Yoru Shakou
Well-Known Member
I went on a bit of a Star Wars Bender. Starting yesterday I watched Episode IV A New Hope, with it continuing today with Episode V Empire Strikes Back, Episode VI Return of the Jedi, Episode I The Phantom Menace (Yes I know) and Episode II Attack of the Clones (Again, I know.)
Throughout the entire bender, I was beginning to think on the things that somewhat irk me and others that bother me. I'm not including Jar Jar as that is an entirely different can of worms all together. What I ended up focusing on was the Anakin-Padme Marriage. The main frame that brought me to this point of thinking was near the end of Attack of the Clones. At the point where Padme falls from the Gunship and Anakin goes on his emotional whiny bitchy 'We have to go back' rant. With the following line being Obi Wan Kenobi telling him that he would be exiled from the Jedi Order. At that moment I got to thinking that why didn't Kenobi go the opposite way. (Other than George being an idiot and writing it that way.)
Personally I have my own problems with the Anakin-Padme Marriage; then I got to thinking. The Anakin-Padme Marriage wasn't bad, nor was it something to hate; the problem with it is in how it was poorly handled. I look at the scene again where Obi Wan tells Anakin that he would be exiled from the order because of his feelings for Padme; however we've seen so many canon references to previous historical Jedi or characters whom are the offspring of a Jedi and those whom aren't. The most memorable to me being the Handmaiden whose father was an Echani General and Mother a Jedi. The main line though is that the Anakin-Padme marriage was too rushed and handled poorly.
I understand that there were constraints due to the original trilogies' number as Episodes 4, 5 and 6. The entire Marriage while not wrong or bad could have been salvaged and done better had someone taken the time to remove their lips and nose from the backside of Lucas and spoken up. It could have been much better than it was. What we should have seen was Obi Wan coming to his senses (and from what has been developed with the character, realized that he was more or less in the same boat with his own feelings.) To me it was clear that Obi Wan should have looked at Anakin and told him more or less to go be with Padme.
Likewise there could have been and should have been more of a build up to it. We first seen Anakin and Padme in The Phantom Menace (a topic for another day; however I'll say this much. The film isn't that bad when you realize that it just has the big problems and smaller problems. All in all it is a good film with its own merits.) In The Phantom Menace Anakin is 9 and Padme is 14 or so; with roughly a five year gap in age between the two. By the end of the movie Anakin is sporting a padawan braid and is Obi Wan's apprentice now.
Enter now Attack of the Clones when we see that it has been roughly 10 years in passing between The Phantom Menace and now. (Without taking into consideration the stories and novels written about that ten year period between the movies and going on the movies alone.) We have it pushed into our face that Anakin (now 19) hasn't seen Padme (now roughly 24) in that 10 year span because of his Jedi Training and we're expected immediately to believe that the two of them are in love and have feelings for each other the moment that they see one another again. That's the immediate beginning of the problems with how poorly the marriage is handled; mainly because within the 30 to 50 minute mark we see Anakin and Padme get to the point of kissing and Anakin making veiled passes at Padme. Then by the end of the 127 Minute film we have the marriage between Anakin and Padme.
This problem of rapidly pushing the development can also couple with the business decision to slap Episode IV, V and VI onto the original Trilogy to drawn in more crowds and money. Had the films remained as they were (with the original showing being Star Wars A New Hope) and the formula carried over to remain with the other two films, we could have seen much more development within the now prequel Trilogy. There could have been more time to flesh out the Anakin-Padme Marriage; likewise there would be more time for development on other problems that came across in the prequel trilogy films (One of which; that was pointed out to me, as being Anakin's 20 minute fall to the Dark Side.)
It is mainly a personal perspective and view; however overall there is nothing wrong with the Anakin-Padme marriage. It was just done poorly and to the credit of the Actors and Actresses involved they had a difficult script to work with. Again had someone had the testicular fortitude to stand up and tell Lucas that there was a problem. That he was forcing the relationship too quickly to develop along with a myriad of other problems that bog down the prequel trilogy; the films as a whole could have been much, much more well thought out and developed.
Throughout the entire bender, I was beginning to think on the things that somewhat irk me and others that bother me. I'm not including Jar Jar as that is an entirely different can of worms all together. What I ended up focusing on was the Anakin-Padme Marriage. The main frame that brought me to this point of thinking was near the end of Attack of the Clones. At the point where Padme falls from the Gunship and Anakin goes on his emotional whiny bitchy 'We have to go back' rant. With the following line being Obi Wan Kenobi telling him that he would be exiled from the Jedi Order. At that moment I got to thinking that why didn't Kenobi go the opposite way. (Other than George being an idiot and writing it that way.)
Personally I have my own problems with the Anakin-Padme Marriage; then I got to thinking. The Anakin-Padme Marriage wasn't bad, nor was it something to hate; the problem with it is in how it was poorly handled. I look at the scene again where Obi Wan tells Anakin that he would be exiled from the order because of his feelings for Padme; however we've seen so many canon references to previous historical Jedi or characters whom are the offspring of a Jedi and those whom aren't. The most memorable to me being the Handmaiden whose father was an Echani General and Mother a Jedi. The main line though is that the Anakin-Padme marriage was too rushed and handled poorly.
I understand that there were constraints due to the original trilogies' number as Episodes 4, 5 and 6. The entire Marriage while not wrong or bad could have been salvaged and done better had someone taken the time to remove their lips and nose from the backside of Lucas and spoken up. It could have been much better than it was. What we should have seen was Obi Wan coming to his senses (and from what has been developed with the character, realized that he was more or less in the same boat with his own feelings.) To me it was clear that Obi Wan should have looked at Anakin and told him more or less to go be with Padme.
Likewise there could have been and should have been more of a build up to it. We first seen Anakin and Padme in The Phantom Menace (a topic for another day; however I'll say this much. The film isn't that bad when you realize that it just has the big problems and smaller problems. All in all it is a good film with its own merits.) In The Phantom Menace Anakin is 9 and Padme is 14 or so; with roughly a five year gap in age between the two. By the end of the movie Anakin is sporting a padawan braid and is Obi Wan's apprentice now.
Enter now Attack of the Clones when we see that it has been roughly 10 years in passing between The Phantom Menace and now. (Without taking into consideration the stories and novels written about that ten year period between the movies and going on the movies alone.) We have it pushed into our face that Anakin (now 19) hasn't seen Padme (now roughly 24) in that 10 year span because of his Jedi Training and we're expected immediately to believe that the two of them are in love and have feelings for each other the moment that they see one another again. That's the immediate beginning of the problems with how poorly the marriage is handled; mainly because within the 30 to 50 minute mark we see Anakin and Padme get to the point of kissing and Anakin making veiled passes at Padme. Then by the end of the 127 Minute film we have the marriage between Anakin and Padme.
This problem of rapidly pushing the development can also couple with the business decision to slap Episode IV, V and VI onto the original Trilogy to drawn in more crowds and money. Had the films remained as they were (with the original showing being Star Wars A New Hope) and the formula carried over to remain with the other two films, we could have seen much more development within the now prequel Trilogy. There could have been more time to flesh out the Anakin-Padme Marriage; likewise there would be more time for development on other problems that came across in the prequel trilogy films (One of which; that was pointed out to me, as being Anakin's 20 minute fall to the Dark Side.)
It is mainly a personal perspective and view; however overall there is nothing wrong with the Anakin-Padme marriage. It was just done poorly and to the credit of the Actors and Actresses involved they had a difficult script to work with. Again had someone had the testicular fortitude to stand up and tell Lucas that there was a problem. That he was forcing the relationship too quickly to develop along with a myriad of other problems that bog down the prequel trilogy; the films as a whole could have been much, much more well thought out and developed.
