Kevin's Watch

Did anyone else notice in the original Star Wars (IV) that when Luke returns to the home of his aunt and uncle, to find it destroyed and smoking, that the charred remains of the bodies of his aunt and uncle could be seen amongst the wreckage?

I remember seeing this as an adult and thinking, considering that the movie was generally a bit all-ages and mainly just swashbuckle, that it was a somewhat out-of-place decision to show charred remains of helpless, clean-living folk.

Normally, when someone like a soldier/Stormtrooper is killed off, they just go erggh, clutch their chest where the penlight was shone on them, drop their weapon, and fall over.

The corpses on Tattooine seemed to be a tact not used otherwise in the general theme of intended audience.

I couldn't help but notice that too. Back when the Special Edition Star Wars hit the theaters, I had a decision to make about my daughter who was about 8 at the time. I remembered that scene and was a bit hesitant to let her come along. Since it was fairly brief and I knew it was coming my wife and I decieded to let her come and we asked her not to look. Years later she has seen the entire film many times.

It was a bit disgusting... I don't think they should put it on a film when children are to go and see it...

...But what the hell. The children can probably handle it...

The parents are responsible for what the children are exposed to. If a parent thought Star Wars inappropriate he or she should not allow said child to view it. Nuff said.

I like to gather my family around the TV and eat pie during that provocative scene.

NATALIE PORTdAN wrote:I like to gather my family around the TV and eat pie during that provocative scene.

How sweet! LOL

I've always liked the dramatic power of this scene. The shot of the skeletal remains is a stark visual symbol of the cruelty of the Empire: this is what the stakes are, this is what the Rebels are fighting against.

I think this scene of death, plainly seen in the light of day, brings an existential quality to Star Wars. It helps make the film more human, because we never feel more human than when faced with our own mortality. What thoughts must be going through Luke's mind?

The very incongruity of this scene, amid all the lasers and spaceships, grounds the Star Wars universe in reality. Human beings are vulnerable there just as they are in our universe, and can die senseless deaths just as easily.

Come to think of it, I suspect few other sci-fi films have depicted human death with such visual economy as this scene in SW does.

It is masterfully executed scenes like this one that separate Star Wars from its imitators.

Anyone bored yet? Wake up there in the back row!

I agree with MM. Very good points there MM.

Nah I reckon someone just snuck it in when the editors weren't watching.

Well if that were true then the videos wouldn't have gotten away with it. Remember from the disney flick of The Rescuers there's a shot of a Playboy Centerfold that can be seen inside a building hanging on a wall as the Albertross flies past.
Likewise (urban legend??) the Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequence where Jessica Rabbit is totally nude for one frame and one frame only...

Either way when I saw SW for the first time in theaters (a long time ago) I wasn't grossed out by the burnt skeletons but did wonder if the Blasters the Stormtroopers carried had different settings. I mean most of the non-armored humans that got shot had a laser go through them or at least had charred a hole in their chests.
With Owen and Beru it seemed the Troopers either kept blasting at them or used a type of flame thrower ...or mebbe a thermite gernade/detonator. I mean talk about over-kill.

I doubt they were killed by laser fire, I reckon the burnt to death when their home was blown up.

Landwaster wrote:I doubt they were killed by laser fire, I reckon the burnt to death when their home was blown up.

I support your theory. Unless there is a weapon in the trooper arsenal akin to a flame thrower we've not seen before or since.

Landwaster wrote:Nah I reckon someone just snuck it in when the editors weren't watching.

Maybe Lucas threatened to do the same thing to the editors....

... all ... the ... wrong ... images ...

dANdeLION wrote:

Landwaster wrote:Nah I reckon someone just snuck it in when the editors weren't watching.

Maybe Lucas threatened to do the same thing to the editors....

LOL!

I don't know why, but when I watch that scene, I get a sudden urge to eat beef jerky....

ROTFLMAO!!! You sick bastard lol!

Nah, I hardly ever get sick off of beef jerky.

You got me on the bastard part, though. But my parents did finally get married....