Anghus Houvouras on canon…

Movies are such an integral part of the creative experience. As children, when we’re first introduced to the medium, we don’t understand the complexities of cinema. We are simply awed by the amalgamation of vision and sound that brings us stories in a new and exciting way. It is the ultimate expression of the imagination. As kids we don’t understand that the cinematic experience is also providing us with a framework and rules to the storytelling process. The structure and architecture of cinema is slowly and subtly woven into our consciousness. We learn the rules without ever knowing we’re being taught.

I mention structure and framework because the cinematic experience is crafted in specific ways, even though these boundaries could be easily abandoned. We, the audience are willing to accept a certain amount of structure, coloring in the lines as it were, because we become accustomed to rhythms and cadence of cinema. Movies have a language, and learning it is part of the shared experience. What can be captured within that framework is fair game. The limitation of the world or story being created on film is only limited to the imagination of those making the film and those watching it.

I say ‘those watching it’ because there are times when filmmakers allow for interpretation. Endings are left ambiguous and plot threads are left dangling which gives the viewer an opportunity to fill in the gaps with their own minds.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately; the concept of the audience imagination and how it factors into certain films. This little bit of cinematic philosophy was inspired by a twitter rant from some Star Wars fans were bummed that the classic Xbox Game Knights of the Old Republic was no longer considered canon.

Apparently right around the time Disney purchased Lucasfilm, glaring declarations were made de-canonizing Expanded Universe Star Wars stories like a Cardinal caught doing body shots at an Altar Boy convention. Beloved stories were wiped from the canonical slate rendering them meaningless. Is there an Expanded Universe character that you loved? Well guess what? They’re dead now! Even worse. THEY NEVER EXISTED.

But why?

Why would Disney go on this wholesale slaughter of fictional characters? Why would they render so many crafted EU tales creatively inert?

More importantly, why would fans care?

The idea that a fictional universe can be controlled and mitigated by a corporation is kind of frightening. Especially when it comes to something like Knights of the Old Republic, a game that takes place in an era so far removed from the timeline of the Star Wars movies that invalidating it feels pointless.

What’s even more pointless is the wholesale acceptance of these declarations. If you are a ludicrous Star Wars fans who reads and absorbs all these Expanded Universe stories, why does this kind of strange, bureaucratic declaration hold any meaning?

Canon is an amusing notion in the world of geek culture, where iconic universes and characters are rebooted and retconned with marked regularity. The slate is cleaned, characters are recast, realities are decimated and rebuilt. Michael Keaton was once the Batman in a world where the Joker killed his parents. Then Joel Schumacher dipped Tim Burton’s gothic nightmare into a bucket of neon and camp where he thought “Shouldn’t Bruce Wayne be over the death of his parents already.” That reality was quickly abandoned for Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of the Dark Knight. Then Zack Snyder took over and brought a fire hose of urine to piss on the whole thing.

None of those movies did anything to invalidate the earlier films, nor any of the thousands of stories that have appeared in various Batman comics since Bob Kane said “Hey, I like those drawings. Can I borrow them for a minute?” to Bill Finger.

Star Wars and Star Trek are two franchises with a deep and diverse Expanded Universes that have produced comic books, novels, video games, and animated series providing additional content for hungry fans. Does it really matter whether or not the story is declared part of the fictional canon or not? I can understand back when George Lucas was running the Star Wars universe. He had created and developed this world. A god-like figure to the fictional characters of a galaxy far, far away. If George Lucas declared something as not part of the fictional Star Wars world as he had intended, it kind of made sense. Like, if you were playing with your Star Wars action figures and decided to sneak in a couple of G.I. Joes into the Battle of Endor. At one time George Lucas would have been qualified to walk up in his flannel shirt and declare that there are no ninjas in the Star Wars galaxy, and that I couldn’t have Snake Eyes chopping off Stormtrooper heads.

After he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, who is now qualified to make those decisions? Who is tasked with declaring which fictional character is or isn’t part of this universe? When they die, is this power willed to someone or merely passed along to the next executive seated in the iron throne?

More importantly, why do you care? Is your imagination so limited that a passionless decree made inspired by a corporate mandate can erase what you believe to be true? Do you want Knights of the Old Republic to be canon in the Star Wars Universe? Congratulations, it is. Unless Disney decides to make a series of super early prequels that take place exactly 4000 years before A New Hope, I think you can consider Knights of the Old Republic canon.

In fact, I’m going to declare right now that all Expanded Universe stories are once again canon in the Star Wars Universe. Even the ones that wildly contradict everything else or would make no sense because of Episode VII. Is there something that can’t be explained away it’s either a clone, a sinister plot involving Darth Plagues the Wise, or one of those evil mirror universes. I KNOW. The Mirror Universe is a Star Trek thing, but it doesn’t mean the Star Wars Universe doesn’t have one too. There, problem solved.

You’re welcome.

Anghus Houvouras