I Burst SW Fandom's Favorite Tropes

There are the things that among the hardcores in SW fandom and among the media that are accepted as true. But are they really true? Let me argue otherwise:


Trope: Luke is a whiner

Fact: Luke is often unfairly characterized as a whiner, often by fanboys who think an earnest, gentle, relatively nice guy isn't cool enough for them. If you really pay attention to the movies, Luke is whiny in a couple of scenes in ANH. Most notable is the first scene where we "meet" him and he whines about going to pick up some power converters instead of having to clean up Artoo and Threepio. But that's the point. Luke is barely out of his teens and pretty much acts like it. How many 19/20 year old guys would rather do chores than hang out with their buddies? Especially if they lived on a dusty desert farm on a crummy planet? Over the course of his adventures though, Luke matures. I didn't think he was whiny in TESB or in ROTJ. Especially not in ROTJ. He protests here and there, but if you're going to count the occasional complaint or question about why patricide is an awesome idea, wouldn't that make just about every SW character a whiner?

Trope: Anakin is a creepy stalker

Fact: Anakin might have plenty of issues but stalking isn't one of them. Having intense feelings for someone doesn't unto itself make you a "stalker." Anakin didn't spend those interim 10 years following Padme around, taking pictures of her, sending her lots of unwanted letters and comlink calls, or trying to peek into her house. Unlike a guy from another fandom I could mention, he's not secretly in her bedroom watching her sleep ;). People base their assertion Anakin's a stalker on a comment in AOTC that Padme shut her security cameras off because she didn't like Anakin watching her and on the "oh noez u r making me uncomfortable" stare during the packing scene. Padme wasn't really creeped out by Anakin. If she was, why the hell would she agree to go off alone with him? No, it's the reaction most women would have if there was a mutual attraction. The woman wants to preserve her "mystery" so to speak until the time of her choosing. Anakin's amused because he knows he's gotten to her. When Padme makes it clear later on in the film that they cannot proceed any further with a romantic relationship, Anakin backs off. A real stalker wouldn't care if the woman wants his attention or not. This is why we have things called "restraining orders." It's not until Padme declares her love for him that Anakin behaves romantically toward her again.

Trope: Midichlorians sucked all of the mystery out of the Force

Fact: Midichlorians seemed really offensive to the peanut gallery until ROTS hinted that maybe, just maybe, manipulation of the little buggers by Darth Plageuis created Anakin the Demon Spawn. In that case, it's cool. But a few still say that the Force was some cool mystical thing until the midichlorian explanation ruined it. These are the kind of people who would let a physics class turn them into atheists. All the midichlorian thing does is explain why some people have greater ability in the Force than others. After all, Obi-Wan wasn't training Han and Chewie how to be Jedi. If it were that simple, the Order wouldn't have been wiped out and even if their numbers were seriously culled, all you had to do was find an instruction book and train a whole new army of them just like that. The midichlorians serve as a baseline as well; we know Yoda is way powerful, so he has a high concentration of them. Displaying that Anakin's count is even higher illustrates two things: Anakin is different from other sentient beings including other Jedi and his potential outstrips EVERYONE before him. This adds to the story of his fall. It doesn't change what the Force is.

My favorite explanation of why the midis were a good plot device: without them, Palpatine may as well have spent his time worrying about Han Solo's birth and Wedge's growing skills as a pilot.

Trope: Uncle Owen is a mean ol' bastard

Fact: As I've noted on someone else's meta on this subject, I'd seen countless stories in fanzines where Uncle Owen is portrayed as a bitter, jealous, resentful meanie. You'd think Owen and Beru were like the Dursleys, forcing Luke to live in a closet until Obi-Dumbledore shows up to take him away. Owen is very much the sort of guy who believes in what's right in front of him. He's not a dreamer. He is cranky and gruff. But he's not cruel. You don't see him beat Luke or anything. Owen is what you'd call a threshold guardian but that doesn't make him a bad guy. Some fans make hay out of his comment that Luke better have the moisture vaporators fixed or there will be "hell to pay," but it could mean anything from "I'm going to ground him" to "we're screwed financially." I also think Owen was genuinely frightened for what could happen to Luke should he venture out into the wider galaxy. He saw what his stepbrother was like after all and he had to have known the Sith would want Luke in their clutches if they knew about him.

There are more, but maybe I'll get to those in another post...