Page 43 - Star Wars Insider #194

THE MEANING OF MASKS

THE DARKEST
OF KNIGHTS
Star Wars mask designs have
been vividly infl uenced by the
art and design of East Asia, but
there is a notable counterpoint
to this, and it’s found in the
aesthetic of the Knights of Ren;
the fearsome warriors whose
appearance projects a sense of
confi dence and invulnerability.
In the medieval era, visored
helmets evolved dramatically
across Europe, and those worn
by the Knights of Ren evoke the
particular tradition of German
Gothic armor of the Sixteenth
Century. Typically, up to this
point knights had been depicted
as the embodiment of physical
and spiritual perfection, but in
the German Gothic mode the
concept of the anti-knight found
expression. These fi gures were
far removed from the domains
of noble action or thought and,
as such, the helmets and visors
worn by them were consciously
crafted to evoke associations
with various forms of the hellish
and nightmarish.

With his mask and hood character. Ren is anxious and angry,
reminiscent of earlier dark siders, cursed by his resentments and his
Kylo Ren fuses the aesthetic of pursuit of power. In the scene in
Darth Vader and Darth Sidious in an which he contemplates the ashen,
austere costume design that exudes broken mask of Darth Vader, the
both menace and an artifact becomes an
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unsettling blankness. WHEN REN amulet of sorts, and a
This masking of facial way for Ren to focus
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expression intensifi es EVENTUALLY and channel Vader’s
a sense of danger (as REMOVES legacy as he struggles
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Ren’s fi rst appearance to quieten the turmoil
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in Star Wars: The H H H HIS MASK, within himself.
Force Awakens (2015) “Show me the way,
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demonstrates) and H H H H H HE REVEALS grandfather,” Ren
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echoes not only T T T T T THE FACE OF urges the mask.
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the samurai helmet His angst and
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tradition but also A A A A A A YOUNG inner struggle as Ben
the aesthetic of the Solo, represented
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European medieval M M M M M M MAN WITH through both his
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helmet and visor. A A A A A A A CLEARLY own and Vader’s
When Ren masks, intensifi es in
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eventually removes T T T T T TROUBLED Star Wars: The Last
his mask, he reveals Jedi (2017). When
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the face of a young S S S S SOUL. Supreme Leader
man with a clearly Snoke orders Ren
troubled soul. Speaking to the to remove his mask, it is with the
tragedy of how one generation disparaging command to, “Take
repeats the failings of another, the that ridiculous thing off,” before
mask of Ren’s grandfather had further diminishing Ren’s sense
concealed a similarly confl icted of stature and infl uence with
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