Page 42 - Star Wars Insider #194

THE MEANING OF MA
THE MEANING OF MASKS

was able to get around the idea that
w
yo
you have to explain everything.”
Also essential to Vader’s mask
an
and helmet combination is the
in
influence of the samurai tradition of

the mempo. The mempo is a mask
th
intended to protect the face, and its
in
d
design typically suggests a demonic,
supernatural or beast-like power
su
w
with the aim of intensifying the
se
sense of imminent danger posed by
the wearer. In his book The Masks th
of God, Joseph Campbell (whose
o
work has so often been cited as
w
vi
vital to the character-building and
m
mythology-inspired plotting of Star
W
Wars) wrote that, “The mask is…
revered and experienced as (an)
re
ap
apparition of mythical being… a
step toward rather than away from
st
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A
K
MASKS CONCEAL th Luke’s unmasking of Vader at
A
A
the ineluctable truth.”
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A A A AND THEN the end of Star Wars: Return of the
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Darth Vader’s originally worked Jedi (1983) is powerfully symbolic,
,
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Dark Visage REVEAL SECRETS, from a Lucas note that especially when recalling Obi-Wan’s
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,
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The confl icts between TRUTHS, TERRORS Vader would need observation that, “He is more
the powerful and breathing apparatus machine now than man.” The
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W

W
the powerless, A A A A A AND WONDERS. to move between trappings of technology and power

the selfish and the ships. That simple are a disguise for a frail, aging being.
selfless, were part of notion—a prosaic plot For all of the sentiment and

George Lucas’ thematic conception point—sparked the image of Vader’s delicate handling of Luke and
for Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) helmet and mask, which later Anakin Skywalker’s reconciliation
from the very beginning, with attained so much more poetic power in the closing moments of Return
Darth Vader’s mask serving as the by its necessity to compensate for of the Jedi, the most powerful and
dark-hearted symbol and portal to the devastating injuries Anakin unsettling role played by Vader’s
these essential confl icts throughout received during his fateful duel with mask can be seen in Star Wars: The
the saga. Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. As Empire Strikes Back (1980) when
In Lucas’ development of the the mask descends towards Anakin’s Luke, as part of his Jedi training
screenplay for Star Wars, Vader fire-ravaged face, it signals his fi nal under Yoda’s tutelage on Dagobah,

embodied the duality between transition to becoming the Sith enters an area particularly sensitive
humans and machines, and this Lord, Darth Vader, and allows us to the dark side of the Force. It is
dynamic was crystallized in his to glimpse what it will feel like to here that the young Jedi faces his
mask and helmet design. We should be trapped forever inside the armor hardest test to date. Confronted by
note here that Ralph McQuarrie that masks his former self. a vision of Vader, Skywalker gives
The visual development work in to his fear and hatred and strikes
that George Lucas and his team Vader down; only to be confronted
undertook for A New Hope is by the image of his own face within
suffused with East Asian infl uence, Vader’s fractured helmet. The
and Vader’s mask evokes qualities revelation offered by the mask at
of a kabuto samurai helmet. this point represents the trait that
When recalling how the concept Luke fears he harbors: that he, too,
for Vader’s visage evolved, Lucas is susceptible to the corruption of
acknowledged the infl uence the dark side.
of Japanese fi lmmaker Akira
Kurosawa’s movies, revealing that Troubled Soul
he “found it very interesting that In Star Wars, the past is always
nothing was explained. I think powerfully felt in the present, and

that influenced me a great deal in often repeated to tragic effect. Masks

working in science fiction, because I aid in expressing this concept.
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