Читать книгу Why We Love Star Wars - Ken Napzok - Страница 18

92

The Roar of the Porg

In the fight against evil,

it’s all feathers on deck

Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi

Writer: Rian Johnson

Director: Rian Johnson

There is a place for cute in Star Wars. The galaxy is full of mean monsters, cold-hearted villains, and sleek spaceships. It is also full of woklings, baby Ewoks that cutely cower in their mothers’ arm when their God C-3PO gets angry. Its landscapes are dotted with affable Eopie and bulbous bottomed Shaak. Its cities burst with stray Loth-Cats and Tooka. Even the Death Star, the hub of evil and oppression in the galaxy, is crawling with squeaky lil’ mouse droids. In a galaxy this big, cute is going to have its day.

Enter the porgs.

The seabird residents of Ahch-To had already made their mark on the Star Wars saga long before The Last Jedi even hit movie theaters. Quick shots from behind-the-scenes footage took the fandom by storm. A trailer appearance took the hype to the next level. Chewbacca was flying the Millennium Falcon and his copilot appeared to be one of these birds. Another behind-the-scenes image showed Chewie with what looked like a porg feather stuck to his mouth, leading to a bevy of jokes and memes about Chewie eating one of these plump pieces of poultry. YouTuber Jeremy Jahns uttered the hashtag PorgNation and Entertainment Tonight’s online personality Ash Crossan made that hashtag her passion and the movement was here.

It could be easy to write them off. If you don’t like cuteness in your Star Wars, it’s completely understandable. Admission into #PorgNation is not mandatory to appreciate The Last Jedi or even Star Wars as a whole. Yet one moment, the complete and in-context porg roar on the Millennium Falcon, is much, much more than a blast of cuteness. It was a declaration of war.

If you’re going to defeat evil you need all hands on deck. And feathers, tails, and hooves. Every living creature has skin in the game. The porgs are no different. The Resistance was on its last legs when Rey and the Mighty Chewbacca arrived with the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Crait. With a loud roar, the Wookiee Warrior announced his arrival and intentions to take out the First Order. He was not alone. The stowaway porg—sometimes referred to as Terbus, a name created by the father-sons podcast team at Tatooine Sons and jokingly approved by Rian Johnson as canon at a Q & A event—announced his arrival as well with a roar from the very depths of his porg soul. The battle against the First Order is not just about one side versus the other, it is about good standing against evil. Every living creature can get behind that. The Roar of the Porg was that call to action for everyone.

Look at it this way. Ol’ Ben Kenobi once told a young farm boy that the Force is an energy field that surrounds all living things. Adding, “it binds the galaxy together.” Yoda, while coaching that same farm boy, stated that life creates the Force and makes it grow. Yes, there is a lot to the nature of the cosmic and living Force, but when you focus on these two descriptions, it becomes clear that the Force isn’t just here for species in the galaxy that speak basic and wear cool outfits (though I’m all aboard for a cape-wearing Jedi porg). The Force is interested in ALL living things.

In The Last Jedi, those sly crystal fox-like Vulptices help the Resistance escape the dead-end cave on Crait and the Fathiers, those mighty beasts of burden enslaved on Canto Bight, take present and palpable joy in destroying the wretched city in which they are used as abused entertainment. The stowaway porg, proudly riding next to Chewbacca, even helps spot the Vulptices as they run out the back of the cave. This porg knows what is going on. He feels what is at stake. Oh, he doesn’t know the names Kylo Ren and General Hux, but he is very aware that his new nest-mate Chewie is roaring into a fight against something that will threaten all existence. His roar—wonderfully long and sustained in the movie as opposed to the clipped and repeated roar in the trailer—is a scream of solidarity.

Cute does have a place in Star Wars…and often that place is on the battlefield.