Elfdart wrote:Imagine you have a relative who is dying for lack of medical care because the insurance and drug companies jack up prices at will and are willing to your relative die than lose money by paying for treatment that would save his or her life. You are an Obama supporter and backed him because you thought he was going to actually do something to save your family member. Then you see he's thrown the public option under the bus and made a slimy deal with the drug and insurance companies -the same ones who consider your dying relative unprofitable and are willing to let him or her die. You ask Obama before Congress to do something since time is running out.
And he says he'll appoint a commission to see if your relative is really dying.
You wouldn't tell him to go fuck himself? Granted the US doesn't have a parliamentary system, so there are no votes of "no confidence", but if there were and you had a vote you wouldn't send him packing?
Your analogy has barely any resemblance to the onscreen events in Phantom Menace. You and all the other TPM apologists evidently have some kind of secret Blu-ray Extended Director's cut of Phantom Menace or something, because what the
actual movie shows is nothing like your pathetic defense. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the
Elfdart Extended Edition (EEE), but here's what happens in the actual movie:
Queen Amidala tells the Senate her planet was invaded. The Trade Federation Senator, who has
equal standing in the Senate, flatly denies it. Then, another Senator suggests sending a commission. Now, I assume that in the EEE version, at this point Valorum actually calls in the Jedi, who then back up what the Queen is saying, and then Valorum
still insists on sending a commission so we see how useless he is. Unfortunately, that scene is only in the EEE version, so the rest of us just scratch our heads wondering why he didn't just call in the Jedi to have her testimony confirmed. But ignoring the Jedi issue, Valorum doesn't come off as particularly useless, since he basically has two conflicting claims from Senators of equal standing, and sending a commission to Naboo is the only way to resolve the conflict since Amidala doesn't provide any evidence.
I also assume, that in the EEE version we actually
see the horrible suffering of the Naboo people, but unfortunately in the real version we haven't seen that, so there's really no urgency at all to the whole affair and we don't understand why Amidala doesn't just go back to Naboo with the committee.
Elfdart wrote:Channel72 wrote:If it happened off-screen that's even worse, because whether the Jedi testified matters to the story; presumably, if they testified there wouldn't necessarily be a need for a no-confidence vote. If Amidala's sob-story was enough to convince the Senate to boot out Valorum, then the Jedi testimony should work in her favor as well.
Naboo only has one vote in the Senate. If Amidala was able to kick Valorum to the curb with her single vote then that means there were many others willing to vote against him as well. I see logic isn't your strong suit.
Your response is totally incongruent to what I actually said here. The point is, having the Jedi testify off-screen is ridiculous in terms of story presentation. The audience is simply left scratching their heads wondering why neither the Queen nor the Chancellor simply brought in the Jedi to confirm her testimony. If the movie had indicated to us that the Jedi
did confirm the Queen's story, and Valorum
still insisted on sending a commission, then we'd understand the Queen's frustration. But alas, that only happened in the EEE version, so for the rest of us the Queen just comes off as stupid.
But seriously, I find it hilarious you actually defend this: failing to show the Jedi testify is like writing a crime-thriller/courtroom-drama where there is a key-witness who actually
saw the murder, but who is never called in to corroborate any testimony or even
acknowledged to have any role at all in the courtoom proceedings. But it's all good, cause it happened off-screen, just like 70% of the plot to Phantom Menace!
Elfdart wrote:She knew the commission wasn't going to do a goddamn thing, just like real-life commissions. She decides to go back to Naboo to take her planet back by force when Jar Jar Binks tells Amidala that the Gungans have a "grand army".
I know. The way the screenplay is written however, there's no point to any of it. She could have just waited for Palpatine to show up with the cavalry.
Elfdart wrote:You don't see anyone dying when Alderaan gets blown up either, just an exploding globe. Man, that Lucas is such a hack!
Um...there's a superweapon with the firepower to blow up a fucking
planet. Really, what more urgency do you need in that situation?
Elfdart wrote:Like most other villains, Palpatine is greedy. He's already chancellor, but guess what would have happened if Amidala had been killed. He could have once again played the victim (something he does several times) and milked it for all it was worth: "Look what they did to the poor Queen!"
Yeah, that's how you generate
real tension. Oh shit...I hope Amidala doesn't
die, because that would mean... Palpatine will have slightly more support in the Senate? Yeah, real dramatic. You'd make one fantastic screenwriter.
Elfdart wrote:Qui-Gon's death is important for the simple reason that parental figures (whether real parents or surrogates) have to be removed for the Hero's Journey to work.
TPM has no real Campbellian hero, and ultimately Obi-Wan is the father figure to Anakin, not Qui-Gon. Regardless, I'm not claiming that Qui-Gon's death was inconsequential; obviously, it set up Anakin's apprenticeship under Obi-Wan. What I'm saying is that the final act was written in such a way that the action sequences were ultimately pointless. As soon as Padme landed on Naboo she could have just waited around in the forest trying on different outfits until Palpatine arrived with the cavalry.