Analyzing the Star Wars IX Trailer

I was not particularly fond of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I went and watched Solo, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, so I'm cautiously optimistic about Episode 9. They released a teaser trailer today, and I think it's worth talking about from the perspective of marketing and storytelling, so I'm going to do it!

Video courtesy of Disney.

Initial Response

Looks a lot more targeted to original series fans than The Last Jedi's marketing. Very strong ties to original soundtrack, where The Last Jedi diverged more in having sort of a doubtful, tentative tone throughout in its sound, at about the half-way point the soundtrack basically mimics the original triumphant sounds.

It looks like they're going for much more consistency, which is good because that was my gripe with The Last Jedi: they tried to tell four stories and wound up telling none. Now there's a key focus on Rey throughout, which should make the story actually come through in a way that works (unless they mess it up).

I was going to see it anyway out of curiosity, and to write about it, but now I actually kind of want to see Episode 9 when it comes out.

Analytical Breakdown

I'm not going to look at the whole trailer and go into all the trivia detail, just a couple key points that I think could be interesting from a perspective of trying to get a feel for the final storytelling style of The Rise of Skywalker.

image.png
A screen-capture of the opening scene of the teaser trailer.

Throughout the trailer, Rey wears white garments. I think there's a symbolism there in the sense that she's now sort of a divine spirit, the last remnant of the Jedi (not that Rey is a Jedi), and a very powerful figure.

She's standing in a desert, which itself is significant. If we view her in the lens of the Jungian interpretation, she is a manifestation of the feminine spirit of chaos, but also potential. In the plot of the sequel trilogy, an oppressive empire has again overtaken the galaxy, so I think it's fair to say that she's fighting against an oppressive order. This is borne out in the desert: it represents an inability to grow and develop.

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Another screen-capture.

Here we see Rey running from what appears to be a First Order spacecraft, probably Kylo Ren's. The spacecraft is approaching low, forcing itself into direct confrontation. There's symbolism here (though it's definitely not practical to attack someone in this fashion) in the sense that she is being forced into confrontation. There's a black counterpart to the white associated with Rey, which is a confirmation of the notion that Rey must face the masculine spirit of order, but also oppression.

The animus aspect of Rey's feminine hero spirit is important to consider here: she must find power in a confrontation with the masculine archetypes of Kylo Ren. She already has a cause to fight for, but must come to a point where she is willing to stand on her own and fight, as well as finding the faith in herself to do so.

Although Rey seems to be running from the confrontation, her lightsaber (Luke's lightsaber) is activated. This indicates that her flight is not in cowardice. It would be perhaps a stretch to say that it reflects a need for heroic preparation (e.g. the road of trials that leads to the supreme ordeal), but at least within the framing narrative of the teaser and the meta-narrative of being an echo of the events of The Last Jedi, it works.

image.png
Another screen-capture.

Here we see the follow-up to this. Rey has leapt into the air (joining with the universal spirit of the Hero, perhaps, in a metaphysical sense: air and spirit are symbolically linked), though her lightsaber remains ready to strike the TIE-fighter that is coming toward her.

What I really like about this trailer is that it's managed to give us a sort of microcosm of the Hero's Journey, and I think that bodes well for the overall film. It hasn't given away much about its plot that we couldn't guess by this point, but there's a lot to get into from what it does have.

Other than this opening scene, there's only one more part I have any interest in commenting on.

image.png
Screen-capture from trailer.

The CGI's a little strong with this one, I think, but it's quite a pretty shot from an aesthetic perspective. There appears to be part of a Death Star on this planet. I'm not sure exactly how this would have come about (either the First Order is making another, or the two that have already blown up wound up more intact than they seemed to at first), but it is quite a visual centerpiece.

There's also a perfect reflection of the Hero in this flash of a scene. We see Rey and company approaching this structure, which holds great menacing potential (perhaps an Abyss, the domain of the Dragon and the Serpent), and the result is that there is a real challenge to be faced here. Likewise, Rey is leading others, part of the Hero's role, although her central place in the scene indicates that the fight will, essentially, be hers to fight.

The whole thing ends with the Emperor laughing. This could imply that he survived the destruction of the Second Death Star (and this might actually be the remains of the Second Death Star), and as a result Rey is on her way to confront him.

One Little Nit-Pick

image.png
Another screen-capture.

I don't like this font. I get that it's distinctive, but it doesn't feel like it belongs. I think the kerning might be even, but it feels uneven because of how the A and G interact, for instance, and it can't seem to decide whether it wants to be embellished or practical. This is probably a good use for a heavy/black font like this one, but I just can't get over how much I don't like this font. The M doesn't feel like it belongs in with everything else. To me, at least, it doesn't look optically correct insomuch as the way that the O doesn't feel like it's got the right line thickness throughout.

I'm a font maniac, evidently.

Ugh.

Conclusion

Long story short, I think that The Rise of Skywalker is looking to return to the roots of Star Wars. I'm not sure that it can undo the damage done by The Last Jedi, since it will have to make up ground following a lot of storytelling missteps, but I'm feeling better about it than I was before the teaser came out.

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I really hope the rise of skywalker will restore the series after the last jedi and solo just really killed my hopes for the continued universe they are building so many plot holes and it just seemed to be disney milking the franchise instead of paying homage to characters and a world we cherish so much.

I really hope they listened to the fans criticism and give us a movie worthy of the franchise

I'm cautiously optimistic. The Last Jedi may be enough of a shock for Disney to cause a return to form, but I also have to admit that there are a few concerns that I have based on the trailer. However, I'm willing to bet that they want to have a good finale to the trilogy enough to listen to concerns. It sounds like they've replaced a bunch of the people who were downplaying complaints or accusing critics of malicious intent, so we'll see if they learn.

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I think my main problem with this trailer (other than Rey going to the Prometheus School of Running Away from Things is exactly that it leans on the original trilogy for everything good about it. Music? check. Framing? Check. Plot references? Check. The Emperor? Check.

This trailer serves a terrible purpose, given what it's intent is: it's reminding me that I could be watching a better movie.

It's certainly not alone in doing that; a lot of reboot/sequel movies over the last decade or two have made the same mistake. Don't remind me that I could be doing something better with my time because it is trivial for me to go do something better with my time.

The only reason I'm curious about this movie at all is three seconds of Ian McDermid laughing, which just makes me want to watch him chew the scenery and have a good time again. That is probably not reaction they wanted me to have.

The latest crop of Star Wars media has been actively painful. Solo, in particular, suffered from the great send of being an interesting story burdened down by being part of the Star Wars canon. There was a great, exciting, truly independent sci-fi story struggling to get out from under all the trappings of being tied to the Star Wars universe, in part because we knew from the beginning of the movie how it had to turn out. Had to. No question, the character situation was going to be clearly positioned for Episode 4. That was a fine way to suck all the tension out of the plot along the way except for a strange "okay, how will this not matter in the future?" tension.

Rogue One was surprisingly good as a part of the canon. Narratively, because we knew from the beginning that it had to be a tragedy. We didn't know the specific outcomes for the characters (unlike Solo), so we weren't bound to them in that way. The story had room to breathe, even though it was constrained by other writing.

Unfortunately, I think it's clear that the current holders of the Star Wars IP aren't really interested in doing what it would take to drive the story more interestingly. The Mandelorean series that will be on Disney Plus isn't going to be enough to pull viewers to yet another paid streaming video outlet, so it might do well in piracy but it won't do well in airing. They say they're done with movies for now.

The worst thing they ever did was effectively burn down the Extended Universe because there was a vast reservoir of stories which had nothing to do with the Skywalkers or even the events of the first trilogy, stories which could stand on their own as being interesting and complete, so obviously they had to go.

That's what the franchise really needs. Stories set in that galaxy which involve characters and situations which have nothing to do with the original trilogy, occur later in the timeline, and have room to breathe while literally expanding the universe. It's not going to happen.

I feel like we're at odds on the first point; I think that the references back to the old are a good concession and a sort of sign of humility; they're accepting that the new Star Wars was not necessarily as good as the old.

With that said, I do recognize that there is a chance that they retread the story into oblivion, with nothing of interest other than the same drama with different faces. I'm not terrified of it, because I think it's unlikely, but it is something that I will concede: the parts of the trailer that made me interested in watching the film are those that play the most homage to the old things. Hopefully my optimism is correct and the more skeptical notion that they'll devolve to fanservice is unfounded, but I concede that you could be right on this point. I don't think it's the likely outcome, but you've definitely pushed me toward doubt (of course, doubt sometimes makes the desire to see something stronger).

I do feel like Solo was squandered on the existing canon (and, by consequence, also underdeveloped, because every new and interesting endeavor it brought to the table wound up being dead-ends that amounted to nothing), though the actual original elements were fantastic. As a sort of Star Wars noir, it was fantastic (albeit maybe too colorful for the noir description), and you're definitely right in the notion that Rogue One was more compelling in many ways because we didn't know the ending (and it was freed to be truly tragic, though Solo was not a stranger to tragic form itself in many ways).

I'm worried about Disney's handling of everything, though I'm optimistic that they may have learned from the dumpster fire they've created and started walking back some of the foolishness. I don't necessarily mind the reboot of the EU, since it was getting unwieldy, but I do question the reason why they opted to instead go wholly original as opposed to following at least the highlights of the old EU (e.g. why not build on Kyle Katarn in Rogue One or Mara Jade in the sequel Trilogy)?

I don't think it's necessarily a bad decision for them, business speaking, to focus on telling stories around a familiar core cast. The problem is that even if they add in new characters or go back to existing EU characters, they might still be too conservative in their storytelling to actually make them interesting. Disney's masterful, but they're reaching what Jung might call the age of the "decrepit king" where their mastery has not been pushed further. They're no longer exceeding the masters of the previous days and moving into experimental territory (as much as they may pretend to), and the stagnation has not helped them overall.

I do agree that it's sad that Disney has pursued a much less open development of the IP. It doesn't seem to be blossoming as much as it was (or at least I'm not seeing it if it is), and that's a shame.

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The Rise of Skywalker was good movie. It was quite exciting.

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You make a good review of the Trail.
Well, I want to see the movie and later I Will take my conclusions. However thank you for your opinion.👍
Steem on!

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