enjoy them, and still love watching them. Especially some of my old favorites...

Like Star Wars...

When the entire saga came out on blu-ray I must admit, I was a bit bummed out I didn't have the money to buy it. When my husband and I got money for our anniversary, we talked about maybe buying the movies with the money, but other things came up and it still didn't happen. For someone who made their mother not only preorder the dvds when they were released, but also made her mother drive from work to home, halfway to work again because the store we preordered the DVDs at was by our old apartment, and we had moved just before the movies were released, this was a pretty big deal to NOT get the movies right away. So I tried to be patient. I tried to not salivate over the blu-rays when we were in the store, and long to watch the hours of bonus features...

Well, I am very happy and pleased to announce that my father and stepmother graciously bought and shipped me the complete saga for my birthday!!!

Needless to say, I had a long day spent in pajamas yesterday. While getting through the first three movies (the first time in my entire life I started the marathon with episode 1) I was struck by many things throughout the newer episodes...

What really touched me this last viewing was two characters that you don't really get to know very well. We all get to know Han, Leia, Luke, Obi-Wan, Anakin etc. etc. But until just yesterday, I never gave a second though to the aunt and uncle that raised Luke from infancy: Owen and Beru Lars. They aren't major characters. Until I was in high school, they were characters that only existed in my mind for about 30 minutes tops? They die so early on in episode 4 that it becomes possible to forget about them entirely and not even give them a second thought. When episode 2 came out, we see them for a little bit, but the story is so focused on Anakin, his mother's death, and his subsequent slaughter of the sand people, that they are once again lost in the background. The only other time we see them, is at the end of episode 3, when Obi-Wan arrives and hands baby Luke to them to raise as their own, the suns set and we are left with imagery that shows us that while this story, anakin's story, is ending, we are left hopeful because Luke's story is just now beggining(although in interview Lucas has said that the story is ALL Anakin's just told through other's eyes). They were never supposed to be major characters that we got to know, and yet I have to wonder about their backstory. I have to wonder about their ability to take in a child not their own, a child who has hardly any familial connection to them.

Bail Organa and his wife adopting Leia was given more back story. He says they had been talking about doing so for some time. He knew the risks involved in adopting the daughter of Anakin Skywalker. He knew that her father was a Jedi gone Sith, and that her mother lost the will to live after having her heartbroken. Bail Organa knew what had happened. He had even seen the effects of Order 66 as he watched a young Padawan mercilessly killed by the clones. Yet, what did Owen and Beru know?What was their story?

I had to wonder if Obi-Wan told them the whole backstory. They obviously knew many of the horrible things Anakin had done. They were present, and were probably told of what happened when he slaughtered all the sandpeople. Did they know the Anakin ad gone rogue and was now the evil Darth Vader? Or did they take him in purely because Luke was family? If they did know everything, I have to say they are some of the bravest people. Knowing that at any moment they could be killed because of the small child (precautions taken not only by the Jedi but also the emperor aside), and still took him in took a lot of guts. Even if they didn't know, the fact that they took in a child that was not related to them by blood, but was rather the son of a stepbrother Owen only met once, and the grandson of a stepmother Owen knew for less than a decade speaks volumes. Not only for the type of people Owen and Beru must have been, but also the character of Shmi (Anakin's mother and Owen's stepmother).

While thinking of all this my mind wandered to stepparents and the impact they have on others. I thought of Naomi, who was like a stepmother to her daughter in law Ruth. I thought of Joseph who became a stepfather to Yeshua. I even thought of Lady Tremain who was Cinderella's guardian(Disney cartoon version) or the Wicked Queen, Snow White's stepmother. I even thought of my own stepmother. What kind of stepmother was Shmi that Owen and Beru would be prompted to take this child in?

While I know these characters are fictional, and so there is no real back story beyond whatever Lucas or other Star Wars authors decide to write, I find it fascinating from a psychological standpoint. Then again, I could be giving them too much credit and over thinking the whole thing. Perhaps my friend Gabe is right and the conversation went like this:

Owen: We dont need details Obi, Luke is family! then soon as Obi leaves Beru says: Haha, stupid Jedi, Free Labor is free labor!