When I was out there, alone, all I had was your training and the lessons you thought me. And because of you, I did survive. And not only that, I was able to lead others to survive as well.
Luke the Jedi, strong in his conquered suffering, carrying the lifeless body of a man who was once prone to striding as proudly as Luke does now, strong and untouchable, but is now brought low and helpless by a final act of love. A stoic hero holding up a spent sacrificial victim.
OR
Luke the boy, recently tortured within an inch of his life, dragging a weight too heavy for him, but still struggling on with all the painful determination of a lonely child who’ll do anything to hold on to the dying father he has finally truly found again.
For me personally? It’s always going to be the movie.
This is one of my all time favorite scenes in film. It’s so viscerally and powerfully human. There’s nothing beautiful about it. But there’s a rawness about it that defies every attempt to reduce it by turning it into a symbol.
Don’t get me wrong, the first image is powerful. But it’s a generic kind of powerful. Its a classic pietàand it evokes all the emotions that lie behind that image, all the cultural understandings it brings to mind. Its power is in its symbolism.
The second gif, though. Luke’s dragging his father across the floor because he can’t lift him. Anakin wants to help, but lacks the ability to move at all. His leg swings with a dead weight. Even his arms are immobilized. And Luke’s struggling. He’s panting for breath and straining all his muscles and his face is caught in a grimace of pain, but he won’t stop. He won’t let go. It’s already over at this point, but Luke can’tjust leave his father.
This isn’t a symbol. It’s a very specific moment in time, defined utterly by Luke and Anakin, impossible to divorce from its context or from the history and identity of the two people involved. It carries an emotional honesty that’s almost brutal.
i do Not like the comics picture At All tbh, just, no?
the above comments explain it so i’m not going to go into detail of the Why (and maybe there’s an element at play of me having seen the film when i was young and impressionable and that image having been in my mind for a long time, compared to the comics drawing which, given that i don’t read comics, this post is the very first time i’ve seen that…)
but, no, luke Carrying vader/anakin like That, not only doesn’t evoke any emotions in me, i viscerally Don’t Like that image. Just me, personally, and there’s nothing wrong with anyone liking/appreciating/feeling emotive about it?
but seeing the “expectation” image gives me a “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it” vibe, and the “reality” image isn’t broken in that sense! (i am assuming the film came first, but even if it didn’t, that phrase still sums up my feelings pretty well)
in this case it feels (to me!) more like the Expectation is of things to Have Drama rather than to actually mean anything…
