doubleofive said:
Gaffer Tape said:
One, could Ben's death have benefitted from more danger?
I'm not sure, Gaffer. I like the way it goes down currently, not sure if him getting beat down makes Vader more "evil", just makes him seem more powerful. And I like the idea of an old man still being powerful enough to have to give up in order to be beaten by his apprentice.
I'm not saying I don't like it either. I probably shouldn't have said "benefitted." I was more referring to whether or not would help clarify what Lucas claimed he was going for. Since this is the first example I could think of, take Back to the Future Part II when Biff has Marty cornered on the roof. Biff clearly has the upper hand at that moment, having Marty at gunpoint, with Marty's only option to jump off the roof. But Marty knows what Biff doesn't: that the DeLorean is going to be right there to save him, similar to, "if you strike me down..." etc. Similarly, Ben could be backed into a corner and seemingly beaten, even though he knows that he can live on if he is struck down, and I don't think he'd lose any power by that.
I'm probably going to get lambasted for even thinking this, but, even though I enjoy it, I occasionally do get the feeling of, "I'm going to sacrifice myself now... because the plot requires me to." I, too, admit that I always saw the stormtroopers a peanut gallery until writing this post, rather than viewing them as a genuine threat. And if there is no threat, there doesn't seem to be any reason for him to just go, "Whoop, I guess it's time for me to die." Again, there's the argument that Ben needs to die so that he can go to the afterlife and council Luke in the final battle. Okay. But he could have just as easily said, "Use the Force," to Luke over the ship's radio from the Yavin base. Hell, he probably did say that in the script before the decision to kill him off was made.
And, yes, before I go any further, having the spirit of Ben talk to Luke is certainly more dramatically resonant than having it as comm chatter, so don't think I'm tearing down the notion of killing him off. I'm just toying with the idea that it might have been better to up the danger a little bit in order to give Ben a clearer motivation and clearer sacrifice. Maybe.