Star Wars, Disguises and Lego

One of my favorite themes of the Star Wars series is that of "being in disguise". Han and Luke disguise themselves as Stormtroopers in Star Wars, Luke has to fight his inner demons in the disguise of Vader on Dagobah, and Lando and Leia don disguises to infiltrate Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. Even the end of Jedi has Darth Vader removing his disguise, revealing his true self to his son before death takes him. Is the series an extended metaphor for the masks we all wear?

Perhaps.

To a child, to this child anyway, disguises meant two figures for the price of one. It's Luke Skywalker and a Stormtrooper. It's Lando and some guy wearing a weird animal on his head. It's Leia and Boushh, the feared bounty hunter!

Who was Boushh? While Boushh's backstory has since been filled in in the Extended Universe, as kids we had no idea. It was clear that Boushh was as fearsome as Boba Fett (the epitome of cool). But Boushh was even more sinister, willing to destroy himself with a Thermal Detonator if he didn't get his way. Now, a Thermal Detonator was the eight year old Erik equivalent of a tactical nuclear weapon, so you get the idea. More badass than Boba Fett? I sure thought so. But it's Princess Leia under there? "Someone who loves you"? Leia, who had to be rescued in the first movie, is the one doing the rescuing in the end. Take that, childhood conceptions of femininity!



It's great to go to the movies when you're eight.