Of Chance and Connections

Although aggravated of late on what seems just about a daily basis by gusts of anti-Star Wars rhetoric tossed out "off-topic" right where I don't expect them, I've tried to avoid pure frustration by focusing my mind on working up another private counter-argument or two. For some reason, I seemed to fix on the old complaints that "Anakin won the battle for Naboo 'by accident!'" It's easy enough to ask myself (once more) if, in the reality already established, we could interpret what happened as the Force guiding his hand without him truly realising it, and how "he should have made a show of 'using the Force'" might intersect with "wouldn't you also complain if everything was spelled out"... but, beyond that, I began to wonder a little about how many people might have a philosophical objection to too great an emphasis being placed on "greater powers," of whatever kind, controlling the course of a story.

For all I know, "chance," if not used just right, might be a modern "deus ex machina," proclaimed proof the creator couldn't work through to a solution through the free-will actions of characters. In thinking of "chance," though, I found myself wondering if this was an opportunity to "break down an artificial barrier between the 'old movies' and the 'new movies,'" something I have a slight interest in doing... Luke Skywalker isn't just an utterly random person R2-D2 and C-3P0 get dropped off at. In thinking that, I suppose I did wonder about "destiny" issues in stories, but that's a question bigger than Star Wars itself. (Too, I can wonder if there are people who might complain about Anakin "winning by chance" but consider it "inevitable" that he turned into Darth Vader. Perhaps there has to be a balancing act between being aware of alternative possibilities even in fictional stories but not demanding them through stopgap self-written stories or anything.)