Without Danger, There Is No Drama

This is Obi-Wan Kenobi.

You may recognize him from the Star Wars prequels (even if you'd rather pretend they don't exist.) What makes Obi-Wan Kenobi such a bad***? Well, what doesn't? Watch in the following scene how he and Yoda expertly dismantle about 8 bad guys with all the effort of spreading butter on toast. (Please forgive the quality.)

Awww man, wasn't that cool?! I mean, did you see how Yoda was all flipping around and stuff? And did you see how slick Obi-Wan was at the end? Like this wasn't even a challenge or anything! That's how you know he's so bad***! Because he never seems to be in any danger.

Actually, no.

 

It's natural to think otherwise, but for us to be really engaged with characters, be it in film, books, or video game, we need to sense they are in danger. Don't believe me? Look at Game of Thrones - an HBO adaptation of the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. Game of Thrones is infamous for killing off every character that the audience knows and loves. Seemingly no one is safe. SPOILER ALERT (highlight the rest of this sentence to see it on-screen): In the first season of Game of Thrones, Sean Bean, the highest paid actor on the show and seemingly the main protagonist, had his head cut off by episode nine. It is this unpredictability that infuriates and yet keeps fans interested. When you see your favorite character getting circled by wolves, or hounded by enemy knights, you suddenly have to wonder - is s/he about to die? And as nervous or anxious as you might be, you just can't bring yourself to look away. This is what real drama is like; it engages you and forces you to pay attention.

This holds true for books and video games also. Have you ever played a video game with the cheat codes on or the difficulty turned down low? Sure, you breezed through the game and got to see some of the content, but did you really feel excited about doing it? Can you imagine the thrill you would have had if, at every turn, you were scrambling to stay alive and barely beating the odds? 

Don't pretend you don't know what this is.

And in books, even if the protagonist is at no risk of dying, there's still the risk of something terrible happening to them. Take Harry Potter for example: there are seven books in the series, so I was sure he wasn't die to the basilisk in book two. But what if Harry was expelled from Hogwarts and separated from his friends? What if he was stripped of some precious magical protection, like in book four? Or, even worse, what if he started giving in to evil, like Voldemort? Even if the protagonist doesn't die, there are still plenty of reasons to be worried for him/her. And if you're not worried about the protagonist, there are others to worry about - like their friends and family.

Please don't get be started on Hedwig or Sirius Black. I might cry all over again.

Let's go back to Star Wars and see what not to do.

Giving your protagonist a window into the immediate future, superhuman reflexes and strength, a laser sword that reflects attacks and cuts through anything, and also the ability to throw objects and people around with his/her motherf***ing mind isn't a recipe for drama. It's a recipe for a power fantasy. When Obi-Wan stumbles into 12 droids, I'm not thinking, "Oh s**t! He's in trouble!" I'm thinking, "Let the robo-dicing commence!" And while watching him remove extraneous limbs from clone troopers or carving aliens into smoldering bits might be entertaining to watch, it simply isn't dramatic. With the lightsaber in his hand and the Force on his side, Obi-Wan is practically a walking deity. Yeah, sure, he might lose a limb flipping that laser sword about, but that's little more than an inconvenience in the Star Wars universe. Influenza takes a normal person out of work for a week, but a cybernetic arm will get you back into action within a day.

It'll also make you a beast at arm-wrestling.

To better illustrate my point, let's compare young Obi-Wan to Luke Skywalker. Obi-Wan, it seems, has grown up with the Jedi influence all of his life. He knows the teachings, is powerful with the Force, and certainly knows his way around a lightsaber. He's a deadly and skilled warrior. Watching him expertly cut through enemies is similar to watching Superman fly around - it loses excitement because it's exactly what you'd expect him to do. If your local UPS delivery truck driver were to suddenly take flight, however, you'd likely piss yourself. That's the difference - it isn't an amazing feat if it's something you're expecting.

Now look at Luke Skywalker - a poor farmer's nephew, interested only in getting some power converters and joining the Imperial Academy. Suddenly, he's thrust into an adventure involving a kidnapped princess, a galactic rebellion, and a force so sinister that it threatens to destroy or enslave everyone. He's outmatched, but he struggles valiantly despite the odds. When Luke gets into a fight, we know for a fact that he has no experience, and this uncertainty makes us worry for his safety. "Oh s**t! He's pinned down by rifle fire in a narrow corridor without anything to defend himself with! I hope he gets out!" This, in turn, creates satisfying drama.

His past says "scruffy nerfherder." His future says "Jedi Knight."

"But we already know from A New Hope that Obi-Wan survives." You might argue. "It isn't fair to expect the writer to threaten him for the sake of drama, since we know he'll live." And you'd have a point. Yes, I know that Obi-Wan has to survive the prequels because he's present in the REAL Star Wars movies. But, similar to my comments about Harry Potter, Obi-Wan can be brought into danger without necessarily threatening his life. Consider this: we first meet Old Ben Kenobi as a hermit, hiding from the world in the remote desert wastes of Tatooine. What made him distance himself so much from other people? Is there a dark secret in his past? Was he forced to do something he regretted? Did he lose someone precious to him? We do find out that, technically, all three of those are the case, but their significance is played down and practically lost in the prequels.

Think about it: all the time in the prequels that could have been spent showing the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan was instead used to give details about boring political intrigue and mindless lightsaber fights. We're told that Anakin and Obi-Wan are great friends who have shared the field of battle and seem to have a rapport, but we never see them grow to respect each other through the trials on-screen. Usually Obi-Wan spent screen time chiding Anakin, and then Anakin skulked off to complain about Obi-Wan. By the end of Episode III, we weren't heart-broken that Obi-Wan had to dismember his pupil and "friend" - we were ecstatic that the child-killing, angst-y bast**d finally got the thrashing he so rightfully deserved.

A-HAHAHAHA!! Serves you right, you dick!

All joking aside, what I'm trying to say is that human drama - the deep stuff that really touches our hearts and makes us pull for characters - is not easy to produce. It takes time. We have to know our hero's weaknesses, vulnerabilities, desires, and personality. We need the hero to show us these elements of him/herself through interactions with other characters on screen. What we don't need is a bunch of flashy swordfighting which serves more as a distraction than as a tool for building tension. Obi-Wan is so disgustingly overpowered in the prequels that we can't expect a handful of droids to challenge him. So, if the outcome of the fight is already decided before it starts, then why bother showing the fight at all? It's just filler. The action becomes pointless, and offers only a cheap thrill instead of a satisfying plot point. There's no drama to be had and no character development. Just a cheat-code empowered demi-god breezing through any potential challenges without so much as breaking a sweat.

And I don't know about you but I can't relate to that.

If you're interested in more in-depth, critical analysis of the Star Wars prequels and why they suck so badly, please watch the Red Letter Media series about them. Below is the first video in the series.