I don’t get the argument that the characters didn’t get enough background, such as not knowing how Baze and Chrrut met. Who cares how they met? You never find out the backstory of Jules and Vincent in Pulp Fiction, and those characters are still terrific. Hell, you never find out the backstory for Han and Chewy, and those characters are loved by all.
I definitely agree. Like I said in an earlier post, people are judging the character development of a one-off movie with the character development in a trilogy of movies. We really know no more about Han, Leia, and Luke at the end of Star Wars than we do about Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi, Churrit, Baze, or K2 at the end of Rogue One.
But now think of how little we knew about Tarkin at the end of Star Wars and how fleshed out his character motivations are after Rogue One.
I don’t really see why every character needs a backstory. When the whole point is to make a standalone movie where none of the characters will return in a sequel, the I don’t really see how backstory would be necessary unless directly related to the plot, e.g. Jyn’s relation to Galen.
I think RO can be fairly compared to movies like f.ex. John Carpenter’s The Thing in terms of how the characters are developed. What’s so brilliant about the writing of that film is that it never wastes any time explaining anyone’s backstory. All that we need to know about those characters are revealed to us through how they all cope with the same intense situation. There was never a “when I was a kid…” or “back home I was…” type of dialogue, all that we need to learn about their personalities comes from how they react to the crisis that is at the center film. That in my opinion is good economical writing. Granted, this method is not for every type of movie, but I think that this is the kind of story that RO tries to be. Which makes sense when you got a war movie focused on one specific threat and one specific important mission. RO isn’t really a “character film”, yet it still manages to explore several characters’ personalities and implied backgrounds based on how they behave throughout the story.
Also SW does have the benefit of having one of the most elaborate EUs in existence, so if you are just dying to know the life story of Chirrut or Bodhi, or any other character, I’m sure there’s going to be some novel or comic that will explore this at some point.
Exactly.
The lack of backstory and deep character development is, to me, one of the stronger points of the movie. That said: I understand how some fans, many perhaps, may be disappointed or find it lacking. For the younger fans who came into the franchise at the Prequels, they’ve always had a Lucas-controlled series where every bit of minutia is backstoried and tied into the main narrative and characters. It’s exactly how Lucas shrunk the universe and turned it into “a solar system far far away”.
This isn’t a Lucas film. We don’t get to know the characters’ histories or why they may or may not know each other. That’s perfectly ok with me. In fact, I prefer it. Star Wars77 had all sorts of hinted- at pasts, but it didn’t get bogged down in explaining them. As someone mentioned earlier, we don’t know thing one about Han & Chewie, how they met, or how long they’ve been together. Yet they are wildly popular.
Sometimes people are who they are and don’t need an arc. The Rogue One team accepted a mission and they worked together to see it through. They didn’t take the mission for personal growth or to become The A Team. They had a job to do. I don’t know the story behind every person I work with every day (nor do I care). We have a common goal and we put in the work to accomplish it. We’re not growing. We’re working.
Exactly.