rhodrymavelyne: (Default)
I was so obsessed with Star Wars as a child, particularly the light sabers. The way they glowed, hummed, and crackled when they hit another saber.

I marvel that this particular universe and story has prevailed, carrying on to generation after generation. My niece and nephews all love Star Wars. They’ve seen all sorts of TV series on Disney+ I haven’t.

Hanging out at my in-laws’s home over the holidays, I saw the first few episodes of Acolyte. Once again, twins are playing a major part in a Star Wars story, only this time they’re identical and both girls.

In a curious way, they’re reminding me of Beth and Kate Kane from Batwoman more than Luke and Leia. They’re closer than anyone, yet divided by allegiences to the Jedi and the coven which raised them.

There is something irresistible about creating a coven of witches in the Star Wars universe. Yes, the Jedi knights exist, but they’re more like a priesthood with a strict code of ethics, not allowing room for wildness. The Sith feel like their shadow, absorbing all their negative emotions, inverting and mirroring their power.

I was wary of being drawn into Star Wars again, because it’s been a powerful obsession in my life. As a child, I collected figures. I was fascinated by Darth Vader, his sheer sinister power; by the fact that he was the father to these slight, white-clad adversaries; Luke and Leia. I was fascinated by how close he was to them, yet opposed.

There had never been anything like that I’d ever seen as a child, your own father being the villain. Now it’s become almost iconic and I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else, embracing the notion of family as a protagonist’s adversary.

There’s no foe worse than those closest to you, yet Lord Vader is hardly the worst father out there. At least he seems to want his children, even if they’re on the opposite side.

I’ve been drawn to the development of this relationship in the comics; reading some of the ones about Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, enjoying how Han Solo, Artoo (amused at how foul-mouthed the little droid is when he’s not around Luke or Leia), Threepio. Chewbacca, and Lando interact with them; delighting in the addition of characters like Dr. Aphra.

Now we have Disney+. Now I have a chance to try some of those TV series my family have been watching.

Time to indulge.
rhodrymavelyne: (Default)
Something as small as admiring Alice’s frockcoat on Batwoman can provoke a flight of fanciful fandom. I love her costume, but I started thinking about how Alice might look if she wore that coat over breeches while holding a foil in her hand, a rose in her lapel. An image of Alice as a duelist in the Revolutionary Girl Utena universe blossomed in my imagination. Once I did that, I had to visualize Kate Kane as one. I loved the vision of the Kane twins together in contrasting frock coats, holding their foils. This got me to thinking. What if Kate and Alice were both duelists at Ohtori Academy? I got another image of the twins meeting in the dueling forest under the rotating castle in the sky. One could argue after all the trauma both Kate and Alice have had inflicted on them…and inflicted upon each other…both women might crave the “something eternal” Utena and other duelists have sought. Kate is even a little like Utena in having her prince, Bruce Wayne/Batman, a prince she’s striving to emulate. Kate and Alice are definitely as complex as the other pair of twins existing in the Utena universe, Miki and Kaori.

After Kate Kane disappeared, I imagined her seeing that castle, floating in the sky while riding her motorcycle. This scenario came to me while listening to Liz Kay’s Castles in the Sky. To quote her song, why do we build castles in the sky? To rise up from our earthly problems, to escape from something painful, to create something eternal reborn in the form of something precious we’ve lost?

All this got me thinking of Revolutionary Girl Utena, of what makes a duelist, what motives a duelist has for dueling. Both Kate and Alice might have such motives. Either one of them would be able to pull the sword of her sister’s heart from her chest, an act which could be a story in itself.

Curious what associations start coming to me once I begin thinking about it.

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